Greece Airport Transfers: Every Major Airport, With Costs

The Greece airport transfer question has very different answers depending on which airport you are arriving at. Athens is one of the most straightforward airport-to-city transfers in Europe. Santorini is one of the most confusing for first-time visitors. The twelve airports covered in this guide each have their own specific situation — this guide works through them all.

For the broader getting-around-Greece context, see the transportation in Greece guide. For the Athens-specific overview, see the Athens airport guide.

Flying in from the US? Start with our guide to how to travel to Greece from the USA, which covers flight times, which Greek airport to fly into and how to time your arrival.

Your first Greek word of the trip is almost always said to the driver holding the sign — and yassas is the safe one. Our guide to hello in Greek covers why, and when kalimera turns into kalispera.

Athens International Airport (ATH) — Eleftherios Venizelos

Athens airport is one of the most modern and well-connected airports in Europe, opened in 2001 and serving 30+ million passengers annually. It is located 33 km east of central Athens, near the coastal suburb of Spata.

Metro Line 3 (Best Option)

Metro Line 3 (Blue Line) runs directly between the airport and Syntagma Square (central Athens) every 30 minutes, from approximately 5:30am to 12:30am. Journey time: 40 minutes.

Tickets: €10.50 single / €18 return (return valid within 48 hours). The return ticket must be validated within 48 hours of the outbound journey — useful if you are leaving again quickly. One ticket covers all public transport (tram, bus) for 90 minutes after validation, so if you need a connection from Syntagma, you are covered.

The Metro also stops at Doukissis Plakentias (for eastern suburbs), Nomismatokopio, and Evangelismos (for the upmarket Kolonaki/Hilton area). For Piraeus (ferry port), change at Syntagma to Line 2 then Line 1, or travel the whole way on Line 1 from Monastiraki (allow 70 minutes total).

X95 Express Bus (Budget Option)

The X95 Attica Bus operates 24 hours between the airport and Syntagma Square. Journey time: 60–90 minutes depending on traffic.

Fare: €6.40. Running every 15–30 minutes, it is the cheapest airport transfer option. Slower than the Metro and subject to Athens traffic, but the right choice for the budget-conscious traveller or anyone arriving outside Metro hours.

Other express bus routes: X93 to Kifissos Bus Terminal (for KTEL intercity buses), X96 to Piraeus port (90 min–2 hours, €6.40), X97 to Dafni Metro station.

Taxi

Fixed regulated rates from Athens airport to central Athens: €40 daytime (5am–midnight) / €55 night (midnight–5am). These are legally regulated and non-negotiable. The tariff card is displayed inside the vehicle; you can request to see it.

Always use taxis from the official taxi rank outside the arrivals exit, not drivers who approach you inside the terminal (to avoid the meter and 'your hotel is closed' taxi scams). The official taxis have a city-issued licence plate and a lit meter.

Private Transfer

Multiple operators offer pre-booked private transfers from Athens airport. Standard sedan (1–3 passengers): from approximately €40–55. Minivan (up to 8 passengers): from approximately €70–90. Welcome Pickups is the most widely used platform and includes a name-board meet in arrivals.

Pre-booked private transfers make most sense for late-night arrivals, large groups, families with young children, or travellers with a lot of luggage heading to specific addresses outside the metro grid.

Heading straight from the airport to a ferry? Our guide to Greek ferries and Piraeus port explains how much time to leave and which gate to aim for.

Heading to a yacht charter rather than a hotel? See our Athens Airport to Alimos Marina guide — drivers who specialise in this route can drop you at the correct pontoon, not just the marina entrance.

Uber, FREENOW and Bolt: Which Taxi Apps Actually Work in Greece

This is the question people ask most often and almost no Greek transfer guide answers properly, so here it is plainly. Three apps operate in Greece: Uber (as Uber Taxi), FREENOW (which Greeks still call Beat, its old name), and Bolt, which launched in Athens in January 2025. There is no Lyft in Greece and there is no UberX.

The crucial difference from home: Greek law does not permit private-car ride-hailing. All three apps dispatch licensed yellow taxis on regulated meters — the same cars you would flag on the street, driven by the same drivers. What you gain from the app is card payment, a price quoted upfront, GPS tracking, an English receipt, and no conversation about the fare. What you do not gain is a cheaper ride.

Where they work: Athens and Thessaloniki reliably. Heraklion and Chersonissos on Crete. Bolt has been expanding to more islands. They do not work in Chania, Rethymno, Agios Nikolaos, or anywhere rural — there you ring a Radio Taxi (ραδιοταξί) cooperative by phone, or you pre-book. Assume no app coverage on a small island unless you have checked. For the island-by-island detail, see our guide to Uber in Greece.

