July 27, 2004 -- If you're still considering a trip to Athens for the Olympic Games beginning on Aug 13, be prepared to pay a high price for this last minute sporting luxury. Although there appears to be a surplus of hotel rooms in Athens, and a huge number of event tickets available, reasonably priced flights and packages from the United States to Greece are extremely limited.
For an economical solution, it may be best to steer away from the Olympic packages currently on offer by Olympic partner companies such as Cartan Tours and CoSport. These airfare and accommodation packages start at a minimum of $5,000 per person for 6 nights from New York ... but at this hefty rate, they don't even include tickets to Olympic events, which must be purchased separately.
Homeric Tours (www.homerictours.com) can offer some respite when it comes to these exorbitant rates, with roundtrip direct flights from JFK to Athens on North American Airlines from $999 including all taxes (departure dates are limited to August 7th or 19th). Hurry, seats are limited.
Another option may be to combine a trip to Athens with a beach vacation. How about Mykonos? It's got all the flavor of Greece without the Olympic congestion. Homeric Tours has 5, 7 or 9 nights packages to Mykonos, staying at the San Marco Hotel including roundtrip airfare from New York to Athens, daily buffet breakfast, air or sea transportation between Athens and Mykonos, and transfers. Five nights (Aug 21-27) starts from $2,099, seven nights (Aug 21-29) starts from $2,399 and 9 nights (Aug 19-29) from $2,649. Taxes of $170 are additional. A day trip to Athens including roundtrip air/sea transportation from Mykonos and transfers is $320. Tickets for various Olympic events can be purchased from Homeric Tours from €38 ($46). Cheaper packages starting at $999 for seven nights including roundtrip airfare from New York start on Aug 26, after the games are over.
If you are willing to put up with one stop on the way (meaning that it could take you anywhere from 12 to 16 hours to get from New York to Athens), then Delta (www.delta.com) and American Airlines (www.aa.com) have airfares ranging in price from $1,046-$1,300 including taxes, but availability seems limited and changes daily.
Another suggestion may be to do your research and perhaps choose to fly to Greece from another European city, for example London.
British Airways, Olympic Airways and EasyJet have all increased their capacity on flights from London to Athens during the month of August and all have availability. Olympic Airways (www.olympicairlines.com) is offering fares to Athens from $429 return from London. Add to this a roundtrip flight from New York to London on American Airlines during August ($562) through Travelocity (www.travelocity.com) and this option ends up being better value than what's on offer by US tour operators, bearing in mind that your flights may not connect and you may have to stay a night in London.
The London-based operator Best of Greece (www.bestofgreece.co.uk) is offering packages, staying in tourist-class hotels in Athens, for £799 ($1472) per person for 3 nights or £1,700 ($3,130) for 9 nights, including roundtrip flights and taxes from London.
If you prefer to just purchase your flights and try your luck at finding accommodation, you may be pleasantly surprised. According to the Athens Convention Bureau, there are still over 2,000 hotel beds available during the Games, out of a total of 62,000 in the city. Further accommodation is available on cruise ships and yachts docked in Athen's port of Piraeus, in campsites and in private homes and villas. The Bureau offers a free service to help visitors find a place to stay and promises to reply to e-mails within an hour (info@ athens-cvb.org).
The website www.etravel.gr/accommodation also has listings of reasonably priced available accommodation options in and around Athens, including information about proximity to Olympic venues, which is extremely helpful. Prices start from as little as €69 ($US84) per night.
To secure tickets to Olympic events, you can buy them in person when you arrive in Athens (visit www.tickets.athens2004.com for locations and times) or you can purchase them in advance at www.cartan.com or call 1-800-360-2004. Starting at €10 ($12), so far less than half of the available 5.3 million tickets have been sold. High profile events like swimming and athletics can cost upwards of $100 and tickets for the Opening Ceremony are as high as $1,170.