Amazing Athens - Part 1 Getting Around

Athens is an amazing destination for people who love to explore ancient Greek culture, good Mediterranean food and amazing seascapes. It is a stone's throw from other beautiful destinations such as Mykonos and Santorini. And since you are already in the Aegean Sea region, you can easily hop to other nearby destinations such as Istanbul. Here are some tips as to how to go around this city and ideas as to the places to go and things to do while in this city.

The low-cost airlines Scoot flys direct from Singapore and the red-eye flight, leaving around 2:30am in the morning takes 11 hours and gets you into Athens in the morning. If you are able to get some shut-eye, you are ready to explore the city the minute you arrive and park your luggage in a hotel or BnB. I tried both and each has its own benefits - the hotels are near the markets such as Monasteriki and the BnB destinations are slightly out of town, but easily accessible by public transport such as buses or the Metro.

Getting to town from the airport is a breeze. The Metro stops right at the airport terminal.

Stop by the airport information counter. The staff are friendly and ever willing to advise.
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Just follow the Metro (To Trains) signs that are prominently placed all around the airport arrival level. 
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Don't worry if the signs lead you to cross the busy entrance roadway. If you spot the Sifotel hotel across the road, you are on the right path.

Take the escalator up. There is an elevator if you have bulky luggage.

Follow the travellator to the ticket office.
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The Metro is punctual, clean, fast and gets you to town for 10 Euros. As for the directions, some trains have the station signage above the door, but don't count on it as many trains I boarded did not have them.

While on the subject of the Metro, you need to do some homework and brush up on your Greek in order to read the signage. Also download an install an App or two in your mobile phone to help you navigate. My favourite is Here We Go app. It allows you to download the maps and so even when you are offline or not able to get an Internet connection, you can still count on it to advise you what to do.

The Here We Go app can be used even when offline. Also, the station names are not in Greek

The Google Maps app can only be used if you have an Internet connection. Also, signs are in upper-case Greek!