Athens to Levkas

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jacaldo

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Hi,
Planning to fly from Manchester to Athens in June, hire a car one way to levkas town, three weeks on the boat then fly Preveza back to Manchester. Has anyone done this trip before? we will have a few days to travel on the trip out, hope to visit somewhere nice on the way. We have been down the west side of the Peloponese but would maybe like to see other parts or if not go up the coast to Lamra then head across to Levkas. The flight cost out on easyjet is very reasonable so hopefully we can offset this with hire car charges and Sunday flight back. Any information on car hire and possible alternative routes would be very interesting to hear.
Thanks in advance, Alan
 
Hi Alan..
I have no experience of 1 way car hire,I think finding your way through Athens could be a bit of a nightmare,although I know of others who have done this.

One alternative would be to get a bus from the airport to the main bus terminal in Athens and from there a bus direct to Levkas which is a pleasant if longish trip (5-6 hrs) but reasonably cheap. The bus stops for a meal & bog break about halfway. This is a popular route with yachties.
Can't remember the exact cost as it is 2 years since we have done it,but I think it was 17 euros/head.
Another way would be to get the train direct from the airport to Corinth & get a bus from there to Levkas.. I know that this is slightly quicker,but much depends on the arrival time from Manchester.
 
jamesmar said:
Hi Alan..
I have no experience of 1 way car hire,I think finding your way through Athens could be a bit of a nightmare,although I know of others who have done this.

One alternative would be to get a bus from the airport to the main bus terminal in Athens and from there a bus direct to Levkas which is a pleasant if longish trip (5-6 hrs) but reasonably cheap. The bus stops for a meal & bog break about halfway. This is a popular route with yachties.
Can't remember the exact cost as it is 2 years since we have done it,but I think it was 17 euros/head.
Another way would be to get the train direct from the airport to Corinth & get a bus from there to Levkas.. I know that this is slightly quicker,but much depends on the arrival time from Manchester.
Click to expand...

Very enjoyable trip, too. Have previously done Preveza - Athens and in 2009 did Kilada - Preveza via Corinth.

By car with time to spare, to see some ancient stuff I would visit Epidavros and Delphi. Drive to Messalonghi and follow the coast around to Astakos to see some completely different terrain. Have a look around the Corinth Canal to see the end bridges in action and maybe catch fish on them! Marvel at the antifouling scrapes all along the edges.
 
Take the bus! It'll save you a fortune.

I have driven it a couple of times. Preveza to Athens and back. If you do decide to drive don't try to take the route north of the Gulf of Patras ( Thiva, Itea,Delfi, Nafpaktos ) unless you have lots of time on your hands or you really want to see Mount Parnassus and the site at Delphi. ( Very crowded with American tourists when we went ) It took us twice as long to drive that way round ( excluding stopovers, route reversals and wrong turns - TomTom does not have Greek maps! ) as going across the gulf at Patras ( Toll Bridge, takes cash only no credit card facilities unless you park up and are escorted to the bridge offices, ask me I know! )

The bus takes about 6 hours from the terminus in Athens the drive was about 4 1/2 hours along the south side of the Gulf ( e65 main road )

Actually the navigation was not too bad along the major roads but when we came back the one time north of the gulf locals in small villages could not understand Lefkas, Lefkada or anything close and when we did show them a map of where we were trying to get to they were as lost as we were some of the time!
 
One Way Car Hire

We'd planned to do similar when we flew back to Athens last March, having been seduced with Car Hire Quotes on the Internet from several companies of circa €100 for 3 days and about €130 for a full week, with no 'drop-off' fee for leaving the car at Preveza. We got quite enthused by the idea, until we tried to book said cars, when on every occassion we discovered that whilst there was no one-way 'drop-off' fee, there was a 'relocation' charge of between €250 & €325; as always with such trivialities, there was no mention of this cost until you'd reached the very last page of their on-line reservation/booking forms.
 
"I think finding your way through Athens could be a bit of a nightmare"

A doddle with the Attiki Odos highway that takes you from the airport all the way around the city without having to make one turn.
If you do go through the city then it is also quite easy as you keep the mountains on your right hand side and the sea on the left.
Take the southern european attitude to driving: rules are guidelines, not absolute instructions, don't be upset if someone beeps their horn, it means they have seen you, not that they are upset and given the chaos on the roads, remember that the Greeks are actually VERY aware of everyone around them, have good car control and are far more considerate of you changing lanes, making u-turns or mistakes than you will find in the UK.
Relax and enjoy it and whatever you choose, you'll have a great time.
 
Thanks for the imformation so far. "Pops cars" doesnt seem to support a one way to Levkas, we are having problems with other hire firms as mentioned earlier. This may be a none starter. Thanks
 
Here's another idea I've had, originally I wanted to drive to Greece and back, but realised time was against. Now I'm thinking of driving to Levkas and fly back from Prevesa leaving the car at the airport for when we go out in September. Does anyone else leave a car at the airport and is this allowed (or ignored) by the authorities. I would then leave the car over winter until next year.
thanks
 
jacaldo said:
Here's another idea I've had, originally I wanted to drive to Greece and back, but realised time was against. Now I'm thinking of driving to Levkas and fly back from Prevesa leaving the car at the airport for when we go out in September. Does anyone else leave a car at the airport and is this allowed (or ignored) by the authorities. I would then leave the car over winter until next year.
thanks
Click to expand...

Nothing allowed in Greece!!! it an x-police state, you will need a permit to park .Then again you can get away with most thing over here

cheers bobt
 
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