Athens Airport by Metro: Line 3, the Suburban Railway and Tickets

You step out of the baggage hall at Eleftherios Venizelos with your suitcase, the sliding doors open onto the Attica air, and the first real question of the trip is how to reach the center. The answer runs on rails. The Blue line of the Athens Metro, Line 3, ends at the airport, and a suburban railway serves it too.

How does the metro serve Athens Airport?

The metro serves the airport through Line 3, the Blue line, which reaches Athens Airport at one end of its route. Fares on the metro are prepaid, with short-term and long-term tickets.

The airport is the reason a rail link matters. It stands in Spata, in Attica, and the road to it bends around intervening hills. Knowing the layout of the place helps you picture the first minutes of your arrival, so it is worth a closer look before the train itself.

The airport you are leaving behind

Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos is about 12 miles east of central Athens, but the drive stretches to 19 miles by road because of those hills. The airport began operation on 28 March 2001, and it is the main base of Aegean Airlines and a hub for Olympic Air. Ryanair and Sky Express also operate from here, so the arrivals hall fills with passengers coming off very different flights.

There are two terminals, the main terminal and the satellite terminal, which you reach through an underground link. All the check-in desks sit in the main terminal. If you are heading home, that is where your trip ends, and if you are arriving, it is the building you leave to find the way into the city.

The metro network you are joining

The Athens Metro has three lines that together cover 57.0 miles and 66 stations. Line 1 is the Green line, Line 2 the Red, and Line 3 the Blue, the one that carries you out to the airport. Once you are in the system, you can keep riding to wherever you are sleeping.

Some stations double as small galleries. Exhibitions of ancient artifacts or replicas appear in a number of them, including Monastiraki, Akropoli and Syntagma, so a ride can turn into a first look at the ancient city before you reach any site. Photography and video are permitted across the whole network, which means you can record the glass cases while you wait.

The suburban railway as a second rail link

Proastiakos is Greece’s commuter rail service, run by Hellenic Train, and it connects central railway stations to ports, airports, suburbs and nearby towns. In Athens, it gives the airport a rail connection that is separate from the metro. Trains run from 4:30 am to midnight daily across 53 stations.

Two of its routes end at the airport. Route A1 runs from Piraeus to Athens Airport via Athens, and route A2 runs from Ano Liosia to the airport. For a traveler whose flight lands very early or whose ship docks at Piraeus, those hours and routes are worth knowing.

Which line do you take?

You take Line 3, the Blue line, because it is the one of the three metro lines that reaches Athens Airport. Its route is described as running between Dimotiko Theatro, Doukissis Plakentias, and Athens Airport, so when you read the signs and the map, look for the Blue line and the airport name.

Why Lines 1 and 2 do not go to the airport

Line 1, the Green line, links Piraeus and Kifissia, which makes it the line that touches the port. Line 2, the Red line, runs between Anthoupoli and Elliniko. Neither of them ends at the airport, so a traveler staying along one of them would need to get onto the Blue line to finish the trip.

The map is the place to work out where your hotel sits relative to those three colors. The Blue line is the longest of the three by a wide margin, which tells you something about how far the airport lies from the center.

The railway routes that end at the airport

Route A1 of the Athens Suburban Railway runs from Piraeus to Athens Airport via Athens, takes 1 hour and 3 minutes and stops at 19 stations. That is useful for anyone coming off a ferry at the port who wants to reach the terminal on a single train. The suburban network has five routes in all, and route A1 is the one that links the port, the city and the airport.

Route A2 runs from Ano Liosia to Athens Airport, and it takes 34 minutes with 12 stops. A fifth route, Aigio–Athens/Airport via Kiato, also appears in the suburban network, tying the Peloponnese side of the line to the terminal. The other two routes, Piraeus–Kiato and Athens–Chalcis, do not serve the airport.

Choosing between metro and railway

Both options reach the airport, so the choice comes down to where you start. A traveler already in the city center follows the Blue line. A traveler coming from Piraeus can look at route A1, and one starting at Ano Liosia can look at route A2.

The railway keeps its own timetable, with trains from 4:30 am until midnight, which is worth keeping in mind next to your flight time. Once you know which of the two you are boarding, the rest of the trip is a matter of reading station names.

How do you pay?

Fares on the metro are prepaid, so you buy your ticket before you ride.

Ticket types

Short-term tickets come in four lengths, matched to the length of your stay. A traveler making a single trip from the airport can pick the shortest, while someone who will use the metro often over several days has longer ones to choose from. Long-term tickets also exist, though they are made for people who live in the city.

Free and reduced fares

Children under the age of 6 travel for free on all means of transportation in Athens, including the metro. Reduced fares are available for university students, seniors, disabled persons and persons under 18. These travelers must show ID, a student card or a passport during fare control, so keep the document within reach rather than at the bottom of a bag.

Paying for the suburban railway

The suburban railway is run separately, by Hellenic Train, so it is a different operator from the metro. Think of it as its own service with its own trains and its own hours, even though it serves the same airport. Whichever of the two you board, you arrive at the airport knowing you are on a route that ends there.

Good to know before you go

The city is also testing a new municipal network called Athens Move, which is entering pilot operation with its first electric buses. For the airport, the rails are what the route is built around. Photography is permitted in the metro, so a camera can stay out while you ride, and the station exhibitions give you something to look at while you wait.