Rafina Port Guide: Ferries, and Getting There from Athens & the Airport

Rafina is Athens’ east-coast ferry port, about 30 km from Syntagma by road and some 10 km from the airport as the crow flies, and it sits much closer to Andros, Tinos and Mykonos than Piraeus does. You get there by KTEL Attikis bus, from the city’s Pedion tou Areos terminal or nine times a day straight from the airport, or by taxi. Almost everything that goes wrong with Rafina port ferries from Athens comes down to timing, because the first boats of the day sail soon after 07:00. That is early for a port an hour from most hotels.

This page is for travellers weighing Rafina against Piraeus, and for anyone flying in and sailing straight on to the northern Cyclades. The caveat that matters: KTEL’s online timetables are of mixed vintage (the Athens sheet is dated July 2021, the airport sheet is headed 2025), so treat the bus times below as the pattern and confirm them the day before you travel. For every other way off the mainland, start with our guide to getting from Athens to the islands and beyond. Details checked 26 September 2026 against KTEL Attikis, Fast Ferries, Golden Star Ferries, Seajets, OASA and Athens International Airport.

Rafina at a glance	The short answer
Where it is	East coast of Attica, about 30 km from Syntagma by road, with the airport in between
From the airport	KTEL bus from Arrivals (between Exits 2 and 3): nine a day, 04:35 to 22:30, roughly 30-40 minutes
From central Athens	KTEL bus from Pedion tou Areos, roughly hourly from 05:55 to 22:40 on the latest sheet; allow an hour or more
All-year islands	Andros, Tinos and Mykonos; Fast Ferries also lists a daily Naxos run
Mostly summer	Paros, Ios and Santorini, mainly on high-speed boats
Cheapest listed fares	Golden Star: Andros from €25, Tinos from €35, Mykonos from €50, Santorini from €65
Book ahead?	Yes in July and August, at weekends and for any car; check in online
Wrong port for	Crete, the Dodecanese, the Saronic islands and the western Cyclades: use Piraeus

What’s changed in 2026?

Four points for anyone travelling from late September 2026 onwards:

• The summer timetable ends on 30 September. Fast Ferries ran one to three Rafina-Andros-Tinos-Mykonos sailings a day each way from 25 May; from 1 to 31 October it runs one or two, the same rate as last winter. Its Paros extension finished on 13 September.
• The airport bus is a nine-a-day service. The airport-Rafina sheet on KTEL’s site is headed 2025, lists nine departures in each direction and has nothing leaving the airport between 06:15 and 10:40.
• The airport’s flat taxi fare doesn’t cover Rafina. The fixed day and night fares apply between the airport and the city-centre inner ring; a taxi to the port runs on the meter.
• The cruise levy isn’t a ferry charge. The per-person fee collected at Mykonos and Santorini since July 2025 applies to cruise-ship passengers, not to anyone arriving on a ferry from Rafina.

Where is Rafina port, and why use it?

Rafina sits on the east coast of Attica, looking across the water towards southern Evia, with Andros, the northernmost of the Cyclades, beyond. By road it is about 30 km from Syntagma, and the map explains its whole appeal: Athens International Airport lies between the city and the port. From Arrivals you are a short bus ride from the quay. From a hotel in Plaka you first have to cross the eastern suburbs and the Mesogeia plain.

Three things make it worth the trip. The crossings are short: Golden Star lists Rafina to Tinos at 1 hour 50 minutes and Rafina to Mykonos at 2 hours 30 minutes on its fast boats. Andros is Rafina’s island, with every Fast Ferries and Golden Star sailing to it leaving from here. And the port is small enough to take in at a glance, which Piraeus, with its long run of lettered and numbered gates, is not; our Piraeus port guide needs a map for a reason.

The drawbacks are just as plain. There is no metro or train, only KTEL buses and taxis. Outside summer the choice of islands shrinks towards the Andros-Tinos-Mykonos line. And the day starts early: on Golden Star’s late-September timetable the morning boats leave at 07:20, 07:50 and 08:00, which from central Athens means a 05:00 alarm.

How do you get from Athens airport to Rafina port?

By KTEL bus when the timetable fits, by taxi when it doesn’t. The bus stop is on the Arrivals level, between Exits 2 and 3, in the outer lane opposite the Sofitel hotel. This is a regional KTEL Attikis service, not one of OASA’s Airport Express lines, so an X95 or X96 ticket won’t cover it. KTEL doesn’t publish its Rafina fare in any form we could read, so ask when you board, and carry some cash in case a card isn’t accepted.

