Piraeus to Acropolis, via metro on my own or tour?

[joseph123]

Doing some preliminary planning for my future Greek Island cruise and am thinking about how best to spend the day in Athens. Google is telling me it is very easy to simply walk from the ship to the Piraeus metro station and take a direct train to the Monastiraki station which would only take about 15 mins and walk from there to the Acropolis. Seems really easy to do via public transport, am I missing anything? I would plan to visit the Acropolis and then spend some time in the surrounding Plaka area before heading back to the ship. Any suggestions or things I should be aware of in my planning? Should I buy advance tickets for the metro and the Acropolis? Would there be an advantage to taking a bus or arranging for a tour either privately or through the cruise line vs just taking the metro on my own? If time allows on my return, would there be anything worth seeing or doing around the port area? The ship will be in port for a full 12 hours, 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. Lots of questions at this point, so suggestions would be much appreciated as always!

[dogs4fun]

6 hours ago, joseph123 said:

Doing some preliminary planning for my future Greek Island cruise and am thinking about how best to spend the day in Athens. Google is telling me it is very easy to simply walk from the ship to the Piraeus metro station and take a direct train to the Monastiraki station which would only take about 15 mins and walk from there to the Acropolis. Seems really easy to do via public transport, am I missing anything? I would plan to visit the Acropolis and then spend some time in the surrounding Plaka area before heading back to the ship. Any suggestions or things I should be aware of in my planning? Should I buy advance tickets for the metro and the Acropolis? Would there be an advantage to taking a bus or arranging for a tour either privately or through the cruise line vs just taking the metro on my own? If time allows on my return, would there be anything worth seeing or doing around the port area? The ship will be in port for a full 12 hours, 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. Lots of questions at this point, so suggestions would be much appreciated as always!

We took the metro about 4 years ago - it was easy. There is also an express bus (X80) that you can take from the port to the city - it has a stop at the Acropolis Museum from where it is a short walk to the Acropolis.

[John Bull]

What you're missing may be the heat - walking from ship to metro and metro to Acropolis.

 

A halfway house between that and a tour would be the ho-ho port route. Usually (but check with the driver) that route goes from the port to the Acropolis (close to the entrance, which is around the back) before going to its terminus near Syntagma Square . 

The Plaka is a 10-minute walk from the Acropolis, and a further 10 minutes to Syntagma Square for the return to the ship.

I don't know if the ho-ho port route can be bought as a stand-alone ticket, or if you have to buy a combined port route / city route ticket - the city route isn't desperately interesting.

 

Or there's a cheap (€4 ?? all-day) Express bus from the port - mentioned by Dogs4  - which started a year or two ago.

 

JB  

[joseph123]

Thanks for the input. Is the Monastiraki station further from the entrance than the Acropolis station? Will need to determine which station is best or if there are main entrances accessible from each. I will be visiting in early Oct, so hopefully it will not be as hot and maybe less crowded. Has anyone visited at that time of year? Are there any other areas of the city a must to see other than the Plaka?

[CruiserBruce]

Considering the exact same thing for next May. Thanks for the info. Metro seems very easy way to do it. 

[dogs4fun]

14 minutes ago, joseph123 said:

Thanks for the input. Is the Monastiraki station further from the entrance than the Acropolis station? Will need to determine which station is best or if there are main entrances accessible from each. I will be visiting in early Oct, so hopefully it will not be as hot and maybe less crowded. Has anyone visited at that time of year? Are there any other areas of the city a must to see other than the Plaka?

The Acropolis station is closer to the entrance. We also love the National Archaeology Museum (we took the metro) and the Acropolis Museum.

We visited in October and the weather was perfect. We arrived at the Acropolis before the tourist hordes and had the place to ourselves for about the first half hour. When we left, it was packed!

[JBare]

Depends where you dock., Piraeus is huge and the cruise ports are well spaced out, some much closer to the metro than others.

Alternatively,  depending how comfortable you are doing your own thing, there is the 843 bus which runs from or past all the cruise ports to the metro station. You can buy a 24hr ticket which covers buses and metro for about 3 euros I think. Last time we did this there was a small kiosk in the port that sold the tickets. The Athens metro is a great way to get from Piraeus to Athens and to get around when there if you do your research beforehand.

[cruisemom42]

I've docked in Athens numerous times and would NOT recommend walking to the metro. I'm not sure who could make it in 15 minutes. In every instance it has taken me anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. Maybe the 15-minute estimate is for those on the ferries, whose docks are closer.  There is a bus you can catch at the port (local bus, not a tour agency like a HOHO) that will take you to the station but doesn't seem worth the hassle...

 

Also (since someone asked), the Akropoli metro stop is closer than the Monastiraki metro stop, but both are reasonable. Monastiraki puts you closer to the Greek and Roman Agoras versus closer to the Acropolis.

 

Since the X80 direct (express) bus started running a few years ago, I consider it the best DIY option. It has stops at both main piers (A & B) for cruise ships and the cost is minimal. It drops off very near one of the paths up to the Acropolis. The only caveat is that it seems to stop running sometime at the end of high tourist season -- maybe sometime in October; I'm not sure but would definitely research it.

[dogs4fun]

When we last arrived via cruise, the X80 was not yet in operation. Cruisemom is correct in that the walk to the metro is longer than 15 minutes - if memory correctly serves, it took us about 30 minutes walking at a fairly brisk pace. Some in our group opted to purchase bus (#40) tickets at the kiosk and meet us at the metro station - their bus arrived at approximately the same time as we reached the station so taking the bus was a wash in terms of time saved (but very convenient for those that have issues with walking long distances). If the X80 is running when you are there, I believe this would be your best option. If not, the metro is a viable alternative.

