Travel

You should plan your arrival to the Anargyrios and Korgialenios School for Sunday  the 26th of June, 2016. The workshop dinner will be on Thursday 30th of June, so you should plan to depart on Sunday 3rd of July. Flights leaving Athens airport before noon will be difficult / expensive to reach, so try to book later flights.
 
Flights should be arranged via Athens airport. Check if you require a Visa to enter Greece with the general overview of entry requirements or the official list. The currency is the Euro. General information on Greece is available at the Greek Tourism Organisation or on Wikipedia.
When you have finalized your travel plans, please email us your flight numbers to and from Athens, or your other travel arrangements. This will help us organize the airport transfers and Conference programme
 

Travel Plans

(Plan 1) Airport to Piraeus by Metro

Cost: 10 Euro Time: 1.5 hours

First, find the metro station at the airport.
 

Athens Airport Map
 
Take the metro line 3 ("blue line") towards Egaleo/ΑΙΓΑΛΕΩ. At the Monastiraki/ΜΟΝΑΣΤΗΡΑΚΙ station, you must change trains to line 1 (the "green line"). to Pireas/ΠΕΙΡΑΙΑΣ .
 

The Metro runs every day, 06:30 to 23:30, and tickets cost 10 Euro (single) or 18 Euro (return). You can buy a ticket from a machine at the station. You must invalidate the ticket with a time stamp at the gate to the platform, before you board the train.

 
Download a Map of Athens Metro (0.7 MB .pdf)

(Plan 1) Airport to Piraeus by Bus

Cost: 6 Euro Time: 1 hr 30 min - 2 hours

The X96 Airport Express bus leaves directly outside the arrivals area of the airport (between doors 4 and 5). Take this bus nearly to the end of the line, at Piraeus harbour. The exact stop name is "ΠΛ.ΚΑΡΑΙΣΚΑΚΗ" (Karaiskaki Square).

Then it is a short walk (towards the water) to find a large iron gate where you enter the harbour area. Look for a Hellenic Seaways ticket booth, and ask them where to find your boat.
 
The bus runs 24 hours, every 20 or 30 minutes. Tickets cost 5 euro (2.50 for student) for a one-way trip, and can be bought from the driver or the information kiosk by the bus stop at the airport.
 
(Plan 1) Catching the Ferry Piraeus to Spetses
Cost: 35 - 45 Euro Time: 2-3 hours

The official Ferry schedules are available online. (Click "Highspeed" and look for Piraeus-Spetses).

You can buy your ticket at Piraeus, or pre-book it online, and pick it up at the Harbour. The office is called "Hellenic Seaways Maritime S.A." and can be found very near where the ferry leaves, at Astiggos 6, Karaiskaki Sq., 185 31, Piraeus. It seems you can also pick up these tickets at the (many) sales booths on the harbour itself, and at some automated "e-ticket" collection machines.
 
Piraeus to Spetses costs 35 Euro (economy) each way (correct as at May 2013). On the bigger "Flying Cat" boat, business class tickets of about 45 Euro may be available.
 
The ferry leaves from gate "E8" - ARGOSARONIC. Sometimes the ferries (especially the "flying dolphin" hydrofoils) are docked between gate E8 and E9. Ask at a Hellenic booth to confirm where your boat is.
 
Map of Harbour at Piraeus

(Plan 2) Airport - Costa - Spetses

First, travel to the town of Costa (by car, taxi, or bus). Costa is about 150 km from Athens, on the Argolis peninsula of the Peloponnese. It is the closest point on the mainland to Spetses island. Head in the direction of Corinth, then take the exit for Epidavros. Head for Kranidi, Porto Heli, and finally Costa. A taxi should cost 200 - 250 EUR and take about 2 hours. A bus might cost 35 Euro.

From Costa (or Porto Heli), take a water taxi to the island of Spetses. A water taxi is a small boat that holds up to 8 people. They run on demand, 24 hours per day. The fare can be a little higher between midnight and 6 am.

 
The price is per trip, not per person. That is, two (or more) people in the boat can share the cost. In practice this means the trips are very cheap. Kosta to Spetses should be 25 or 30 euro, and Porto Heli to Spetses 45 or 50 euro, each way.