The airport bus timetable

The sheet on KTEL’s site is headed 2025 and runs Monday to Sunday. Every bus from the airport goes “via the coast”, through Artemida (Loutsa), with 25 stops between the terminal and the last stop at the Port of Rafina itself.

Direction	Departures (KTEL sheet headed 2025, daily)
Airport to Rafina port	04:35, 06:15, 10:40, 12:15, 14:15, 15:35, 16:45, 19:45, 22:30
Rafina port to airport	05:00, 08:20, 11:30, 13:00, 15:00, 16:10, 19:00, 21:15, 23:00
Longest gaps	From the airport, 06:15 to 10:40; from Rafina, 16:10 to 19:00

KTEL doesn’t print a running time. The timetable turns buses round quickly, though (the 15:35 from the airport is followed by a 16:10 departure from Rafina), which points to roughly 30 to 40 minutes on the road. Allow more on summer weekends along the coast.

What that means in practice: if you’re through Arrivals by 06:00, the 06:15 should get you to the quay with time for the 07:50 and 08:00 Andros boats, though we wouldn’t bet on the 07:20 to Tinos. Land at 07:00 and the next bus is 10:40, which suits Golden Star’s 14:00 fast boat to Andros and the afternoon ferries, but nothing in the morning.

Taxi. The ride is short, but it runs on the meter: the airport’s fixed fares only apply between the airport and the city-centre inner ring. Ask the driver for an estimate before the bags go in the boot, or book through an app; the UK Foreign Office suggests pre-arranged transport or apps such as Uber and Free Now, which supply licensed taxis in Greece. If you’re going into the city first rather than the port, our guide to getting from the airport to the city centre covers the metro, the X95 and the fixed fares.

How do you get to Rafina port from central Athens?

By KTEL bus from Pedion tou Areos, by taxi, or by riding metro Line 3 out to meet the bus. No train goes to the port.

The KTEL bus from Pedion tou Areos

KTEL’s Rafina buses start at its Pedion Areos bus station, on the edge of the Pedion tou Areos park and often called Mavromateon after its street; Victoria, on green Line 1, is the nearest metro station. The newest Athens-Rafina timetable on KTEL’s site is a Greek sheet dated 29 July 2021. It lists 17 departures from Athens between 05:55 and 22:40, roughly hourly through the day and thinning to gaps of nearly two hours in the evening, and 17 back from Rafina between 06:15 and 22:50.

Two warnings about those times. KTEL still hosts an English timetable valid from 11 September 2017, with buses every 15 to 45 minutes, and guides that copy it promise a frequency you shouldn’t count on. And KTEL says any sheet can change by notice from its stationmasters, so ring the Rafina bus station on 22940 23440 (or KTEL’s timetable line, 210 8808080) the day before.

You don’t have to start at the terminal. KTEL’s stop list has the Rafina bus calling at stops named after three blue Line 3 metro stations on its way out of town: Ambelokipi, Ethniki Amyna and Nomismatokopio. From Syntagma, Ambelokipi is three stops. Nea Makri and Marathon buses share the road (on the 2021 sheet they also run via Rafina), but only the Rafina branch of the stop list ends at the port, so check that the driver is going down to the limani, the harbour. If you want a guaranteed seat and room for a big case, start where the bus starts.

There’s no published running time for this route either. The Rafina branch has more than 30 stops through Ambelokipi, Agia Paraskevi, Gerakas and Pallini, so allow at least an hour, and longer in the weekday morning rush.

Taxi

For a 07:20 or 07:50 sailing from a central hotel, a taxi is the realistic answer, and at dawn the roads east are empty. It runs on the meter, because the airport’s flat fares have nothing to do with this trip, so ask for an estimate when you book. For three or four people with luggage it is the obvious choice at any hour.

Starting from	Best way to Rafina	Watch out for
The airport, sailing the same day	KTEL airport bus	No departures from the airport between 06:15 and 10:40
Plaka, Syntagma or Monastiraki	Line 3 to Ambelokipi, then the KTEL bus; a taxi for boats before 08:00	The first bus leaves Pedion tou Areos at 05:55 on the 2021 sheet
Near Pedion tou Areos or Victoria	KTEL bus from the terminal	Evening gaps of nearly two hours between buses
Piraeus or the southern coast	Sail from Piraeus if your island allows it	Crossing the whole city for a ferry you could catch nearby

How do you make a 07:50 sailing from central Athens?

