Rafina port sits twenty-four kilometers east of Athens International Airport, a working harbor that moves sixty percent of summer ferry traffic to the Cyclades. The airport opened in 2001 to coincide with the Olympic Games, and within three years the KTEL Attikis bus company had established Route 305, a direct line connecting arriving passengers with ferry departures to Andros, Tinos, Mykonos and Naxos. Before that, travelers either hired taxis at fixed rates or navigated two bus changes through the congested Attiki Odos corridor. The athens airport transfer to rafina operates from the arrivals level, between exits two and three, where orange KTEL coaches pull into marked bays every thirty to forty minutes during peak season. Journey time is forty minutes when traffic is clear, though afternoon departures between three and six can stretch to seventy minutes as the route crosses Spata and Pikermi. The service costs four euros, paid on board in cash to the driver, and runs from half-past four in the morning until half-past ten at night. Buses carry luggage in the undercarriage hold, a detail that matters when connecting with ferries that depart on tight schedules. Private transfers bypass the fixed route entirely, taking the Attiki Odos toll road to the port entrance at Akti Vasileos Pavlou. Sedan cars seat three passengers with luggage; minivans accommodate up to eight. Drivers monitor flight arrivals through shared systems and adjust pickup times if delays occur, a level of coordination the public bus cannot replicate. Most providers offer fixed pricing agreed at booking, eliminating the uncertainty of metered fares that fluctuate with traffic. Rafina grew from a fishing village in the nineteen-sixties when coastal development shifted ferry operations away from Piraeus. The port now handles twenty-two ferry lines during July and August, with Hellenic Seaways and Fast Ferries dominating morning sailings. Passengers arriving on overnight flights from North America or Asia often use athens airport transfer to rafina tickets as the first leg of island itineraries, linking long-haul arrivals with nine o'clock departures. The port has two terminals, both within two hundred meters of the bus stop, where ticket offices open at six each morning.