Athens Questions: taxis & sightseeing

[perkyblue]

Are taxis readily available, affordable, and safe in Athens? I'm trying to decide if we need to arrange for a transfer from the port to our hotel after the cruise, or if it would be easier & cheaper to just grab a taxi. Does anyone know approximately what it would cost to get from the port to a hotel in central Athens?

 

Also - when we visited Rome, we were able to walk to most of the main sights. (It was a lot of walking, but certainly do-able.) Is Athens the same? Would we be able to walk around on our own to most of the main sights, or is everything more spread out?

Edited July 30, 2016 by perkyblue

[wheezedr]

There were at least 50 taxis with the line growing when we debarked in June so no need to pre book. Cost is roughly 20€, depends on traffic and where exactly your hotel is. We used taxis for airport to hotel and hotel to port on 2 occasions both ways without any problems. If you walked in Rome, Athens will be easy as the main tourist attractions are all clustered near the Acropolis and the plaka. Athens is much smaller than Rome.

[perkyblue]

Thanks so much! :)

[diane.in.ny]

We booked a hotel near the Plaka area and were able to walk to everything. Some walks longer than others but definitely doable.

[perkyblue]

Our hotel is in the Plaka area too, fairly close to the Acropolis, so I think we'll be good if most other things are walkable from there. Thanks, Diane!

[diane.in.ny]

When we walked to the Plaka area for dinner, we turned a corner and there was the Acropolis lit up at night. What a sight!

[RoadTripFanatic]

:) We just returned from Athens and it is a very easy city to walk to the major tourist sites. We stayed close to the Plaka. My best piece of advice is to wake up early and go straight to the Acropolis. We were there by 9am on Sunday morning. Only 10 people in line and it wasn't very crowded. We also bought the multi-site ticket which is a must! No lines after you buy the ticket. When we left the tours were starting to show up and it was very crowded. Also you do not want to be on top of the Acropolis when it hits 90 degrees. :) Another thing we did is we did some serious sight seeing in the morning and took a break at 2p for lunch and a nap at the hotel. By 4:30p we were back out sightseeing. A power nap was a great idea to help survive the 95 degree temperature of July.

 

In regards to the taxi, there are tons of taxi's all over the tourist section of Rome and at the cruise port.

Edited August 3, 2016 by RoadTripFanatic

[perkyblue]

Thanks for the info! We only have one full day there after our cruise, but we'll plan to drop our stuff off at the hotel then head straight to the Acropolis. And thanks for the tip about the multi-site ticket! That sounds like the best plan since we do want to see as much as possible that day.

[ltz100]

Hi,

 

Has anyone tried to do both the Athens ruins and Lake Vouliagmeni (Hot Springs) in the same day?

 

We are in port for one day and were hoping to hit both sites, is it possible? If yes, what do you recommend as the best transportation/cost? We will be taking the Athens tour or doing the HoHo in the morning.

 

Thank you,

Liz