1. The evening before: check in online with the ferry company, save the boarding pass, and ring the Rafina bus station (22940 23440) to confirm the first bus if you’re relying on it.
2. Pedion tou Areos, 05:40: be at the terminal for the 05:55 bus on the 2021 sheet, or have an app taxi booked for about the same time.
3. On the bus: stay on past Rafina’s square to the last stop, the port; Marathon and Nea Makri buses don’t go down to the quay.
4. Rafina port, around 07:00: find your ship along the quay, buy water, and be on board with time to spare.

Rafina port ferries from Athens: who sails where in 2026

Three companies run the Cyclades sailings out of Rafina: Fast Ferries and Golden Star Ferries, both with big conventional ships, and Seajets, whose own site advertises summer high-speed runs. Check the port on your ticket before anything else. The same island can be sold from Rafina or Piraeus, and a booking made in a hurry doesn’t always make the difference obvious.

Fast Ferries

Conventional ships, all year, the steady choice for Andros and Tinos. Fast Ferries runs its Rafina-Andros-Tinos-Mykonos line with the Theologos P, Fast Ferries Andros and Ekaterini P. From 25 May to 30 September 2026 that meant one to three sailings a day each way; from 1 to 31 October it is one or two, the same as last winter (1 November 2025 to 24 May 2026). The company also lists a daily Rafina-Tinos-Mykonos-Naxos schedule, which ran on to Paros between 13 June and 13 September. Its website issues boarding passes through online check-in.

Verdict: the workhorse. Slower than a catamaran, but a big conventional ship generally copes with a stiff north wind better than a light, fast craft, and the timetable barely changes from month to month.

Golden Star Ferries

The widest choice from Rafina, conventional and high-speed. Golden Star is a Rafina company through and through: its route page says the routes “operate daily” from Rafina to the Cyclades, using the conventional Superferry, Andros Queen and Andros King and the high-speed Golden Princess and Superexpress. It lists Andros at 1 hour 55 minutes on the conventional ships (1 hour 10 minutes on the Golden Princess), Paros at 3 hours 35 minutes, Naxos at 4 hours 20 minutes, Ios at 4 hours 45 minutes and Santorini at 5 hours 30 minutes. On 26 September 2026 its page showed Rafina departures at 07:20 (the Superexpress to Tinos), 07:50 and 08:00 (to Andros), 14:00 (the Golden Princess to Andros) and 15:30 or 17:30 (the Andros Queen). It runs web check-in and e-tickets.

Verdict: the first site to check for Tinos, Mykonos and, in season, Santorini from Rafina. It is also the clearest on price, with lowest fares running from €25 for Andros to €65 for Santorini.

Seajets

High-speed only, mainly summer. Seajets’ own site advertises up to four daily summer routes from Rafina to Andros, Tinos, Mykonos, Paros and Naxos. The site blocks automated checks, so we couldn’t confirm its autumn 2026 pattern; look it up directly before you build a plan around it. As with any small fast craft, its weather limits are lower than a big ferry’s.

Island	Quickest listed crossing	Golden Star fare from	Sailings from Rafina
Andros (Gavrio)	1 h 10 min (1 h 55 min conventional)	€25	All year
Tinos	1 h 50 min	€35	All year
Mykonos	2 h 30 min	€50	All year
Paros	3 h 35 min	€55	Mainly summer
Naxos	4 h 20 min	€55	Daily on Fast Ferries’ schedule
Ios	4 h 45 min	€58	Seasonal, high-speed
Santorini	5 h 30 min	€65	Seasonal, high-speed

Fares are Golden Star’s lowest listed prices for a foot passenger; cars and better seats cost more, and a conventional ship is often cheaper than a fast one on the same day. For island-by-island detail, including sailing patterns, where you land and which crossings justify the extra for a fast boat, see our Athens to the Greek islands ferry guide.

Rafina or Piraeus: which port should you use?

Decide on three things, in this order: which island, where you slept, and what time the boat leaves.

Your trip	Better port	Why
Andros	Rafina	The Andros ferries leave from here
Tinos or Mykonos, flying in that day	Rafina	The airport bus and a shorter crossing
Tinos or Mykonos, staying in central Athens	Either; Piraeus for an early boat	The metro runs to Piraeus; only a bus or taxi reaches Rafina
Paros, Naxos or Santorini	Usually Piraeus	More sailings on big ships; Rafina’s are mostly high-speed
Milos, Sifnos, Serifos or Folegandros	Piraeus	Fast Ferries’ own western Cyclades line starts there
Crete, the Dodecanese, Aegina or Hydra	Piraeus	None of the Rafina operators lists them

Verdict: flying in and heading for Andros, Tinos or Mykonos, Rafina saves you the trek across Athens and gives you a shorter crossing. Based in the centre without a car and booked on an early boat, you’ll find Piraeus the easier morning, because the metro runs to the port. From the airport, Piraeus is about an hour on metro Line 3 or around 90 minutes on the X96 bus (€5.50). Crete, the Dodecanese, the Saronic islands and the western Cyclades are Piraeus business; our guide to Piraeus and its gates explains how to find your ship there.