At Athens airport specifically: the apps use a designated pickup zone that is not the taxi rank, so follow the in-app directions rather than walking straight outside. The regulated €40 day / €55 night flat fare to central Athens applies through the apps too, usually with a small booking fee on top. FREENOW has the largest driver pool in Athens and matches fastest; Bolt tends to be cheapest and runs promo codes for new accounts; Uber is worth using if you simply prefer the interface you already have.

The honest limitation: at peak times, in bad weather and on late-night arrivals, all three apps can show no available cars at the airport at once. Drivers switch the apps off to avoid commission and work the rank instead. If you land after midnight or have a tight onward connection, an app is not a plan — a pre-booked transfer is the only option that guarantees a car is actually there.

Standard Athens city fares in 2026: roughly €1.80 base plus about €0.90 per kilometre on the daytime tariff, with a higher night tariff between midnight and 5am. Airport journeys are the exception, being fixed rather than metered.

Thessaloniki Airport (SKG) — Makedonia

Thessaloniki's Makedonia Airport is 13 km from the city centre. Options:

Bus 78A: Runs between the airport and the city centre (Eleftheria Square and the train station). Fare: €2. Journey time: 30–45 minutes. Runs approximately every 30–60 minutes throughout the day.

Taxi: Fixed conventional metered taxi. Journey to central Thessaloniki: approximately €25–35 depending on traffic and exact destination. No fixed airport rate (unlike Athens) — the meter runs on Tariff 1 (daytime) or Tariff 2 (nighttime).

Private transfer: From approximately €35–50 for a standard vehicle.

Heraklion Airport (HER) — Nikos Kazantzakis, Crete

Heraklion's airport is 4 km from the city centre — one of the closest airport-to-city situations in Greece.

Bus 78: Municipal bus connecting the airport to Heraklion's central bus station (KTEL) and city centre. Fare: €1.20. Journey time: 15–20 minutes. Runs frequently but with less frequency late at night.

Taxi: Extremely short journey — 10–15 minutes to the centre. Metered; expect €12–18 to the city centre or harbour area.

Rental car: All major operators have desks in the arrivals hall. If you are heading directly to a resort or planning to drive in Crete (strongly recommended), picking up the rental car here and driving directly saves the taxi cost. See car rental Heraklion.

Private transfer: Pre-booked transfers to Heraklion hotels start from approximately €25–35. For destinations further east or west along Crete's coast, pre-booking makes more sense given the longer drives.

Chania Airport (CHQ) — Ioannis Daskalogiannis, Crete

Chania airport is 15 km from Chania town.

Bus: Seasonal bus service connects the airport to Chania's central bus station (KTEL). Fare: €2.50. Journey time: 25–35 minutes. Frequency is limited — confirm the timetable in advance.

Taxi: €25–35 to Chania town. Metered. Journey time: 20–30 minutes.

Private transfer: Particularly useful for Chania as the taxi situation can be busy during charter flight arrivals. Pre-booked transfers from approximately €35–50. See car rental Chania.

Rhodes Airport (RHO) — Diagoras

Rhodes Diagoras Airport is located on the west coast, 16 km from Rhodes Town.

Bus: KTEL bus service connects the airport to Rhodes Town (Rimini Square) and to the resort areas of Faliraki and Lindos. Fare to Rhodes Town: €2.50. Journey time: 30–40 minutes.

Taxi: €25–35 to Rhodes Town. Metered. Taxis are also available to Lindos (approximately €55–65) and other destinations.

Private transfer: Useful for late arrivals or direct hotel transfers; from approximately €30–55 depending on destination.

See car rental Rhodes.

Corfu Airport (CFU) — Ioannis Kapodistrias

Corfu airport is 2 km from Corfu Town — one of the closest in Greece.

That short hop makes an old-town hotel the easiest arrival in Greece; our best hotels in Corfu guide lists the ones we'd book, inside the walls and beyond.

Bus: Municipal bus routes run from near the airport to Corfu Town centre. Fare: €1.10–2. Journey time: 10–15 minutes.

Taxi: €10–15 to Corfu Town. Very short journey — the airport is practically adjacent to the town. For resort areas further north or south, taxis are metered and distances are longer (30–60 minutes).

Private transfer: Less critical here given proximity to town, but useful for large groups or transfers to distant resort areas. From approximately €20–60 depending on destination.

Santorini Airport (JTR) — Thira

Santorini's airport is on the eastern side of the island, 5 km from Fira (the main town).

No metro or reliable public bus from the airport. This is the key Santorini airport transfer fact. There is a local bus route that theoretically passes near the airport, but it is not designed as an airport transfer service and is unreliable for timed arrivals.

