International airports
Athens (ATH) (Elfetherios Veniselos)
has been newly constructed, replacing all air traffic from the
old airport. Located 27km (17 miles) northeast of the city, there
is a six-lane motorway linking the two, and regular airport buses
running 24 hours from the centre and the port of Piraeus. Airport
facilities include duty free shops, car hire (Avis, Budget,
Hertz, Europcar and Sixt), banks, bureaux de change, cash machines,
bar and restaurant facilities, post office, business centre and
hotel. <
Heraklion (HER) (Crete) is 5km (3 miles) from
the city. Bus and taxi services are available. Airport facilities
consist of bureaux de change, cafe, bar and restaurant facilities,
hotel reservations and a duty free shop.
Thessaloniki (SKG) (Macedonia) is 16km (10 miles)
from the city. Regular coach and taxi services are available.
Airport facilities consist of restaurants, duty free shops, bars,
banks/bureaux de change, car hire (Alamo, Avis and Hertz) and
a post office.
Corfu (CFU) (Kerkira) is 3km (2 miles) from
the city. Regular coach and taxi service is available. There is
a duty free shop, bar and cafe.
Rhodes (RHO) (Paradisi) is 16km (10 miles) from
the city. Coach and taxi service is available. Airport facilities
consist of a duty free shop, car hire (Avis, Rent-a-car), bureau
de change, bank, cafe and bar.
There are also international airports at Chania (CHQ), Karpathos
(AOK), Kavala (KVA), Kefalonia (EFL), Kos (KGS), Kalamata (KLX),
Lesbos (Mytilini) (MJT), Mykonos (JMK), Preveza (Lefkos) (PVK),
Skiathos (JSI), Samos (SMI), Thessaloniki (SKG), Thira (Santorini)
(JTR) and Zakynthos (ZTH), most of which serve predominantly summer
traffic.
Departure tax
€12,15.
Sea
The major Greek ports are Corfu, Rhodes, Patras,
Heraklion, Igoumenitsa, Piraeus (Athens), Thessaloniki and Volos.
Shipping and ferryboat lines link these ports with Italy, Croatia,
Russia, Cyprus and Turkey. Greek ports are used by a number of cruise
lines including Celebrity Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Festival Cruises,
Costa Cruises, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Swan Hellenic
and Silversea.
The Greek/Hellenic National Tourism Organisation
can give full details (see Contact Addresses
section). A car ferry links the Italian ports
of Venice, Brindisi, Trieste and Ancona with Corfu, Igoumenitsa,
Patras and Piraeus. There are also services from from Corfu to
Brindisi, Bari and Trieste; and from Rhodes to Marmaris (Turkey).
During the summer months there are also services from Ithaca and
from Cephalonia to Brindisi.
Rail
The national railway company is Hellenic
Railways Organisation Ltd (OSE). A convenient way to
travel from the UK is to take the Eurostar
through the channel tunnel, from London to either Brussels or Paris,
both of which have onward connections to Greece.
For more information and reservations contact Eurostar
(tel: (0870) 6000 792 (travel agents) or (08705) 186 186 (public;
within the UK) or +44 1233 617 575 (public; outside the UK)); or
Rail Europe
(tel: (08705) 848 848). Travel agents can obtain refunds
for unused tickets from Eurostar Trade Refunds,
2nd Floor, Kent House, 81 Station Road, Ashford, Kent TN23 1PD,
UK. Comments and complaints may be sent to Eurostar
Customer Relations, Eurostar House, Waterloo Station, London
SE1 8SE, UK (tel: (020) 7928 5168; e-mail: new-comments@eurostar.co.uk).
General enquiries and information requests must be made by telephone.
Rail passes
Inter-Rail tickets, for those aged 26 and under, include
rail travel within Greece, but an additional charge will be added
for couchettes; the ticket does not include the cost of ferries
between the mainland, other countries or islands, but certain
shipping lines offer a discount to ticket holders. Prices
for those aged over 26 are about 40 per cent
higher.
For passengers wanting to make multiple train journeys within
Europe, the EuroDomino travel card offers
reduced prices on various journeys to the destination of their
choice. Other discount fares include air or ferry journeys with
rail travel packages. Contact Rail Europe for more information.
Road
It is possible to ferry caravans and cars across to one
of the major ports of entry or to enter overland. Points
of overland entry are from the Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic
of) via Niki and Evzoni; from Bulgaria via Promahonas or Kastanies
and Kipi. From Montenegro and Serbia, the route is via Italy (Trieste),
Austria (Graz) and Belgrade. The trip from northern France to
Athens is more than 3200km (2000 miles). For car-ferry information,
see details under Sea above.
Bus: There are routes from Athens via Thessaloniki
to Dortmund, Paris, Istanbul and Sofia. Information and bookings
are available from terminals in Athens at 6 Sina Street (tel:
(210) 362 4402; 1 Karolou Street (tel: (210) 529 7777) and 17
Filellinon Street (tel: (210) 323 6747); also at Thessaloniki
rail station.
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