How much does the trip Athens – Thessaloniki by car and how much by plane
With the price of gasoline has skyrocketed breaking one record after another since the war broke out in Ukraine, it is now clear that if one wants to go from Athens to Thessaloniki, it will be much cheaper if one chooses to travel by planerather than by car.
In fact, if he has taken care to issue the air tickets in time or if you choose to fly on specific days and times that are cheaper in cost, then he will not even pay half as much as going by car to the co-capital! It may have sounded unbelievable a while ago, but now it is the tangible reality, which we are going to see in detail, with facts and numbers.
Travel 5 hours by car (without stops)
First of all the kilometer distance that separates Athens from Thessaloniki is 504 kilometers. This means that an average car of 1,400 cubic centimeters moving at an average speed of 100 kilometers per hour, will reach the nymph of Thermaikos after a journey of 5 hours. to spend on petrol or to pay tolls).
Consumption of 90 liters of gasoline
But how much will it cost us in money? Aside from the fact that time is money, a five-year-old gasoline vehicle burns close to 9.0 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers. This means that to travel the distance Athens – Thessaloniki on return, ie 1,000 kilometers (1,008 to be exact) that require 90 liters of gasoline.
How we calculate consumption
It is worth noting that calculating the measurement of fuel consumption of our car engine (whether it is gasoline, diesel, or LPG), is a very easy process, which does not require special knowledge and as you will find, it is usually far from act from the prices given by the manufacturer.
Even if the car you drive has a taxi and the gross consumption is listed, it is good to make a realistic measurement to see what really applies. The process of measuring consumption is as follows: Fill the car’s tank with fuel until it is completely full. Then we reset the partial odometer. We travel at least 200-300 kilometers (or more) and refuel.
We now divide the liters of fuel we filled with the kilometers we have traveled and multiply by 100. The result shows liters per 100 kilometers. For example, suppose that the pump showed 25 liters of fuel and the partial odometer has written 320 kilometers: 25 liters. / 320 km x 100 = 7.8 l / 100 km.
Gasoline at 2.11 euros per liter
Even with the slight reductions in prices on fuel mornings, on Thursday (17/3) gasoline was sold at 2.11 euros per liter, while it reached in some parts of Kifissia Avenue up to 2,298 euros / liter. And 100 octane gasoline was one step ahead of 2.50 euros / liter. But let’s go with the average price scenario, so as not to be stunned by the end result and to be as close as possible to the real travel cost.
190 euros only for fuel
So with the price at 2.11 euros / liter, the total 90 liters that we will look for on the go and come, which cost us 190 euros, we refill it outside Athens, where the price is usually more accurate, but in order not to confuse it even more, let’s stay at 190 euros because otherwise we better go to 195 or more euros).
62.90 euros for… 22 toll stations
The second aggravating factor for our wallet on such a trip is none other than toll boothwhich unfortunately is a lot.
As we take them in order. Starting from Athens (and without calculating that some depending on the point of the basin where they will leave may not pay tolls on the Attiki Odos of 2.80 euros), the first stop we meet is in Afidnes which cost 3, 30 euros.
Immediately after we find the tolls of Thebes which is even more expensive, as their expansion is priced at 3.90 euros. The third station is in Tragana (3.85 euros), then in Agia Triada (1.80 euros), then in the front station Mavromantilas of Fthiotida (1.90 euros), then in Pelasgia (3.50 euros), in Moschochori which we pay the most expensive tolls of the route (4.0 euros) and then to Makrychori (2.50 euros), Leptokarya (3.20 euros), Aiginio (2.30 euros) and Malgara, just outside Thessaloniki ( 1, 20 euros). Total 31.45 euros just to go.
Plus so much for the return, we are forced to pay 62.90 euros only for tolls.
Total cost of transportation by car
Based on the above, going today from Athens to Thessaloniki and returning by road, will cost him a total of 252.90 euros (190 euros for gasoline + 62.9 euros for tolls).
How much will it cost us to travel by plane
The same route Athens – Thessaloniki and vice versa, operate almost 10 aircraft per day. The journey takes only 55 minutes and is incomparably much more convenient than going by road. But how much does it cost us?
Clearly much cheaper now. In particular, we put on the computer that we wanted to travel from it Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport to the state-of-the-art airport “Macedonia” on Thursday 17 March and how we wish to return to the capital on Tuesday 22nd of the month. If we choose the first flight at 08:35 a.m. we would be in Thessaloniki at 09:30. For the return we chose to leave the co-capital at 12:00 noon, so that we can be in Athens at 12:55 p.m. The total cost to go and come? 90 euros! That is, almost as much as the gas cost us just to go.
In fact, we find these prices not only in the so-called low budget airlines but also in the big ones. For example, Aegean Airlines, which is based on the Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” and as a secondary base of the Thessaloniki State Airport “Macedonia”, which was fully upgraded by Fraport Greece, the joint company of Fraport Germany and the Kopelouzos Group, winning the 2019 “Project of the Year” award.
How much do bus tickets to and from the airport cost?
In order to be more accurate in the comparison of travel by road and by air, in the second case we must add the cost of travel to and from the airport. So if one takes the Express X95 bus line (Syntagma – Athens Airport) or the X96 (Piraeus – Athens Airport), depending on where one is staying, one should also calculate the cost of the ticket which is 6 euros. So to go and come from the airport to the house, it will cost him another 12 euros.
Also from Macedonia Airport for the city of Thessaloniki you will have to take a bus again (the X1: KTEL – Airport), whose ticket costs 2 euros and as much for the return. So the transfer from both airports to euro buses is 16.
Total cost of travel by plane
according to the above, to go today from Athens to Thessaloniki and return by air, will cost him a total of 106 euros (90 euros per ticket + 16 euros for bus transportation) and possibly 10 20 euros if you choose other hours or more days.
In the meantime…
In conclusion, with fuel prices approaching, to move from the capital to the co-capital is clearly in his interest to prefer the plane, since it will cost him 106 euros, while if he gets the car he will have to pay 252.9 euros. That is, more than double, which means that both people moving in the same car, again is not profitable. Traveling via the Athens – Thessaloniki highway is only financially advantageous if there are more than three people in the car…