The Poseidon Athens Half Marathon is back on the Athens Riviera on Sunday 25 April 2027. The 18th edition of the race starts and finishes at the Cultural and Sports Centre of the Municipality of Paleo Faliro, in and around Flisvos Marina, and the parallel races and events share the same coastal base on the same day.
If you are flying in to run it, or to watch someone run it, the shape of the weekend is simple. Athens International Airport sits about 33 km east of the center, Paleo Faliro sits on the south coast, and the smart move is to base yourself in the historic center and collect your race package in good time.
What is happening
The organizer confirms the 18th International Poseidon Athens Half Marathon, with its parallel races and events, takes place in Athens on 25 April 2027. Registration is online, paid by credit or debit card, and runners of any nationality can enter individually or as a team.
Every race starts and finishes in or out of the Cultural and Sports Centre of the Municipality of Paleo Faliro, at Flisvos Marina. The participation package is collected from a room at the Municipal Indoor Gymnasium of Paleo Faliro, known as Sofia Befon, on Ioannou Avgeri Street, 200 meters after the battleship Averof, so build the collection trip into the day before the race rather than race morning.
On the course, the organizer provides a storage space at the sports center, and your items are returned after you finish on showing your race number. Refreshment points along the route carry water, bananas and isotonic drinks. Headphones are allowed if the volume stays low enough to hear runners, volunteers and staff, and runners cannot take part with a stroller or a pet. The organizer recommends public transport for getting to the start, which matches the plan below.
Getting there after you land
The airport ride lands you in the center first, and that is the right base for this race. From Syntagma, the historic ring is a walk, the metro interchange is on the doorstep, and Paleo Faliro is the one planned trip of the weekend, out to the coast for package collection and again on race morning. See our Athens airport to the city center transfer guide for every option, priced and compared.
X95 express busCheapest
Non-stop to Syntagma from the curb outside arrivals, and the 24 hour option, so it is the default after the last metro.
Metro Line 3
The guide default in its hours: the station sits across the arrivals plaza, trains run every 30 minutes, and the ticket covers 90 minutes onward.
Taxi
A legal flat fare inside the central ring from the official rank, with tolls and luggage included. The higher rate runs from midnight to 05:00.
The full first hour: Athens guide
The ride in, the first ticket and the first meal, plus where to stay in Athens.
Where to stay, and getting back
For a Splurge, Hotel Grande Bretagne, on Syntagma Square, is the landmark of the square, receiving since 1874 in a palace fronting Parliament, with a rooftop restaurant whose terrace is the classic Acropolis view table. For Mid-range, Electra Metropolis Athens, on Mitropoleos Street a minute from Syntagma Square at the edge of Plaka, has a small rooftop pool staring at the Acropolis and the metro interchange on the doorstep. For Budget, City Circus Athens, a boutique hostel in a neoclassical mansion on Sarri Street in Psyrri, ten minutes from Monastiraki, mixes dorms with privacy curtains, frescoed private rooms and a shaded courtyard.
All three bases sit inside the historic ring the guide recommends, which keeps race weekend simple. For getting back, reverse the ride in: the metro in its hours, the 24 hour X95 after the last metro, or the flat fare taxi rank if the medal and the bags are heavy.
The first hour, sorted
Get connected before you land: the guide names an Airalo eSIM, with Saily as the alternative, so maps and metro times work from the first curb. Carry a first float of euros from a Greek bank ATM in arrivals, declining conversion into your home currency, because coins speed up metro machines and counters. Cards work at tavernas, taxis and kiosks, and cash covers stalls and tips.
Book the Acropolis slot before your first morning. Entry is timed, the guide lists it at 30 euros, and the best slots go days ahead in season, so the cool, quiet first hours are the ones to take. For a first meal, eat the first proper meal at lunch, when kitchens peak between 13:00 and 15:00: the kebab at O Thanasis in Monastiraki, beef and lamb in warm pita, or the souvlaki at Kostas by Agia Irini square, daytime hours only. Save the long dinner for after the race: Athens rarely eats before 21:00.
A coastal half marathon, a marina finish and a spring weekend in Athens is a strong combination. Browse the events calendar for what else is on while you are in town, and use plan your trip to line up the days around the race.
Delphi, Cape Sounion and Hydra, the guide day trips for the days after the race.
Get the Athens first hour checklist by email
The ride in, the first ticket and the first meal, in the Athens guide PDF you can read on the plane.
The checklist, free, from After You Land.
What else is on
The events calendar tracks every guided city, strikes and stoppages included.
Events calendarLine up the rest
Plan your trip pulls the guide, the stays and the bookings for this trip into one place.
Plan your trip