Overland Travel to Greece

Travelling by Rail

You can now travel through the Eurotunnel, but traditionally the route with British Rail is London to Folkestone then Hoverspeed to Boulogne and on to Paris, which takes just under 20 hours. At Paris you need to catch an 11-hour passage to Bologna in Northern Italy where you have a short wait before catching the onward train to the ferry port at Brindisi, a journey of some ten hours. The evening ferry docks at Patras on the Greek Peloponnese some 17.5 hours later, leaving you to catch a bus to Athens which rambles along over the Corinth canal, taking about four hours, stopping en route at Corinth for the mandatory 20-minute toilet and souvlaki (pork kebab) stop.

If you have the time, try to catch the single track Peloponnese narrow gauge train which winds its way from Athens to Kalamata, via either Phtras or Tripoli - a truly memorable journey with spectacular scenery provided it's not too hot.

Using the inter rail

If you intend to travel around Greece, you can buy a European travel ticket in the UK. See useful addresses. Tickets can be purchased for 16 days, 22 days and a month depending on the number of 'zones' you intend to travel through.

For a single 'zone' ticket (Greece only) prices range from 149 Euros for those under 12 years of age, 210 Euros for those under 26 years of age and 299 Euros for everyone else.

Relaxing on the motor rail

Always an expensive option, it is nevertheless possible to have your car transported through France, Switzerland and Italy before crossing the Adriatic sea. Definitely not recommended for those of a nervous financial disposition!

Travelling by Bus and Coach

The days of the Magic Bus and other less scrupulous coach operators are over. Spiralling fuel costs have put an end to most of the 'cowboys' who plied their trade between London and Athens, often with insufficient drivers and unsafe coaches.

Nowadays, your best bet is Eurolines. These coaches are operated by National Express with a consortium of the European state bus companies. The route is usually London, Dover, Paris, Rirnini, Ancona, Corfu, Igoumenitsa, Patras and Athens. You will probably need to change coaches in Italy and transfer to a Greek or Italian carrier. Most journeys leave London at about 9:00 a.m. on day one, and reach Athens two days later about midday. Stops of about 20 minutes are made every five or six hours with the odd longer break for roadside cafe meals. You should be able to sleep in peace, safe in the knowledge that three drivers will be working in shifts.

Travelling by Car

The best route from London to Athens is via Calais, Dijon, Chamonix, Geneva and Milan to Brindisi, then across the Adriatic sea to Igoumenitsa on the Greek mainland and onwards to Athens, a drive of some 2,500 kilometres. However, the increasing cost of the French and Italian road tolls has made this route a bit pricey.

With the introduction of a new ferry service in 1995, the most reasonable route missing out on most of the road tolls is now via Calais, Dunlurk, Lille, Mons, Namur, Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Basel, Luzern, Lugano, Como, Milan, Bologna and to the northern Italian port of Ancona, where a fast ferry service will get you to Phtras on the Greek Peloponnese in only 16 hours. From Patras, Athens is a little over 160 kilometres away. The total driving route at just over 1,600 kilometres cuts down the traditional journey by some 800 ktlometres.