How to get to Athens traveling with children

The location of Athens in the southeast of mainland Greece hinders its access by land for tourists who would be forced to travel a large number of kilometers to reach the Hellenic capital. Therefore, the plane is emerging as the most practical and convenient means of transport to travel to Athens wi

Once in Athens, we will have to use public transport more than once if we want to travel through this great metropolis. Luckily, Athens has numerous metro, bus and tram lines that will take us wherever we want.

Travel to Athens with children

Plane

The plane is the best option and almost the only one for a family trip with children to Athens since the rest of the options are too hard for the little ones.

The Athens airport (Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport) is modern (it was built in 2001) and is located 20 kilometers east of the city.

There are several options to travel this distance. The most comfortable is the metro that connects the airport with Plaza Sintagma in about 40 minutes. The first subway departs at 6:35 and the last one at 23:35.

The price of a metro ticket to the center is 8 euros and includes the transfers that are desired -both to other metro lines and other public means of transport- for 90 minutes.

Another option is the three Express buses that take travelers to the central Sintagma (line X95), the bus station of Kifisos in the northwest (line X93) and the subway station Dafni in the south (line X97).

The duration of these bus journeys is somewhat longer than one hour and the price of 5 euros per passenger.

Faster but also more expensive is the option of the taxi that costs about 35 euros per vehicle during the day and approximately double at night.

Boat

The boat is an interesting option to get to Piraeus, Athens port located about 90 minutes by bus from the city center.

Many tourists come to the Greek capital in this way from ships from different parts of Italy or even as a stop on a tourist cruise.

However, for a family trip to Athens the boat is not worth it.

Traveling in Athens with children

Public transport in Athens is not the best nor the most comfortable, but it allows us to move - in some cases, transshipping - to almost all the tourist spots in the city.

The single metro, tram or bus ticket costs around 1.20 euros (cheaper than in other European capitals). There is also another ticket that for 1.40 euros allows you to make all the necessary transfers within a period of 90 minutes. If we prefer the 24-hour ticket, the price is 4 euros.

Metro

The metro in Athens is not very extensive but with its three lines -the last one opened in 2005- and its 60 stations it serves to connect effectively the different areas of the city.

The blue line, of which we have already spoken, connects Egaleo with the Athens airport, making stops at the famous Syntagma Square or the picturesque Monastiraki district. The red line links Anthoupoli with Elliniko, so it's convenient to go to the Acropolis and Syntagma Square. The green line, finally, goes from the port or Piraeus to Kifisiá and stops at places like Monastiraki or the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, home of the Olimpiakos.

In addition to being practical, the Athens Metro has a unique tourist attraction since during the excavation for the construction of it there were numerous archaeological remains that have been exhibited in glass cases as a museum. The most interesting stations in this sense are Acropolis, Evangelismos, Dafni, Monastiraki, Panepistimio and Syntagma.

It works approximately between 5:30 and 24:00 hours, extending its schedule until 2:00 on Friday and Saturday nights.

Trams

After falling into disuse in the mid-twentieth century, the Athens tramway became part of the Greek capital at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

It is connected to the metro system and just like it is also made up of three color lines with a total of 48 stations.

The red line links Syntagma with Piraeus; the green part also from Syntagma but goes to the neighborhood of Glyfada and, finally, the blue line, communicates Glyfada with Piraeus.

Buses

More than 60 lines cover the bus and trolleybus network of the Greek capital, making it possible to travel comfortably by bus to almost all the tourist points of the city.

Taxis

Athens is a very large city but with such a large public transport system, it is not necessary to take taxis.

In any case, the prices are cheaper than in other European cities - a journey through the center can cost 3 euros - and taxis abound so we will hardly have to wait. Of course, driving in Athens is quite chaotic and not suitable for fearful.