5 Hours in ATHENS 🚢 What to Expect for Your Port Stop 🚢

5 Hours in ATHENS 🚢 What to Expect for Your Port Stop 🚢

What is up my fellow budget travelers? In 
today’s video, I’m starting a series about the Greek islands. I’ll show you everything that 
you can expect with a port day with Celestyal Discovery Cruise Ship. Things like what I ate, 
are the menus in English, how much did I spend here on souvenirs, all that good stuff. When 
you dock in Athens, you’re going to be here at Lavrion. And just to warn you, this is at 
least an hour’s drive from the Acropolis. So, it might be worth it to do an excursion for Athens 
just so you don’t waste any time. But for me, I was actually here early for the weekend because 
I was in town for a wedding in Rafina. So, stay tuned for that video. But I assume if a lot of you 
are leaving from Athens, you’re going to want to get there early so that you don’t miss the cruise 
ship in the morning. So, I’m sure you’re probably there a couple days early as well. So, let’s start 
off by showing you how to get from the airport into City Center Athens. So, here we are at Athens 
International Airport. And after you pick up your baggage, if you have a shuttle transfer, it’s 
going to be over here to the right. It’s to the right of door 5 in Rafina. I had stayed at Avra 
Hotel and they sent me an email with directions. So, I figured I’d share with you cuz it’s kind of 
easier to see here where all the airport shuttles will be. But the airport shuttle is always free. 
So, if you’re staying in Rafina or if you get into that port, you could take the free shuttle 
from your hotel to the airport and then take the subway from there. However, I assume the majority 
of you will be taking the subway into Athens. So, what you’re going to do is look for door 
three. That’s the closest to the subway entrance. That’s door three over there on the 
left. And the subway is straight this way. So, you’ll see this hotel over here. If you see it, 
that means you’re going the right way. Don’t go straight past it. Go to the left of it. So, if 
you see this sign, it means you’re on the right path. They have a few escalators and elevators, so 
you can do either or. And then once you’re inside, there’s like a covered bridge. You’re just going 
to follow that into the entrance to the subway. Now, this is where it gets a little complicated 
because it’s automatically going to be in Greek. So, just click this little flag and hit the 
English flag and that will give you English. Then you’re going to hit buy ticket and however 
many you need. And then you’re going to do the 90 minute Athens and airport ticket. That ticket 
is good for 90 minutes. Then you’re going to go ahead and scan. And do not throw this away because 
you need to scan it again in order to get out. So, luckily we did not throw ours away because I like 
collecting souvenirs, but otherwise we would have just tossed it. And from here, you’re going to 
catch the blue line and that’s going to take you right into Athens. And it’ll take you about 40 
minutes or so. You’ll be able to follow along because they say which stop you’re at and it also 
will tell here even though it doesn’t want to show up on my video right this second. And then you’re 
going to scan to exit the subway. And here you are inside Athens. But this is where all the action is 
and most likely going to be closer to your hotel at this stop. And let me just tell you, trust your 
GPS cuz these roads are very zigzaggy. And yes, you are supposed to walk up that hill. So, of 
course, first thing on my to-do list is to stop into a coffee shop which ended up selling nuts in 
the back. That was cool. But had to get a Freddo cappuccino. And it only took us about 5 minutes 
before we saw her. The Acropolis. She is gorgeous. So, it’s really cool to walk around the 
city and the Acropolis just peaks out at you around every like nook and cranny. 
We stopped to listen to this band. [Music] And while you’re walking around 
Athens, it’s really cool cuz there’s just ruins everywhere. And there’s a lot of Greek cats which 
are always cute. But again, trust your GPS because if it’s taking you to the South Slope entrance, 
it’s the best because it had the most shades. So, I’m happy I took that travel tip because it was 
hot out. On your ticket, it’s going to give you reservation time for you to go in. You can 
go in anytime during that hour. And now, this is the most important part. There are a lot 
of scams in Athens. You’ll kind of feel that vibe as soon as you get off the subway, but only buy 
tickets from this website. This is the official website. This is the only place you should be 
buying tickets. And when I went in September 2025, it was only €30. So, you should be paying around 
€30. Now, once you’re inside, make sure you take your time to explore because there is a lot 
to see here. They even have an Acropolis app if you want to check that out, but there is 
so much to explore and so much history. So, don’t feel like you need to follow the crowds 
or race anybody. Just kind of take your time and explore. I even found myself stopping to 
listen to different tour guides around areas that I was interested in. So feel free to 
poke your head in and listen to other tour guides. Just because you didn’t buy the 
tour doesn’t mean you can’t, you know, take pictures next to the tour. For example, one 
of the tours was talking about what was on this plaque. And all of the statues you see in Rome, 
they all used to be painted, which I had no idea. And then there’s also used to be seats in the 
stadiums and things, like actual marble seats, which I thought was really cool. I just 
assumed it was like wood. But you can see here, they all used to be like this seat here. 
And this is one of the few remaining ones. You’re definitely going to want to wear 
comfortable shoes because this is some slick marble you’re walking on. And I did 
not have the right shoes, but I managed. But you definitely need some grip with your shoes 
because that marble is slippery. And you know, it’s not so much watching out for yourself like 
it’s watching out for other people around you tripping over these bulging rocks and things 
because people are walking around not paying attention and next thing you know they’re knocking 
you down the marble with them. I saw it happened to one guy. I felt so bad. This was one of my 
favorite photos that I took in Greece. This is just like an epic spot for a backdrop and it looks 
so cool when you’re taking a selfie. And that’s a perk of going up the south side because honestly 
the north side was closed by the time we got over there. So I’m so happy we went up the south 