Taxi: The standard transfer option. €20–25 to Fira, €30–40 to Oia, €15–20 to Perissa/Kamari beaches. Santorini taxis are in high demand in summer — a queue of 50 people at a busy charter arrival is not unusual. Pre-booking is strongly recommended.

Private transfer: Particularly useful at Santorini. Transfer operators wait in arrivals with name boards and provide fixed pricing. Pre-book via Welcome Pickups booking system. From approximately €25–45 to Fira/Oia depending on operator.

Rental car/ATV: Santorini's roads are not ideal for standard cars in the narrow caldera-edge areas, but rental vehicles are available at the airport. See car rental Santorini.

Whether you need a car at all depends on where you are staying and what you plan to do — based on the caldera rim with three days, the buses cover most of it. Our 3 days in Santorini itinerary works out which transport you actually need on each day.

Mykonos Airport (JMK) — Mykonos

Mykonos airport is 3 km from Mykonos Town.

Bus: There is a local bus route near the airport, but it is unreliable as an airport transfer — timing does not align with flight arrivals.

Taxi: €10–15 to Mykonos Town. In peak season (July–August), the taxi queue at Mykonos airport can be significant. Pre-booking is strongly recommended during peak months. See car rental Mykonos.

Private transfer: Particularly valuable in peak season. From approximately €15–30 to town.

Kos Airport (KGS) — Hippocrates

Kos airport is 24 km from Kos Town — further than most Greek island airports.

Bus: KTEL bus service connects the airport to Kos Town. Fare: €4. Journey time: 40–50 minutes.

Taxi: €35–45 to Kos Town. The distance makes this the more expensive island airport taxi.

Private transfer: Particularly useful given the distance. From approximately €35–55.

Kos airport is also the gateway to Nisyros, and that 24km matters more here than anywhere else on this page: the ferry to the volcano island is 45 minutes from Kardamena or about an hour from Kos Town, and the taxi rank empties within minutes of a charter landing. If your boat is the same day, book the transfer. Our Nisyros travel guide sets out the connection in full.

Kefalonia Airport (EFL) — Anna Pollatou

Kefalonia airport is 9 km from Argostoli (the capital).

Bus: Limited bus service; availability varies by season.

Taxi: €15–25 to Argostoli. To Fiskardo or other more distant parts of the island, taxis are metered and significantly more expensive — a taxi from the airport to Fiskardo (north Kefalonia) can cost €60–80.

Private transfer / Rental car: Particularly recommended for Kefalonia given the island's size and the importance of having a car to explore it. See the Kefalonia travel guide.

Zakynthos Airport (ZTH) — Dionysios Solomos

Zakynthos airport is 6 km from Zakynthos Town.

Bus: KTEL buses connect to Zakynthos Town. Fare: €2. Journey time: 15–20 minutes.

Taxi: €15–20 to Zakynthos Town. Metered.

Private transfer / Rental car: For resort areas (Laganas, Tsilivi), taxis are available but pre-booking a transfer is more reliable during busy summer arrivals.

Skiathos Airport (JSI)

Skiathos has one of the most dramatically positioned airports in Greece — the runway begins almost at the town. The airport is 1 km from Skiathos Town.

Taxi: €8–12 to Skiathos Town. Very short journey.

On foot: The most budget-conscious travellers walk the 1 km from the terminal to the town along the beach road — a genuinely pleasant walk in good weather.

The Smaller Airports: Preveza, Kalamata, Paros, Kavala and the Rest

Greece has far more airports than the twelve above, and several of them take large volumes of charter traffic from the UK and northern Europe without ever appearing in a transfer guide. They share a pattern: a small terminal, a taxi rank that empties fast when a charter lands, a bus service that may or may not be running that month, and no app coverage at all. On every one of these, pre-booking or renting a car at arrivals is the difference between a smooth arrival and standing outside a closed terminal.

Preveza / Aktion (PVK) — the gateway to Lefkada, Parga and the Ionian mainland, and one of the busiest UK charter airports in Greece. Lefkada is reached by road across the causeway, roughly 30–40 minutes. There is no meaningful public transport link, so this is a pre-book or rent-a-car airport.

Kalamata (KLX) — serves Messinia and the southern Peloponnese, including Costa Navarino and the Mani. Distances from the terminal are substantial and the destinations are spread out, which makes it one of the clearest cases in Greece for arranging transport before you fly.

Paros (PAS) — the newer terminal handles domestic flights from Athens and a growing number of seasonal international routes. Small island, short distances, but a limited taxi fleet that a full flight will exhaust.