What is at Rafina port, and when should you arrive?

Not a great deal, which is part of the appeal. Rafina’s harbour is a working quay at the foot of the town, compact enough that you walk from the bus to your ship instead of hunting for a gate number. The KTEL Rafina branch stops at the town square and then at the port itself, and the road above the quays is lined with cafés, where you can sit out a delay with your bags in view.

Stock up on the way in. The Rafina bus calls at stops named after a Sklavenitis and a Lidl supermarket shortly before the port, which tells you where the cheaper water and snacks are. Ferry cafés charge ferry prices.

Tickets and check-in. Fast Ferries and Golden Star both run online check-in, and Golden Star issues e-tickets, so with a booking made in advance you can go straight to the ship. In July and August, buy on the operator’s own site before you leave the hotel rather than hoping for a seat at the quay.

When to arrive. We’d be on the quay 45 minutes before a sailing, and an hour before in August or with a car. We found no official left-luggage service at the port, so plan to keep your bags with you.

Wind and delays. Summer is no guarantee of calm seas: Blue Star, the big Piraeus operator, posted bad-weather itinerary changes for 28 July to 2 August and 9 to 11 August 2026, and Fast Ferries’ timetable page warns that port-authority orders can alter sailings. Small high-speed craft have lower weather limits than big ferries, so on a windy forecast a conventional ship is the safer booking. KTEL says its Rafina buses may wait for ships that arrive late, by arrangement with the port authorities, which helps on the way home. Don’t stake a flight on it.

What happens when you arrive back at Rafina?

Rafina’s size pays off on the way home: from the ramp to the bus stop is a short walk, not a trek between gates. For the airport, KTEL buses leave the port at 05:00, 08:20, 11:30, 13:00, 15:00, 16:10, 19:00, 21:15 and 23:00 on the 2025 sheet. For the city, the last bus on the 2021 sheet leaves Rafina at 22:50; get off at Nomismatokopio, Ethniki Amyna or Ambelokipi and switch to metro Line 3 for Syntagma and Monastiraki. With a ferry docking in the late afternoon and a flight that evening, take a taxi: nothing leaves Rafina for the airport between 16:10 and 19:00.

When is Rafina the wrong choice?

Rafina is the easy port only when its timetable and yours line up. Skip it in these cases.

Your boat leaves at 07:20 and you’re sleeping in Plaka. The first bus from Pedion tou Areos on KTEL’s 2021 sheet leaves at 05:55, and with an hour or more on the road you would reach the quay with minutes to spare. Take a taxi, or spend your last night in Rafina, which turns a 05:00 alarm into a 06:30 one.

You land at 07:00 hoping for a morning boat. Nothing leaves the airport for Rafina between 06:15 and 10:40, and the morning ships have gone by then. A taxi might just make an 08:00 departure, but a late plane leaves you paying a metered fare to watch the ferry leave. Book an afternoon sailing instead.

You’re heading south or west. Crete, Rhodes and the rest of the Dodecanese, the Saronic islands and the western Cyclades all sail from Piraeus. Going out to Rafina for them only makes sense if you’re stopping on Andros, Tinos or Mykonos first and hopping on from there, a plan our island-by-island ferry guide can help you test.

It’s the week of 15 August. The Dormition is the peak of the Greek summer holiday, Tinos is the country’s best-known pilgrimage island, and the Rafina ferries to Tinos carry both crowds. Book weeks ahead, or choose other dates.

You fly home the day after a windy forecast. Sailings back into Rafina are as exposed as those going out. Leave a spare day before any long-haul flight.

Verdict: Rafina is the better port for Andros, for Tinos and Mykonos when you’re coming from the airport, and for anyone who likes a port they can understand in five minutes. For an early boat from a central hotel it is the harder option, so compare it with every other way out of Athens before you commit.

Rafina Port FAQ

How far is Rafina port from central Athens?

About 30 km by road from Syntagma. The KTEL bus from Pedion tou Areos stops more than 30 times on the Rafina branch, so allow at least an hour, and more in the weekday rush. A taxi is quicker at dawn, when the roads are empty, and runs on the meter because the airport’s fixed fares don’t apply to this trip.

