Car Rental in Athens

Picking up in the centre suits you if you spend your first days on foot and only want a car for trips out of the city. The supplier either brings the car to your hotel or sends you directions to their office or a convenient meeting point, and confirms which after booking. Three things shape the handover:

• The traffic ring (Daktylios): on weekdays from October to July, most cars may enter the centre only on alternate days, by the last digit of the plate (see Driving). Agree with the supplier whether the car can come in on your pick-up day.
• Plaka and the Acropolis: most of Plaka is pedestrian, and so is Dionysiou Areopagitou below the Acropolis. If you're staying there, arrange the handover at the nearest street a car can reach.
• Overnight parking: street parking for visitors is limited to 3 hours, so a car collected the evening before a trip needs a garage or hotel space for the night.

Parking in central Athens

• Visitor bays in the city's controlled-parking zones are paid Monday to Friday 09:00-21:00 and Saturday 09:00-16:00, and free on Sundays and public holidays. You can stay from 30 minutes to 3 hours.
• How to pay: in the City of Athens AthensWay app, which replaced myAthensPass in September 2026. Enter the plate and the duration, and pay by bank card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
• Prices rise with the length of stay. The app shows the price before you pay.
• Blue lines mark bays for residents only, whatever older guides say about paid "blue zones".
• For a full day or overnight, use a private garage or your hotel's parking (ask the hotel about the charge when you book the room).

The traffic ring (Daktylios)

• When: from 12 October 2026 to 23 July 2027, Monday to Thursday 07:00-20:00 and Friday 07:00-15:00. Weekends, public holidays and public-transport strike days are free.
• The rule: cars with a plate ending in an even digit may drive inside on even dates, odd on odd dates.
• Where: inside a ring of roads that includes Alexandras, Mesogeion, Syngrou and Peiraios avenues. The boundary roads themselves are open to all.
• Exempt: electric, hybrid, natural-gas and LPG cars, and Euro 6 cars under 120 g/km of CO2 (145 g/km for cars registered from 2021), but only with the sign the supplier gets from gov.gr. We found no exemption for rental cars or visitors.
• Fine: €100.

On the road

• Attiki Odos (airport to Elefsina, through the northern suburbs): €2.55 for a car at the time of writing, paid once on entry. Staffed lanes take cash or bank cards, but not Diners or American Express. e-PASS lanes are for cars with a toll tag: if the supplier's car has one, agree how tolls are settled.
• Tolls on trips out of Athens (for a car, since 1 January 2026): on the Olympia Odos towards Corinth, Elefsina €2.50 and Isthmus €2.10. On the Moreas motorway south of Corinth, Spathovouni €2.95. On the A1 north towards Delphi, tolls at Afidnes and Thiva.
• Speed limits: since January 2026 the limit in towns is 30 km/h on streets with one lane in each direction. Wider roads and main avenues such as Kifisias, Mesogeion and Vouliagmenis stay at 50 km/h. Outside towns it is 90, 110 on expressways and 130 on motorways.
• Bus lanes in central Athens are not for cars, and cameras enforce them.
• Fuel is easy to find in Attica and along the motorways.