Athens Airport
- Eleftherios Venizelos
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Lasting Impressions....
"I was really surprised when I first saw the airport as it looked so luxurious." (JD)
"I actually saw others who had sleeping bags and a whole set-up! I was not that prepared but learned a whole new way of saving on travel " (Heather)
"As soon as you walk into the airport you can smell cleaning products,& you see the cleaners constantly cleaning,which is a good sign." (Natalie)
"What really annoyed me, was a British couple sat outside at the benches and the young lass decided to raise her trousers up to her thighs and dry-shave her legs with shaving foam. Are they allowed to do that in Heathrow?" (Neenah Lewis)
Good times
by namche
In 2007 we found the famous carpeted corridor in front of the chapel totally by chance. There were seven of us sleeping there 4 other backpackers joined, and security guards and cleaners didn't mind it at all. I had a great sleep!
Not a bad place, but not great either
by tomw_n
Pretty good night's sleep as the only alternative was the 250 Sofitel across the street. Convenient but at that price NFW!
Found the zone with the blue carpet outside the chapel, bedded down around midnight on inflatable lilos with my girlfriend. No announcements in here, very out of the way so very few people walking around, nice loo (again, out of the way so practically en suite).
Cons - bright lights and security guards who came in hourly, loudly announced 'Good Morning! Sleeping is forbidden in this area!' and immediately left ...seemed pretty cool and didn't chuck us out even when they had seen us ignore them five times!
Got about three hours sleep. Hate sleeping in airports but I think this is as good as it gets really.
Um, you may want to rethink sleeping in this place
by travelbee
Since we read on this site how wonderful the Athens airport is, my husband and I decided to stay overnight since we had an 8am flight. We found a bench without arms downstairs in the arrival area, but since we read the reviews on THIS site, we gave that up to go to the upstairs chapel everyone talks about. Right as we were getting settled at 1am, a cleaning lady came by and kicked us out! She had zero tolerance for us being there. We left and of course, all other sleeping spots had been taken already. We were so mad!! We ended up sitting on the hard floor against the wall for about an hour and a half and decided to try the outside of the chapel AGAIN. I dozed in and out for around 1.5 hours (my husband didn't really fall asleep) and then security guards came to kick us out once again. Needless to say, this was our worse night of our 3 week trip, and we wouldn't have minded if we had just stuck with the chairs with no arms in the Arrival floor. Also, outside of the chapel smells like smoke b/c that's where all the employees take their cigarette break. A suggestion is to sleep on the sofa in the Olive Tree Restaurant (next to McDonalds). They rope it off so we thought no one was allowed in that section, but after we were kicked out of the chapel, we walked by and all the sofas were taken and they all looked so comfortable. Anyway, think twice about attempting to sleep outside the chapel!!
Airport Guide
Here is some information that we've picked out of from your reviews. Be sure to read the reviews on the next page for the most up-to-date info:
- chapel
- children's "creative room"
- friendly staff
- padded benches in the restaurant area
- annoying announcements
- free internet kiosks
- clean
