The Athens Metro is an underground railway of which the Greeks are justifiably proud. It is worth taking a trip on the subway just to visit some of the stations that have permanent exhibitions of artefacts discovered during the construction of the lines. Stations of note are Syntagma and Acropolis. Extensions to the lines are in progress and are due to be opened in the next two years. The trains are clean and efficient. It takes 6 minutes to travel from Dafnis to Syntagma whereas by car in rush
hour the same trip might take up to one hour.

There are currently 3 lines on the network. The original lSAP line 1 runs overland from Piraeus up to Kifissia in the north. Line 2 runs from Dafni to Sepolia and Line 3 from Monastiraki to the Ministry of Defence. Line 1 interchanges with Line 2 at Omonia and Attiki stations and with Line 3 at Monastiraki. Line 2 and 3 interchange at Syntagma in the centre of Athens.

Tickets for the METRO can be bought through Automatic Ticket Issuing Machines (ATIM) installed in all stations or from Ticket Offices. The ATIM's currently accept only coins and give change but, in the future, they will accept bank notes and cash cards. The price of the ticket is €0.70 (reduced fares apply as for the buses and are currently €0.40). Tickets should be validated through the special machines, which are located inside the stations. Each ticket is valid for 90 minutes from the time of its validation and for Line 2, 3 or ISAP line 1 interchanges. Tickets are not valid for return via routes already covered. Tickets can be bought in packs of 10 and special season tickets valid for one day (€2.90) or one month (€35.00) are also available and can be used on all transport systems (METRO, ISAP, buses and trolleys).