Buses are the most affordable means of transport in Greece for longer distances, and they take you to even the most remote villages at least once a day.

But renting a car is always the most convenient, especially on the islands where it's not wise to rely too much on buses.

For longer distances and for transport from the mainland to the islands, both boat and air transport are widely used.

Travelling by car

Car rental companies can be found in tourist resorts on almost every corner. We recommend travelling by car in Greece if you want to explore the countryside or tour the islands.

Bus transport on the islands is mainly concentrated on the big resorts and you can't get to the countryside or to remote beaches except by car.

Where to rent a car and how much do car rentals cost in Greece? What are the regulations here? For a more comprehensive summary, see our article Car rental in Greece.

Buses

Buses are the main form of public transport on long-distance routes around Greece and the only form of transport on the islands.

Find connections and timetables

Unfortunately, there are no online search engines for the whole of Greece that summarise all public transport in the country.

Bus services are highly decentralised and there are hundreds of different operators, some of which do not even have a website or the information online has not been updated for many years.

Timetables can always be found separately on the websites of the individual operators.

The names of the carriers are easy to look up - most of them are called "KTEL" followed by the name of the island, region or city where the company operates.

Large carriers such as Flixbus do not operate in the national Greek market.

Examples of the most frequently searched companies:

• KTEL Thessalonikis - long-distance services from Thessaloniki, including the Thessaloniki-Athens route
• KTEL Herlas - the whole of eastern Crete and services from Heraklion (except for routes to Rethymno and Chania)
• KTEL Chania-Rethymno - Western Crete including the Chania - Rethymno - Heraklion backbone line
• KTEL Rhodou - east coast of Rhodes
• D.E.S. Roda - west coast of Rhodes
• KTEL Halkidiki - local and long-distance services from the Halkidiki peninsula
• Green Buses (KTEL Kerkyras) - local and long-distance services on the island of Corfu
• KTEL Santorini - public transport on the island of Santorini
• KTEL Zakynthos - public transport on the island of Zakynthos
• KTEL Trikala - lines in the area of Trikala town and Meteora Monasteries
• KTEL Achaias - routes from Patras
• KTEL Messinias - long-distance and local lines from Kalamata or Messini

Prices and tickets

Greek buses are on average cheap. The shortest local tickets cost between 2,50 eur and 8 eur depending on the distance travelled, but longer distances across Greece can cost more than 35 eur.

Long-distance tickets can usually be bought online via the links above, which we recommend to be sure of a seat.

For example, fares from Athens to Thessaloniki cost 42 eur, which is sometimes more than a one-way ticket.

For local services, you usually buy tickets from the driver or from the conductors who pass through the bus.

At larger stations you often have to buy a ticket at the ticket office.

Some bus companies (e.g. in Crete or Corfu) allow you to pay by card with the driver/conductor, while others allow you to pay local fares in cash only.

Trains

Trains are also available on mainland Greece and are usually cheaper than buses, but the network is not nearly as dense and only connects the larger towns. In addition, train timetables are constantly changing, especially according to the school year and holidays.

Rail is competitive with buses, especially on the Athens-Thessaloniki route. The train is about 45 minutes faster and the ticket is virtually the same price - it costs 43 eur.

Online ticket booking and timetables can be found on the official website hellenictrain.gr.

Ferries

Boat services for passengers and cars are widespread and serve all inhabited islands.

The central port is Piraeus in Athens, from where direct ferries (often with many stops, but without the need to change ferries) leave for most of the islands.

However, ferries also run between islands or from other mainland ports.

We always describe information about boat routes to specific islands in detailed guides.

Where to book ferry tickets?

There are a large number of ferry companies operating in Greece and you can compare the vast majority of them via various comparison websites.

We always use directferries.com, which has the most up-to-date information and allows online ticketing.

It always transparently states which company operates a given route, so you can eventually buy a ticket directly on their website.

On the other hand, we have had a bad experience with the rather heavily promoted ferries.gr website, which very often displays information that is several years out of date.

Compare prices and buy ferry tickets

Is online booking required?

If you are going to sail on a very busy short route, you can usually just buy your ticket just before departure at the port.

However, if you are travelling with your own car, and even more so in the summer season, we definitely recommend booking online to make sure there is space available.

Air transport

The fastest and often cheapest way to get from Athens to all the islands, as well as to Thessaloniki and Ioannina, is by plane.

If you fly with hand luggage only and book your flight at least 1 month in advance, you will usually pay less than for the ferry.

A normal one-way flight from Athens to most of the Greek islands costs between 65 eur and 120 eur.

Domestic service is mainly provided by two airlines with very frequent routes and also government subsidised routes to the smallest Greek islands:

• Aegean Airlines / Olympic Air
• Sky Express

Ryanair also flies some domestic routes in the summer season (for example Athens - Chania or Athens - Corfu).

Compare flight prices - skyscanner.com