How to Get Around Greece

Greece moves by sea. The ferries out of Attica's ports -- Piraeus, the busiest passenger port in Europe by some measures, and Rafina on the east coast -- are how the islands are reached, and the ferry timetable, which thins sharply outside the summer, is the frame every island trip hangs on. On the mainland the rail network is essentially one spine, Athens to Thessaloniki, run by Hellenic Train; beyond it the intercity buses and a hired car take over, and for the Peloponnese and the mountain north a car is the practical choice.

In Athens the public transport authority, OASA, sells one ticket for bus, trolley, metro and tram: €1.20 for 90 minutes of travel, with 24-hour, five-day and three-day tourist versions, and a separate airport fare. Reduced fares need a personalised card, so a visitor pays the full one. The airport is joined to the centre by metro and by express buses; the fare for either is a separate ticket and is not quoted here until it has been read from the authority's page.

Athens

OASA's Ath.ena ticket covers bus, trolleybus, metro and tram in the urban zone. The prices on its own page: a 90-minute ticket €1.20; a 24-hour ticket €4.10; a five-day ticket €8.20; a three-day tourist ticket €20.00; a pack of ten journeys plus one free for €12.00. Airport journeys -- by express bus or by metro, with a return version valid for 30 days -- are a separate category of ticket. Reduced fares (over-65s, 7- to 18-year-olds, students) require a personalised ATH.ENA card; a lost multi-journey ticket is not replaced.

Rail

Hellenic Train runs the passenger lines, the Athens–Thessaloniki axis above all. Its published rules: a ticket bought with a fixed return date earns 20% off the return leg, in first or second class; discounts need their supporting documents shown at the ticket office and to inspectors on board; a ticket can be changed or cancelled at a physical ticket office up to 10 minutes before the scheduled departure. Timetables and fares are on its site and change with the season, so they are not repeated here.

Ferries and the rest

Ferry operators publish their own timetables and fares, and no operator's page was read for this pass, so none are quoted: check the line's own site, and expect the summer schedule to be far denser than the winter one. Intercity buses (the regional KTEL companies) reach most towns the train does not; a car is the practical way through the Peloponnese, Epirus and the interior of Crete.