Info (including port maps) on X80 here:

https://www.athenswalkingtours.gr/blog/index.php/2016/06/13/new-bus-line-connection-piraeus-port-to-syntagma-x80-enables-you-to-join-the-athens-walking-tours/

[joseph123]

When we last arrived via cruise, the X80 was not yet in operation. Cruisemom is correct in that the walk to the metro is longer than 15 minutes - if memory correctly serves, it took us about 30 minutes walking at a fairly brisk pace. Some in our group opted to purchase bus (#40) tickets at the kiosk and meet us at the metro station - their bus arrived at approximately the same time as we reached the station so taking the bus was a wash in terms of time saved (but very convenient for those that have issues with walking long distances). If the X80 is running when you are there, I believe this would be your best option. If not, the metro is a viable alternative.

Info (including port maps) on X80 here:

https://www.athenswalkingtours.gr/blog/index.php/2016/06/13/new-bus-line-connection-piraeus-port-to-syntagma-x80-enables-you-to-join-the-athens-walking-tours/

 

Sounds like the bus might be the easier option since the walk could be quite long to the metro. Thanks for including the link to this info, it was very helpful!

[ELIZG]

Just came back.    We docked in Terminal B.   Walked off the ship and there were 3 different "Hop on Hop Off" bus lines waiting for us.... all vying for our business.     I think they all had similar routes.   The one we selected had two lines.... the one to take us from the cruise port to Athens and the second line to the you around the sites.      You had to change lines at the Acropolis.   Could not have been easier.

[JBare]

We too will be visiting Athens again in early October. We have been many times before and may just enjoy the new ship this time, but if we do go into Athens my favourite option is still taking the bus to the metro which is more frequent and in my view more comfortable.  I believe the 15 mins mentioned in the OP post was for the metro trip not the walk to the metro, it takes at least 10 mins to walk to the bus stop, the full distance when we did it was about 40 mins from Terminal B. In my earlier post I thought the cost of the 24hr ticket was 3 euro but that was wrong and its now 4.5 euro but still cheap.  Unless there is a mobility issue then doing Athens on your own is by far the best option as its easily walkable although quite warm even in October, it was over 30 degrees C last time. 

The first time we visited from a cruise as opposed to a city break, the whole day including access to the Acropolis and Agora, transport and a coke was less then 15 euro for the two of us. This was because, to our surprise there are many days of the year when access to all Greek archaeological sites is free, national holidays and some Sundays. 

If anyone is thinking of taking an expensive ships tour including entry fees take note of your arrival day. 

If you are taking the metro and want to visit the Acropolis, go past Monastiraki, change metro lines at Omonia and go back to Akropoli, trains are very frequent. After maybe take a walk up Filopappou Hill for a spectacular view of the Parthenon then walk around and through the Agora (one ticket covers all sites) and back to Thassio metro station for the trip back to the ship. Or, do the reverse, queues for tickets at the Agora are much shorter, but taking the metro will get you to the Acropolis faster than the tour buses which often get stuck in traffic.

Edited July 16, 2019 by JBare
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[Jesseslola]

ELIZG,

Did you notice if there is an X80 bus?

What bus did you take on your return to the ship if you took a hop on and off going to Athens?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

 

[BarbinMich]

We visited Athens on a Celebrity ship some years ago and the ship provided a shuttle bus into town that dropped us off near Hadrian's Arch, the National Garden, etc.  Quite convenient IMHO.  I did a good bit of walking/sightseeing from there.

[JBare]

17 hours ago, BarbinMich said:

We visited Athens on a Celebrity ship some years ago and the ship provided a shuttle bus into town that dropped us off near Hadrian's Arch, the National Garden, etc.  Quite convenient IMHO.  I did a good bit of walking/sightseeing from there.

 

Quantify "some years ago".  The only "shuttle" in recent years has been to the entrance of terminal A from terminal B.

They do do tours called Athens on your own which are relatively expensive but handy for some.

[BarbinMich]

5 hours ago, JBare said:

 

Quantify "some years ago".  The only "shuttle" in recent years has been to the entrance of terminal A from terminal B.

They do do tours called Athens on your own which are relatively expensive but handy for some.

We were there in 2008.  From what I read on Wikipedia, Athens Metro has expanded a lot since then.  What cruise line were you on?  We were on Celebrity (Galaxy) and really appreciated the shuttle provided by the ship.  Don't recall if there was a charge to use it.  The port is about 10 km (6 mi) from the Acropolis.  Not like many other ports when one docks close to the main part of town.  (Rome is certainly an exception; ships dock 70+ km or 45 miles from city center).

Edited July 20, 2019 by BarbinMich

[JBare]

1 hour ago, BarbinMich said:

What cruise line were you on?  We were on Celebrity (Galaxy) and really appreciated the shuttle provided by the ship.  Don't recall if there was a charge to use it.  The port is about 10 km (6 mi) from the Acropolis. 

 

With Celebrity we have been to Athens in 2009 on Solstice, 2014 on Silouette and 2015 on Reflection, no shuttles.

[BarbinMich]

22 hours ago, JBare said:

 

With Celebrity we have been to Athens in 2009 on Solstice, 2014 on Silouette and 2015 on Reflection, no shuttles.

Wonder why Celebrity changed their M.O. in Athens, just a year after we were there on the Galaxy?  Certainly an inconvenience for pax!!  We have sailed a 14-day on the Eclipse (2014---Med from S'hampton) and a 14-day on the Summit (2015--Can/NE from NJ).  Didn't need shuttles at any of the ports on those cruises as I recall, since we docked within easy walking distance of local attractions and/or sometimes did an excursion.