Travel to Greece

Flying to Greece

Greece's main carriers are Olympic Air (www.olympicair.com) and Aegean Airlines (www.aegeanair.com). Major airlines serving airports in Greece include Alitalia, Aeroflot, British Airways, El Al, Emirates, Etihad, KLM, Lufthansa, Norwegian, Ryanair, SAS, Turkish Airlines, Qatar, among others. The cost of flights to Greece peaks from June to August when most Europeans take their holidays. Throughout the rest of the year prices vary according to demand.

Major airports are: Athens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, Corfu Ioannis Kapodistrias International Airport, Chania International Airport, Thessaloniki International Airport, Heraklion International Airport, Kos Island International Airport, Mykonos Airport and Rhodes Diagoras International Airport.

Airport Guides

Flight times

To Athens: from London - 3 hours 40 minutes; New York - 9 hours 10 minutes.

Departure tax

Included in the air fare.

Travelling to Greece by Rail

The national railway company is Hellenic Railways Organisation Ltd (OSE) (www.trainose.gr).

Rail passes

InterRail: offers three types of passes which are Interrail Greek Island Pass, Interrail Greece Pass and Interrail Global Pass. For more information, see Passes for Greece.

Driving to Greece

You can enter Greece via one of the many border crossings shared between Greece and Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey.

Getting to Greece by boat

There are about 50 seaports in Greece. Ferries from Italy stop at Patras (Pátra), Igoumenítsa, and Corfu (Kérkyra). Ferries from Turkey go to Rhodes, Chios, Kos and Samos. Ferries from Egypt, Cyprus and Israel go to Piraeus and Rhodes. Piraeus (www.olp.gr) also has dozens of daily ferry and catamaran departures for various Greek islands.

Cruise ships

Greek ports (notably Piraeus, Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes and Heraklion) are used by a number of cruise lines. Piraeus, near Athens, is usually where cruises sailing the east Mediterranean begin and end.

Ferry operators

Major ferry operators covering the international routes are Superfast Ferries (www.superfast.com), Minoan (www.minoan.gr) and ANEK Lines (www.anek.gr).