Lavrion (Greece)

Lavrion (aka Lavrio) is a port town in southeastern Attica - Greece's historical region that includes the country's capital city Athens. In ancient Greece, Laurium was famous for its silver mines - one of the main sources of income of the Athenian democracy (city-state, 6th-4th century BC).

As a seaport, Lavrion is way smaller and of less importance than the nearby Port Piraeus. Lavrio is approx 60 km (37 mi) southeast of Athens. The town has population around 7,000 and is located on a bay overlooking Makronisos Island to the east. Lavrio is connected to the capital city via road GR-89 (ending in Sounio, to the south). Lavrio-Athens drive time is ~1 hour.

The current-day Lavrio is built on the Thoricus site and its name derives from the Mines of Laurium. The metallic silver mined here was predominately used for coinage. In the early-20th century, mining operations here were restarted, but not for sliver (mainly for lead, manganese, cadmium).

The nearest airport (Eleftherios Venizelos) is approx 35 km (22 mi) or ~30-min drive. This international airport was opened in 2001 and serves the entire Attica (including Athens). It has two terminals and annual passenger capacity ~26 million. The main passenger traffic is domestic (around 8 million), followed by connections to Germany, Italy, the UK, Cyprus, France, Turkey, Switzerland, Holland, Spain, UAE. The largest carriers are Aegean Airlines, Ryanair, Lufthansa, easyJet, SwissAir.

On June 30, 2019, was officially inaugurated the regularly-scheduled ferry service between Cesme Turkey and Port Lavrion. For the first time ever, Greece's and Turkey's mainlands are now connected by ferries. The roundtrip crossings (on MF Kaunas ferryboat, IMO 8311924) take ~7 hours. The ship departs from Lavrion on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and from Cesme on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Fares for a one-way ticket started at EUR 55.

In mid-January 2021, the Greece-based company Celestyal Cruises announced the replacement of its homeporting operations (3-4-night "Iconic Aegean" roundtrip itinerary) from Piraeus-Athens to Lavrion Marina. The Lavrion cruise port is approx 26 km (16 mi) from Athens Airport and also close to Athens City's downtown and Port Piraeus.