Athens International Airport "Eleftherios Venizelos"

Athens International Airport is a bustling hub that connects travelers from around the world to the rich history and culture of Greece. With modern facilities and a wide range of services, it caters to millions of passengers each year. The airport's design reflects the beauty of its surroundings, featuring elements inspired by ancient Greek architecture. As visitors arrive, they are greeted by a vibrant atmosphere that sets the tone for their adventures in the historic city of Athens.

This is a large and busy airport, so it would be good to arrive early to avoid any unnecessary problems or delays. I described from the point of view of departure, since I was leaving Athens for Dubai, from this airport. Since it is a busy airport, one can hardly find an empty seat, while waiting for the check-in counters to be opened. From my experience, all the staffs at the airport are very helpful and pleasant. Even the restroom cleaners are good. I had a good experience at the airport. Okay, one good observation that needs to be mentioned is the existence of a multi-faith prayer room on the 1st floor, nearby the Burger King restaurant. This is really a good thing, cos’ people of all faith can perform their prayers here. The prayer room is quite spacious, however for Muslims, there is no ablution area, so please bring a water bottle spray to do the ablution. I am so happy the airport has the prayer room. Finally before boarding the flight, we enjoyed a cinnamon roll nearby the boarding gate. Great airport, great experience. Keep up the good job. 👍

Athens International Airport’s passport control is severely mismanaged during early-morning departures. Wait times routinely reach 60–90 minutes, even for passengers arriving well in advance. On Sunday morning (7:30–9:30 AM) — when roughly 9,000 passengers depart on 60–80 flights — only 4 of 9 passport control booths were open for non-EU travelers in Terminal A. With more than half the counters closed, thousands of passengers were funneled through a bottleneck at one of the busiest hours of the day. The lack of visible authority or crowd control has led to growing tension and disorder, as some passengers skip the line while hundreds wait. Staff intervene inconsistently, fueling frustration and confusion. Those about to miss flights are pulled out at the last minute — a reactive and chaotic process that signals deep logistical and staffing failures.

The modern airport provides convenient accessibility and comprehensive information to facilitate seamless navigation. A diverse array of retail, dining, and gift shop options are available to travelers. The facility maintains a high standard of cleanliness. Considering the high volume of travelers, especially during peak seasons, it is advisable to anticipate potential impacts on security processing times.

This is a big and well-structured airport. It definitely gets very busy during the summer period so you need to be there at least 2 hours earlier than your flight departure time. Checkin and security lines could get very long! The staff is very polite and helpful across functions. There is a great variety of local and big chain delicious restaurants, cafes and pastry shops all over (airport-priced of course!). There are smoking lounges to accommodate the smokers. Big display screens with flight info in many spots ensure smooth nagivation. There are even many, clean resting areas with charging docks throughout the airport. Overall a pleasant experience!

Efficient, clean, and organised — delays happen, but here they’re tolerable, which is more than most airports can claim. Athens International Airport is, in the grand scheme of modern air travel, a perfectly decent place to be stranded. Well organised from start to finish — luggage handling works without unnecessary drama, security is efficient without descending into theatre, the lounges are acceptable, and boarding generally proceeds with a degree of order you don’t always find in southern Europe. Yes, we suffered through a long delay here, but at this point delays feel like standard operating procedure in the aviation industry. You grit your teeth, you sigh, you remember that you could have been trapped in Berlin-Brandenburg or Charles de Gaulle — and suddenly Athens doesn’t look too bad. Ultimately, it’s the inner values that count in an airport: cleanliness, organisation, staff who don’t radiate existential despair. Athens has all of these. We won’t fear coming back — and in air travel, that already qualifies as praise.

Great airport, easy to navigate and equipped with many moving walkways. We took a chance and did not stop at the first duty free shop immediately after security and found a bigger shop one floor up. There were more products (and product categories), but prices weren’t competitive (at all). #TIP: You are advised to buy any gifts and produce from Greece before heading to the airport!

This is a busy large airport. I wasn't expecting it to be so busy. I'm glad I arrived at the airport two hours before the flight. You'll need it. Even though this airport is both busy and large, the staff that I encountered were smiley and happy to help. The toilets that I've seen were nice and clean, no issues there I was able to buy olive oil in the duty free shop which made my day since I forgot whilst being in the land of olives 😊