Getting Around Athens
Central Athens is compact. Many visitors stay in Plaka, Koukaki, Kolonaki, Psyrri or Monastiraki, and the Megaron Athens International Conference Centre is a few minutes' walk from Syntagma on Vasilissis Sofias Avenue; its largest hall seats 1,960. Corporate offices cluster further out, along Kifisias Avenue in Marousi, about 13 km north-east. Metropolitan Expo, where large trade fairs such as Posidonia are held, is next to the airport. A programme split between the centre and Marousi means crossing the city at least once a day.
Intercity trains from Thessaloniki arrive at Athens Railway Station (Larissis) in Kolonos, north-west of the centre, which is also served by metro line 2. Add the train and its arrival time to the booking, and the car is scheduled for that arrival.
Business visits often involve Kolonaki, the Megaron, offices in Marousi and shipping companies in Piraeus. Each journey can be booked as a separate transfer; for a full day of meetings, hourly service reserves one chauffeur and one vehicle for the hours you choose.
For most of the year central Athens runs a traffic ring, the daktylios, which limits private-use cars by number plate on weekdays. It covers the historic centre, including Syntagma and Omonia. Send the full street address when you book, and support will say how close to the hotel a car can get.
Airport Transfers in Athens
Athens International Airport serves the city and the whole of Attica. It is 31 km from the centre, and the drive usually takes 35 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes, depending on the hour. The road runs west on the Attiki Odos (A6), then either along the Hymettus Ring (A62), which ends at Katechaki Avenue on the edge of the centre, or off at exit 11 onto Kifisias Avenue for Marousi. For a fair at Metropolitan Expo, the venue is next to the terminal.
The motorway section usually flows. Time goes on the last urban stretch into the centre and on Kifisias Avenue through Marousi, where rush-hour queues are a daily pattern. Journey times vary with traffic and weather.
For arrivals, your chauffeur checks the flight status and times the pickup to when you actually land, and your booking confirmation shows where to meet the chauffeur. For a departure from Athens, what counts is the length of the drive, not the time on the clock: 35 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes from the centre to the airport, longer in heavy traffic. You set the pickup time yourself, and the confirmation shows it.
Long-Distance & Multi-City Travel from Athens
Some trips from Athens continue in the Peloponnese. Patras is 212 km west on the A8 Olympia Odos, 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours 25 minutes by car. Kalamata is 238 km south-west on the A8 and the A7 Moreas motorway, 3 hours to 4 hours 5 minutes. When a meeting in Athens is followed by a site visit in Patras or a stay in Messinia, one booking covers the run from your Athens hotel to the next address, and your luggage stays in the same vehicle.
Thessaloniki is 500 km north on the A1. It is a long day on the road, but it is still one chauffeur, one vehicle and one booking from hotel to hotel.
Groups & Congress Travel in Athens
Athens brings in large groups for congresses, sport, shipping and cruises. The Megaron conference centre alone has a total capacity of 6,000. The Athens Marathon, The Authentic, drew more than 73,000 runners from 152 countries to its November 2025 edition. In 2024, for example, Posidonia, the shipping exhibition held every two years, filled Metropolitan Expo with more than 2,000 exhibitors and over 30,000 visitors. Piraeus, Greece's largest port, handled 1.85 million cruise passengers in 2025.
When you book for other people, all their transfers can be kept in one account, each with its own booking and confirmation; when a delegation arrives on several flights, every arrival gets a transfer of its own. A Sprinter van takes up to 12 people with their bags; larger groups travel by coach, with up to 56 seats, chosen to fit the group and its luggage.
Book early for the second week of November, when the Marathon is run, and for early June in the years Posidonia is held: local vehicles and drivers are booked up early. If your plans go beyond a standard booking, write to support with the dates, addresses, number of passengers, flights and luggage, and the team will arrange it.