Kavala (KVA) — the airport for Thassos and eastern Macedonia. Reaching Thassos means an onward ferry from Keramoti, which is close to the airport; time your transfer around the boat rather than the landing.

Samos (SMI), Mytilene / Lesbos (MJT), Chios (JKH), Limnos (LXS), Karpathos (AOK) — the eastern Aegean group. All have taxi ranks, most have a sparse local bus, none have app coverage. On the larger ones — Lesbos in particular, where the island is big enough that your destination may be 90km from the terminal — a car is close to essential.

Naxos (JNX), Milos (MLO), Syros (JSY), Astypalaia, Leros, Kalymnos, Ikaria, Skyros — small domestic airstrips served mostly by Athens flights on propeller aircraft. Handfuls of taxis, no buses timed to arrivals. Ask your accommodation to send someone; on islands this size that is normal and often free.

On Syros, taxis meet the flights and there's no airport bus; our Syros travel guide covers taxi prices and the island's bus loop.

Kastoria (KSO), Ioannina (IOA), Alexandroupoli (AXD), Araxos (GPA), Nea Anchialos (VOL) — mainland regional airports with light schedules. Taxi ranks here are not always staffed for every arrival, particularly on winter flights. Book ahead or arrange a car.

Fares at the smaller airports are metered rather than regulated and vary considerably by season and destination, so we have deliberately not quoted figures we cannot stand behind. Ask the rate before you get in, or pre-book a fixed price.

Airport to Resort: The Journeys People Actually Make

Most transfer guides price the airport-to-main-town run. Most travellers are not going to the main town — they are going to a resort twenty or forty kilometres past it, which is a different journey, a different price, and often a different answer about whether to pre-book.

Heraklion to Hersonissos and Gouves — the busiest resort corridor in Greece. Gouves is about 20km east of the airport and Hersonissos about 25km, both on the national road, so 20–30 minutes in normal traffic. The bus along this coast is genuinely usable, unlike most island bus routes.

Rhodes to Faliraki and Lindos — Faliraki is roughly 20km from the terminal on the east coast, about 30 minutes. Lindos is around 50km and closer to an hour; the taxi fare there runs well above the Rhodes Town rate, which is why the KTEL bus to Lindos is popular despite the luggage.

Kos to Kardamena and Kefalos — an unusual case, because Kos airport sits in the middle of the island rather than near the town. Kardamena is only about 8km south, so if you are staying there you are far closer than the 24km Kos Town figure suggests — worth knowing before you accept a quote.

Zakynthos to Laganas and Tsilivi — both short hops, Laganas around 8km and Tsilivi around 10km, but summer charter arrivals cluster and the rank drains quickly.

Corfu to Gouvia, Dassia and Sidari — Gouvia and Dassia are 8–12km north of the airport, fifteen to twenty minutes. Sidari is right across the island at around 35km and closer to an hour, which is a different proposition entirely from the €10–15 town fare.

Athens to the Riviera — Vouliagmeni, Lagonisi, Anavyssos and Sounio are south of the airport rather than through the city, so the drive is often faster than going into Athens. The fixed €40 airport tariff covers central Athens only; the coast is metered and quoted separately, so agree the price first or pre-book.

Cross-island and intercity — Heraklion to Chania is about 140km and just over two hours; Chania to Rethymno about 60km. Thessaloniki to Athens is a 500km drive and almost always better done by train or plane than by transfer, whatever a quote says.

Distances are approximate and driving times assume normal conditions. Resort-route fares are metered rather than regulated — confirm before departure or book a fixed price in advance.

Booking Platform Comparison

Pre-booking platforms: Welcome Pickups operates across all major Greek airports and is the most widely used dedicated private transfer service in the country — fixed price quoted before you book, a driver waiting in arrivals with a name board, and no surge pricing on a 2am landing. Suntransfers and Hoppa are the main alternatives if you want to compare, and booking direct with a local operator on your hotel's recommendation is also perfectly reliable. The one thing not to do is arrive at Santorini or Mykonos in August with no plan and expect the taxi rank to absorb a full charter flight.

Plan Your Trip

• Athens Airport Guide — full Athens airport arrivals and departures guide
• Transportation in Greece — every transport option explained
• Trip to Athens Greece — Athens city guide
• Corfu Travel Guide — Corfu from the airport
• Trip to Santorini Greece — Santorini including airport logistics
• Trip to Crete Greece — Heraklion and Chania airports
• Rhodes Travel Guide — Rhodes airport to town
• Greece Entry Requirements for US Citizens — EES biometrics, passport rules and how long the border now takes
• How to Plan a Trip to Greece — full planning framework