Athens

[PSP]

A few questions for anyone that has sailed from Athens.
At the airport are there vans available for transport to local hotels. There are 3 of us travelling together and so 9 pieces of luggage, which is too much for a standard taxi.
In addition, any hotel recommendations for 3 women. We would prefer a hotel in a safe area, with the ability to walk to local restaurants in the evening.

Valerie

[Essiesmom]

Assuming you have already booked your cruise, have you checked to see if there is a roll call for your cruise? People there will be discussing hotels and transfers, as well as excursions....Also, theck the ports of call area for Europe. EM

[Ine]

The airport is quite some distance from the city and as far as I know there will be no hotelvans.
Better make arrangementrs for a privatevan with much luggage. In general the european cars are not large enough to store all of that.

[sail7seas]

It is also a bit of ride to Pireaus..... not really far but one of the times when it might be worth it to look at HAL transfer.

We almost never do their transfers but both times we sailed from Athens, it worked out well for us.

[pris993]

We have not left from Athens but have arrived there several times.

Taxis are small for sure there. But we did okay with a taxi with 3 large suitecases, 2 handbags and two garment bags a year ago.

We did book thru our travel agent a car service for Rome, worked well - if I was looking for a car service again would work with our TA, you pay for it in advance.

We have stay at the Marriott Ledra in Athens. It is right across the street from the Intercontinental hotel. I would stay there again. We stayed the last time at the Hilton - would prefer the Marriott on our next trip.

[cp556]

We stayed at Hotel Magna Grecia in Athens .. reasonable, clean, and some rooms comfortable for three. It's an older, funky hotel ... don't expect it to be a Hilton or Marriott. Some rooms have breathtaking views of the Acropolis. Hotel is right in the heart of the Plaka district and in the middle of great shops and restaurants. A great breakfast is included in the rate, held at their rooftop garden (which is a terrific place to sit in the evening with a beverage and enjoy the lighted Acropolis).

We can also recommend Paul at Greek Taxi ... www dot greektaxi dot gr ... he does tours as well as airport transfers and has many different sized vehicles. His English is excellent as well.

Enjoy ...

[Cariad3600]

I second the recommendation for Paul at Athens taxi. We used him in October 2009. He picked us up at the ship, took us to all the sites we wanted to visit, then dropped us off at our hotel .. near the airport. He also has a price for cruise ship to airport transfer. I cannot speak highly enough of their service. Price was excellent considering all they provided.

[Cruising-along]

We also highly recommend Paul at Athens Taxi. We used his company's services in May of 2008, he picked us up at the airport, took us to our hotel, and at the end of our 3-day pre-cruise stay he drove us from the hotel to the cruiseship. Friendly, great service!

We stayed at Hotel Hera, it included a fantastic breakfast buffet and has views of the Acropolis from the rooms' balconies. We would definitely stay there again.