so we were able to see all this stuff. You’re also going to need a water bottle while you’re 
at the Acropolis cuz it is hot especially if you’re here in the summer and it gets really 
dusty too. So even just you know breathing through your mouth gets a little dry because 
of all the dust. I saw a lot of people with umbrellas. So if you want bring an umbrella and 
that will kind of shade you from the heat as well. There are some trees so you can catch 
some shade here and there and the cicas will sing to you. This was also crazy to me 
that it was such like a fine line but all the rocks are so different shaped but they 
managed to do these like perfect lines all meanwhile being like dug into a hill. It’s 
so cool to see this up close and personal. This was over where I saw 
the guy fall down. So again, just watch your step when you’re walking 
up and down these slick marble tiles. sitting on Well, they cross [Applause] Our reservation for the Acropolis was around 5:00. 
So, I thought it was really cool because once you get up there, the sun starts to go down 
and all the columns start to change color as you’re walking back down. The only bad 
thing, like I said, was the north side did end up closing. So, we weren’t able to 
go see the north side. It closes at 6:00, but I think the south side was pretty 
awesome. So, I’m good with what I saw. And we ended up walking down the north side just 
to see it from a different angle. And again, the slope was closed, but there is a path that 
goes to the exit. I think it’s to the north entrance maybe. But that was fun going down just 
to see the Acropolis from a different angle. And by now, we were starving, so I was craving 
some feta cheese and some mythos beer. So, we stopped at this little guy, which was over 
around Monestraki Square. It was off one of the side streets. And honestly, we stopped there 
because there was photos on the menu to explain what we were looking at. But we went inside to use 
the bathroom. And look how beautiful this place was. And to give you an idea of pricing, feta 
was $4, the rooster was 11, the spanicopa was 4, and the mythos was $5. You can see in this video, 
I was so happy to have my feta cheese. This was my first feta cheese in Greece. Next, it was 
time to go shopping. So, we went over to the street right over next to where we were eating. 
And that is where all the good stuff is. It was so pretty watching the sun start to go down too. 
All this area over by Manisaki Street. I think this is Monestraki Market. I’m sorry I’m totally 
butchering it, but that’s where all the deals are. And make sure if you can see the Acropolis 
at night. It is so cool. There’s a bunch of rooftops in Athens downtown area, too. So, if 
you can get up on a rooftop, go check it out. But we were kind of running short on time and we 
had made a reservation for the hotel shuttle to bring us back to the hotel. So, we skipped this 
rooftop bar that’s right over here and we headed back to the subway so that we could get back to 
the hotel. Now, I do want to tell you the late night subway schedule is a little bit different. 
So, just pay attention to where you’re going, but it’s the same idea. You’re going to go back 
to the airport, so you’re going to have to buy a ticket to the airport again. And it’s that same 
one, the 90minute one. But for Athens airport, it’s a special one. It says Athens and airport. 
So, here’s the subway coming our way. And then it was off to the airport. And again, we went 
over to where the hotel shuttles are. So, they were right back where they were, right over 
by gate 5. And once we got back to the hotel, we went over to this little bodega cuz I wanted to 
try some snacks. We were still kind of hungry. And I really recommend trying whatever is really weird 
looking when you look around in the supermarkets because they have some really interesting flavors 
in Greece. And that’s about it for Athens because we just sat on the balcony for the rest of the 
night. And if you want to check out the hotel that I stayed at in Rafina, I’ll be posting that 
video soon. So I’ll leave a link here once I do. And let’s just do a quick port day in Athens 
recap. So for this stop, you’re going to be docked so you can get on and off the boat at 
your leisure. Do I suggest an excursion? Yes, just because it’ll save you a lot of time and 
Athens is huge. It is really spread out. So, it just depends what you want to do. It is going 
to take you about an hour to get into city center of Athens. If you want to run around and do things 
by yourself, I would suggest getting a rental, but it really just depends on how much time you 
get in the port. Is there a beach nearby? Yes, there are many. Even Rafina had a really beautiful 
beach. If you guys make it out there, make sure you hit Kraken Bar. It’s a really fun beach bar. 
And here’s an idea of how much I spent while I was in the city. If you guys have any questions, 
feel free to ask me anything in the comments. I’ll do my best to get back to you as soon as possible. 
And if I inspired you to put Greece on your bucket list, make sure you hit a blue heart in the 
comments so I know that I’m doing a good job with these videos. If you want to explore more of 
what I did on my Celestyal Discovery cruise ship, I’ve got plenty of more videos coming. So, make 
sure you check out this playlist here. Otherwise, tomorrow, hit that subscribe because I am going 
to Mykonos. And no, this is not Photoshop. This is exactly what it looked like. So, you’re going 
to want to see that video. I’ll see you there. [Music]

You’ve got about a 5 Hour Port day in Athens Greece and have no idea what to do? I’ve got you covered!

I go through everything you need to know about getting off the ship like how far is the Acropolis, how much should you budget, how much is food, are the menus in English, and More! I took a cruise with the Celestyal Discovery Cruise Ship and documented my experiences in the Greek Islands to share the tips I learned with you!

***** VIDEO CHAPTERS *****
0:00 Athens INTRO
1:22 Athens Airport to Athens City Center
3:32 Entering the Acropolis
4:12 Acropolis Tips
9:13 Eating and Shopping
10:36 Athens Recap OUTRO

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#greece #greecetrip #acropolis #athens #athensgreece

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I’ve been traveling the world for over 20 years and have learned how to see it all on a budget! I’m here to share with you how to work the system and start putting more vacations in the books too! It’s cheaper to do than you think! Keep checking in for even more budget tips and hacks and I’ll see you in the next video!

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