Athens (ATH)

Advantages: now a clean and rather quiet city
Disadvantages: we couldn't find any in the short time we stayed there

...the outskirts to the centre. Athens proper isn't a very big city, it has only 750 000 inhabitants, but one can't notice where the city begins and ends, what appears to be one city is a conurbation of several independent cities and towns with a population of approximately four million people, more than one third of the Greek population lives there. It was only after WW2 that Athens began to grow or rather to explode as people migrated from the villages ...
...Games in 2004 for which Athens was completely overhauled. Athens wanted to have the centenary Olympic Games in 1996 but didn't get them because the environmental and infrastructure problems were too great. Should you know Athens from before the Olympic Games in 2004 and found the city ugly and un-livable then, think again or better: come again, it's really nice now. The traffic seems civilised to an observer, it's fast but there isn't any unnecessary ... Read review

Advantages: A Unique Experience which you can only but feel if you were there
Disadvantages: None enjoyed every moment

...to the sunny heights of Athens airport and ended in a simuliar fashion. I was pleasantly greeted by my landlady at the arrivals terminal who took me to the home I'd be spending for the duration of the games. The 1st few days of my stay was spent admiring the old ruins of the olympic temple of Zeus, where dart throwers were practising for the games itself, to the beautiful scaffolding keeping the acropolis together, to both ancient and roman agoras, ...
...to walking down the famous street of plaka. The most exciting part of the 1st leg of my olympic journey was to hunt for all 38 venues and take pictures with me as close to them as possible. Of course this was an impossible task to complete as quite a few of the venues are not in Athens. If seen on the tv we wouldn't think like that thou as they switch so quickly from one venue to another. Anyway it's 11th August 2004 and we are heading to Pireaus ... Read review

Advantages: clean,efficient,quick check-in
Disadvantages: access time

...to the traffic situation in athens travel time to the airport should be assesed by the day and time of day. The airport can be reached by the new motorway if you are in north or west of athens and by a back road ( now being converted into a motorway)if you are in the south or east of the city. Other than by private cars and coaches, the airport can be reached by taxi or bus. Taxi costs in greece are low and the cost to the airport will average at ...
...the airport from syntagma square athens and another service from pireus port at Ag Triada. The athens service goes via the north of the city and that of pireas via the coast. The service runs every 15min and costs 4euro. You should also know that when you buy a ticket for this bus it is valid for 24hr on all athens transport; bus,tram,metro,etc. which makes it a very good deal. The buses are purpose made with good seating and a special area for ... Read review

Advantages: New, clean, efficient, spacious
Disadvantages: If you're on the wrong side of Athens, (i.e. south or west) leave lots of time to reach it!

...selling nothing but souvenirs for Athens 2004, of course! Of the things that really matter, the only disadvantage to the airport itself is the distances you often have to walk. Although there are travelators, the terminal for BA (and most other foreign operators) is effectively a long strip and it can take well over ten minutes to reach your gate. (LHR has few gates that far and is a much larger airport.) The airport's location isn't ideal, being ...
...Getting to the edge of Athens is pretty quick. The rest of your journey depends upon where in Athens you want to go. If you're heading anywhere near Piraeus, anywhere near rush "hour" (which lasts about 19 hours in Athens ;-) ), then I wish you luck! Catching a Friday night flight at 6pm often meant leaving the office (halfway between Athens and Piraeus) at 1pm, to be sure of catching the flight. Most days you'd get there early, but sometimes you ... Read review

Advantages: Good bus service to downtown
Disadvantages: Smokey, dirty, run-down, confused with other Athens airport

The Athens airport is absolutely horrific, however if you're going to Athens it is difficult to avoid. Let me set the scene: a huge, cavernous building full of smoke and smokers (I am a smoker myself, and still found it unbearably smokey). It is also quite dirty and run-down. And buy your souvenirs and gifts far away from the airport -- they're outrageously expensive! As well, there seem to be two airports in Athens: make very sure you specify exactly ...
...more accessible, but generally useless, other one (this happened to me), from which you will then have to take a bus to get to the international airport. One good thing is that there is excellent bus service from the Athens airport to downtown Athens -- albeit unbelievably crowded. ... Read review