Bus Greece

Greece has a fairly well functioning railway network especially between major cities like Athens, Chalkida, Piraeus, Thessaloniki, but because the railway network is not dense enough to cover the need for domestic transportation, travelling by bus is in many parts of the country the fastest and cheapest way getting around, this especially apply in regions a bit further from the main cities, but intercity bus also compete with the train on main routes. 

The quality of the buses service in Greece is fairly good, intercity buses in most regions are in good condition and the same goes for the majority of city and regional buses, but there are of course still buses around which soon need a replacement. The buses used for tourist transportation are usually quite new and in good condition.

Intercity buses in Greece

The market for bus transportation in Greece is quite different compared to other European countries, because in most EU countries majority of the intercity bus traffic is handled by private bus companies, but in Greece this is not the case as more than 80% of the regional and intercity bus traffic is operated by more than 60 public bus companies called KTELs which mean “Common Funds of Bus Proceeds”.  The KTEL operate in different regions e.g KTEL Kavala is operating the bus station, the regional and city traffic as well as intercity traffic in Kavala and the region around it. 

Private intercity bus companies do exist, but they mainly operate international intercity routes, like Athens to Istanbul or Thessaloniki to Sofia, but in some areas private companies operate routes to and from the airport.

Tickets for Intercity buses

Ticket for for international bus connection like Athens to Belgrade or Athens to Tirana and for some airport buses like Kavala to Kavala Airport can be bought online. Tickets for domestic bus lines can in most cases only be bought at the bus station, although more and more of the KTEL companies have started offering online sale of tickets, this have still not become the norm, but this will of course change like it has in all other European countries. 

Bus companies in Greece

As mentioned above most bus companies doing scheduled traffic are KTEL type of companies, many of these also have a sister company offering coach hire and other tourist service, so in this segment they often compete with smaller privately owned bus companies specialized in bus service for tourists. Below you can find a list of the majority of the bus companies operating intercity buses or offering tourist bus services.

Simeonidis Tours	Anna tours	Crazy Holidays
Crazy Holidays	FP Travel	Papadakis Bros SA
Ktel Lefkadas	Ktel Prevazas	Ktel Lattikis
Ktel Aitolnias	Ktel Thesprotias	Ktel Lakonias
Ktel Largolida	Ktel Achaias	Ktel Messinias
Ktel Pellas	Ktel Evias	Ktel Volou
Magnesia Travel	Ktel Larisas	Ktel Kavalas
Ktel Dramas	Ktel Xanthis	Ktel Rodopis
Ktel Fthiotidos	Ktel Macedonia	Ktel Pierias
Ktel Trikala	Ktel Kabalas	Ktel Korinthias
Korona Travel	Siamos Tours	Art Tour
Ktel Chania	Ktel Thivas	Ktel Herlas
Ktel Santorini	Ktel Ios	Ktel Kefalonias
Ktel Ileias	Ktel Mykonos	Ktel Imathias
Ktel Arkadias	Ktel Evrou	Ktel Zakynthos
Ktel Thes	Ktel Lesvou	Ktel Serron
Ktel Fokidas	Ktel Parou	Ktel Syrou
Ktel Chalkidikis	Ktel Chania	Ktel Ioannina
Ktel Kilkis	Ktel Kozanis	Ktel Dromologia
Ktel Artas	Ktel Kastorias	Ktel Naxos
Ktel Grevenon	Ktel Evrytanias	Ktel Karditsas
Ktel Corfu	Ktel Florinas	Cretebus Travel

Bus stations in Greece

In most cities with a population above 5000 people you will find a bus station with a ticket sales office, in larger cities the bus station have more facilities like waiting room, coffee / snack bar, kiosk and in some cases also luggage storage, so below we have listed some of the major cities in Greece, click on the link to see address of the bus station and / or intercity bus stops in the cities.

Athens	Thessaloniki	Alexandroupoli
Drama	Komotini	Xanthi
Kavala	Ioannina	Larissa
Katerini	Lamia	Piraeus
Elassona	Patras	Corinth
Kalamata

Coach hire Greece

Bus charter service is available in most Greek cities and on all the popular holiday islands in most places there are several companies operating bus rental services. Renting a bus in Greece is typically done via travel agents, in some cases the agents have their own buses in other cases they have agreement with the KTEL or local private bus companies. You can also rent a bus online, like e.g here. As mentioned above the general standard of the buses used for charter is quite high, but it can happen that older buses are used, especially on busy travel dates.

City buses in Greece

The KTEL companies operate city and regional buses in more than 60 cities, the standard of the city buses are usually reasonable, in some cities they have even started operating electrical city buses. The ticket system for the city buses vary from city to city, in some cities you have to buy individual tickets for each ride, in others you also have the option to buy day tickets or multi day tickets.

FAQ buses in Greece