Getting Around
Athens Metro Guide: How to Get Around Without a Car
Three lines, most major sights covered, and cheap enough that you shouldn't bother with a rental car in the city itself.
Athens' metro is small by the standards of London or Paris — just three lines — but it's clean, modern, cheap, and happens to hit nearly every major sight and neighborhood a first-time visitor needs. Most travelers can skip a rental car entirely for the city portion of their trip.
The three lines
- Line 1 (Green) — the oldest line, running north–south, useful for reaching Piraeus port for island ferries.
- Line 2 (Red) — runs through the historic center, including Syntagma and Acropoli stations — the line you'll use most as a sightseer.
- Line 3 (Blue) — connects the city center directly to the airport, and passes through Syntagma and Monastiraki.
Stations worth knowing
- Syntagma — Lines 2 & 3, central hub, next to the National Garden and parliament.
- Monastiraki — Lines 1 & 3, for the flea market and Ancient Agora.
- Acropoli — Line 2, the closest station to the Acropolis entrance and Acropolis Museum.
- Evangelismos — Line 3, for the National Garden's eastern side and some embassies/museums.
Tickets
A single ticket covers 90 minutes across all metro, bus, tram and trolley lines, including one transfer. Short-term visitors doing a lot of sightseeing usually come out ahead with a 24-hour or multi-day travel pass rather than buying singles each trip. Tickets and passes are validated at machines before boarding — inspectors do check, and fines for riding without a validated ticket are steep.
A nice bonus
Several stations, especially Syntagma and Acropoli, display archaeological finds uncovered during construction, right on the platform — a free mini-museum most visitors walk straight past.