How far is Rafina port from Athens airport?

Close: about 10 km as the crow flies, with the airport lying between Rafina and the city. The KTEL airport bus follows a slower coastal route through Artemida, with 25 stops on the way, and on the timetable’s evidence takes roughly 30 to 40 minutes. It runs nine times a day each way, the first at 04:35 from the airport.

How do I get from Rafina port to Athens airport?

Take the KTEL bus from the port. The sheet on KTEL’s site, headed 2025, lists daily departures at 05:00, 08:20, 11:30, 13:00, 15:00, 16:10, 19:00, 21:15 and 23:00. Mind the gap between 16:10 and 19:00: with a ferry arriving in the late afternoon and an evening flight, a taxi is the safer choice.

How do I get from Rafina port to the Acropolis?

Take the KTEL bus towards Athens and get off at one of the metro stops on the way in (Nomismatokopio, Ethniki Amyna or Ambelokipi), then ride blue Line 3 to Syntagma and change to red Line 2 for Akropoli station, at the foot of the Acropolis. The last bus from Rafina on KTEL’s 2021 sheet leaves at 22:50.

Which islands can you reach from Rafina?

Andros, Tinos and Mykonos all year on Fast Ferries’ line, with Golden Star adding more sailings and fast boats. Fast Ferries also lists a daily run to Naxos, and in season the high-speed boats carry on to Paros, Ios and Santorini, which Golden Star lists at 5 hours 30 minutes from €65. Crete and the Dodecanese sail from Piraeus instead.

Is there a metro or train to Rafina?

No. The metro’s airport branch and the suburban railway both stop at Pallini, but neither goes to Rafina, so your options are KTEL buses and taxis. The metro still helps as a feeder: the Rafina bus calls at stops named after Ambelokipi, Ethniki Amyna and Nomismatokopio stations on Line 3 as it leaves Athens.

Should I use Rafina or Piraeus?

Rafina for Andros, and for Tinos or Mykonos when you’re coming straight from the airport or staying east of the city. Piraeus for Crete, the Dodecanese, the Saronic islands and the western Cyclades, and usually for early sailings from a central hotel, because the metro runs to the port. For Paros, Naxos and Santorini, compare both before you book.

Related Athens Guides

• Athens Onward Travel Guide: ferries, trains, buses and flights out of the capital, compared in one place
• Athens to the Greek Islands by Ferry: routes, crossing times and booking advice island by island
• Piraeus Port Guide: the gates, the metro and how to find your ship at the bigger port
• Athens Airport to the City Centre: metro, express buses and taxis if you’re staying in town first

Sources and How We Checked

We checked these details on 26 September 2026 against the official sources below, compiling them from the operators’ and agencies’ own pages rather than from other travel lists; we don’t claim a first-hand visit.

• KTEL Attikis: Athens-Rafina stop list (PDF), Athens-Rafina timetable dated 29 July 2021 (PDF, Greek), airport-Rafina timetable, 2025 sheet (PDF, Greek) and airport-Rafina stop list (PDF)
• Fast Ferries: routes and 2026 schedule periods
• Golden Star Ferries: Rafina routes, crossing times and fares
• Seajets: route schedule 2026
• Blue Star Ferries: bad-weather itinerary changes, 9-11 August 2026
• Athens International Airport: public transport to and from the airport
• OASA: Airport Express bus lines
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Greece safety and security advice

What we couldn’t verify: KTEL’s Rafina bus fares (its ticket-price page loads by script and wouldn’t show them), whether the 2021 Athens-Rafina sheet still matches the buses on the road, KTEL’s journey times, Seajets’ autumn 2026 Rafina timetable, whether the short local crossings to southern Evia still run, and any left-luggage service at the port.

Athens Tourism Guide is an independent publication. We are not affiliated with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, OASA, the Greek National Tourism Organisation or any business named here, and no business paid to be included.

Photo Credits

• Rafina harbour from the air: photo by Hansueli Krapf, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
• Athens International Airport: photo by Manfred Werner (Tsui), via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
• Rafina harbour-front road: photo by Abocanto, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
• Fast Ferries Andros: photo by Avrailas1999, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
• Gavrio, Andros, from a ferry: photo by Holger Uwe Schmitt, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
• Blue Star ferry at Piraeus: photo by A.Savin, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
• Golden Star ferry off Tinos: photo by Jules Verne Times Two, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
• Rafina port from a departing ferry (featured image): photo by Holger Uwe Schmitt, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)