Ioannina Transportation

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Ioannina is always packed with cars, the locals prefer to take their cars everywhere and they don’t care to loose 30’ to find a free parking place! I like to walk around, it’s the only way to see this city, the small stores, the tiny alleys etc. Of course, you will walk the alleys inside the castle. One of my favorite routes is along the periphery road next to the lake (pic 1), especially early in the morning during late autumn it’s beautiful because of the fog. The statue along the way were interesting too (pics 3-4)

It was weird when I wanted to rest to see these strange benches (pic 2).

Don’t miss the boat (pic 5) that takes you in 12’ to the little island inside the lake. There you can easily walk around the island and enjoy the scenery before returning back to the village of the island at the small port. The walk around the island usually takes 60’.

There is no way to go into southern Albania by bus from Ioannina. Instead, you must take the Kakavia bus from the intercity bus station (buy your ticket early as the busses fill up). There are several busses everyday. The bus drops you off literally at the border and you walk across to Albania, from where you can get taxis or minivans to Tirana, Elbasan, Shkodra etc. Be aware that if the Greek customs post is orderly, the Albanian is absolute chaos.

Ioannina has an airport, serviced by Olympic Airlines with daily 50-minute flights to Athens (0651-26518). There are 10 buses (Green buses/ KTEL) per day that make the seven-hour journey from Athens (and viceversa), and an expansive network reaching nearby mountain and coastal destinations. There are several rental car agencies along Dodonis Street, and Budget Rent a Car (0651-43901) has a booth at the airport.

Taxi are very cheap. But if you want to get the most out of your visit hire car is the best ways to get around as some of the most intesting places are a couple of hours away from the main. Please do not hire scooters as the roads are covered in sand and somewhat like ice. Even if you have ridden motor bikes before (as I have)it's still takes some doing to stay on two wheels.

A modern closed motorway 680 kilometres long and 24.5 metres wide over the greatest part of its length running across Northern Greece from Igoumenitsa to the Evros, the Egnatia Motorway is one of the largest road construction projects in Europe.

Nine major vertical axes connect the motorway with Albania, FYROM, Bulgaria and Turkey.

A raft of tunnels, bridges and interchanges carry it across the Greek countryside.

By plane from Athens-Greece (40 min) or from Thessaloniki-Greece (20 min).
Olympic Airways: +30-651-23120
The best way to get around Ioannina is by local busses (+30-651-22239) or by foor, as the center of the city is not too big.

The island can be reached by boats from Molos (Lakefront). I think there is a boat every half hour from 6:30 until 24:00 during summer, and until 22:00 in winter.

By plane: Both Olympic and Aegean airways fly to Ioannina from Athens and Thessaloniki.
By bus: From Athens (about 7 hours), from Thessaloniki (about 5 hours) and from Igoumenitsa (about 3 hours).