Greece’s main airport is cramped, overcrowded and devoid of any graces

The airport

Athens Airport Eleftherios Venizelos, ATH

Athens Airport Eleftherios Venizelos: a busy airport.Credit: iStock

The flight

Etihad Airways EY90 from Athens to Abu Dhabi (AUH).

The arrival

The airport is 30 kilometres east of Athens. The metro blue line takes 40 minutes from the city centre and costs €9 ($15), while taxis charge a €40 flat fare and get you there a little faster, providing it isn’t peak hour. The frantic but efficient unloading of yellow taxis is a sight to behold: this is a busy airport.

The look

Athens International Airport architecture is bland.

The white colonnade outside the terminal recalls an ancient agora, and fake classical statues, pots of olive trees and Greek flags provide a little local colour. Mirrored glass on the terminal’s facade distracts from the bland architecture and has you admiring reflections of the hills that encircle Athens. Open-air seating and a large coffee and bakery stand outside the terminal are unusual, and popular.

Check-in

Everyone checks in at the main terminal building. (Low-cost carriers depart from the Satellite Terminal, but this is reached through the main terminal.) Hall A is for international flights, Hall B for domestic and Schengen destinations. Hall A isn’t that deep, so passenger flow is poor and check-in lines back up into corridor space. But I’m lucky: online check-in and an early arrival mean I avoid a long queue.

Security

The flow is fast and efficient. I’m in the security zone long enough to notice the lights resemble giant white glowing boomerangs, but not long enough to get impatient. Afterwards, passengers are annoyingly funnelled through duty free and into a too-small dining area. The airport looks its age at the cramped gates; a good deep clean of carpets is called for.

Food + drink

Perplexingly, most of the food is more Italian than Greek. Even the Ergon Greek Deli features the usual international menu, through which you have to hunt to find “Greek cheese” and a Greek salad, plus a selection of peinirli, the open oval-shaped pie better known elsewhere as Turkish pide. Count on €15 ($25) for a main.

Retail therapy

Passengers are annoyingly funnelled through duty-free from security.

An Ikea and DIY superstore in the retail park next to the airport allow for last-minute purchases of Billy bookcases and hammers should the need arise. Once through security, there isn’t much shopping, but you can snap up an Armani suit or predictable handbag. The nicely-named All Greek To Me store sells olive oil, ouzo and local fashions.

Passing time

Absorb yourself in Solitaire or Bejewelled, as there’s nothing to entertain you. The airport is overcrowded even in late October, and very warm, so it must be unpleasant in high summer. Yet by 1.30pm, just before I board, crowds have thinned, and suddenly the terminal is almost empty, suggesting that those with different flight times might have a better experience.

The verdict

Athens airport is cramped, overcrowded and devoid of any graces but, considering it processes 25 million passengers annually, it’s efficient enough. It isn’t an airport in which to linger.

Our rating out of five

★★

The writer travelled at his own expense.