From the airport, we took the airport X95 bus to get to downtown Syntagma Square. Unfortunately there was a street protest heading to the Parliament building in-front of Syntagma Square. Consequently, our bus was stopped from entering Syntagma Square and we were asked to disembark at the 2nd last stop of the bus route, 900 meters away from our intended stop. We then have to walk whilst dragging our luggage to Syntagma Square and onwards to our hotel. An uncomfortable experience in the warm weather and made us wanted to have taken the metro instead .
The Athens street protest we were caught in. This were peaceful demos.
Roads were closed, so we have to walk and dragged our luggage 900 meters.
If we’ve chosen the metro, we would have travelled in this and avoided the street protest. Cost €8 compared to €5 for airport bus.
As a transit in Athens is required for our flight from Santorini to Istanbul, we decided to make a two nights stop-over. We’ve booked our stay at Arethusa hotel because we can take the airport bus right to Syntagma Square, Athens town centre where the hotel is a three minutes walk from the bus stop.
As you exit Athens airport arrival terminal, to your far right (door 5), take the X95 bus for Syntagma Square. The journey takes about 45 minutes. There is a small ticket booth near where the buses stop and you can purchase your bus tickets there before boarding. If the booth is not manned, I’ve read you can pay to the driver as well (please check). The ticket cost €5 one way to Syntagma Square (taxi will set you back €35). Ensure that you validate the ticket by using the validating machine in the bus. Buses to other destinations also converge here .. example X96 to Piraeus.
X95 airport bus to Syntagma Square at your far right (door 5) as you leave the arrival terminal.
You can buy the bus ticket in advanced like we did because we were at the airport a few days earlier for our transit to Santorini. The buses run 24 hours. You may want to check out further here for info on buses, metro & train. The last stop of the X95 bus is Syntagma Square and it’s opposite the Greek Parliament building. Once you get down here, it’s a matter of three minutes walk to Arethusa hotel. The metro also has a stop at Syntagma Square if you’ll be taking the metro from the airport.
The airport bus ticket.
Syntagma Square bus stop in-front of Citibank. Three minutes walk to Arethusa hotel.
Greek Parliament building in-front of Syntagma Square.
Arethusa hotel, Athens.
Doors to Arethusa hotel (different spelling of hotel name on frontage and door mat).
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