Flights to Greece from London get busy in the last week of October every year, and this year the calendar is doing us no favours. Half term runs from 26 to 30 October, OXI Day falls on Wednesday 28 October, the clocks go back on the 25th and National Highways is closing part of the M25 next to Heathrow on two Sunday mornings. If you are flying home, or picking up family who are flying here, this is the week to plan properly.
Greek List has put the practical bits in one place: the road closures, the quickest train to the airport, which London airports fly where, what changes on the winter timetable, and where to eat something Greek before security.
Secret London reports that National Highways is closing the anticlockwise M25 at junction 15, the interchange with the M4, from 8pm on Saturday 17 October until 10am on Sunday 18 October, and again from 8pm on Saturday 24 October until 10am on Sunday 25 October. The clockwise carriageway and the M25 to M4 links stay open, but the interchange is expected to be busiest between 8am and midday on both Sundays.
The word “overnight” is the trap. A closure that ends at 10am still catches a Sunday morning departure, and Sunday morning is exactly when many flights to Greece from London leave. If someone is driving you round the M25, work backwards from check in, set the sat nav to the terminal rather than “Heathrow”, and follow the signed diversion via the M4 westbound, junction 5 and back to the M25 at junction 4b. Terminals 2 and 3 are reached from the M4 side, Terminals 4 and 5 from junction 14 of the M25.
Getting there: Terminals 2, 3 and 5 are on the Piccadilly line, the Elizabeth line and the Heathrow Express; Terminal 4 is on the Piccadilly and Elizabeth lines.
The simplest way to avoid both closures is not to drive at all. From Paddington the Heathrow Express reaches the airport in about 15 minutes, and the Elizabeth line does the same trip for far less money if you can spare another 15 to 20 minutes.
Paddington is also the most Greek station in London for a last meal before flights to Greece from London. Praed Street, right outside, has a souvlaki spot that opens at 11am, and ten minutes towards Lancaster Gate there is a Greek Cypriot restaurant that has fed Bayswater for decades. Eat properly before the train rather than paying airport prices after security.
Greek stop nearby: It’s All Greek To Me on 101 Praed Street, two minutes from the Paddington concourse, for souvlaki, gyros and salads to eat in or take on the train, and Halepi on 18 Leinster Terrace, near Lancaster Gate, if you have time for a sit down kleftiko before the airport.
Getting there: Paddington is on the Bakerloo, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Elizabeth lines; Halepi is a ten minute walk via Craven Road.
Heathrow is not the only option, and for many Greeks in London it is not even the first. Aegean and British Airways fly from Heathrow to Athens, but the low cost carriers do most of the heavy lifting on flights to Greece from London: easyJet from Gatwick and Luton, Ryanair from Stansted and Wizz Air from Luton, with Athens and Thessaloniki the main year round destinations. None of them touches the closed section of the M25.
Getting there: Gatwick from Victoria or London Bridge; Stansted from Liverpool Street or Tottenham Hale; Luton from St Pancras, Farringdon or Blackfriars.
European airlines switch to winter schedules on the last Sunday of October, and this year that is Sunday 25 October: the morning of the second M25 closure and the night the clocks go back an hour at 2am. Seasonal island routes thin out from that weekend, so a direct flight to Rhodes, Corfu or Heraklion that existed in September may not exist in November and you will be routing through Athens. And if you have an early pickup or transfer on the 25th, confirm the time in writing, because every year someone turns up an hour early or an hour late.
Greece changes its clocks the same night, so the two hour difference between London and Athens stays as it is.
Half term in most London boroughs runs from Monday 26 to Friday 30 October, with OXI Day on the Wednesday in the middle. That is why the Friday and Saturday flights to Greece from London before half term sell out first and the returns on Sunday 1 November are the priciest of the autumn. If you have not booked, be flexible: out on the Sunday or Monday, back on the Saturday.
This is where a Greek travel agent earns their keep. Vozis Travel is a Greek List member based in Milton Keynes that books flights, ferries and hotels for Greeks across the UK, which matters when a ferry from Piraeus or Rafina has to line up with a late arrival. One phone call in Greek beats three browser tabs in English.
Greek stop nearby: Vozis Travel Ltd on 197 Granby Court, Bletchley, Milton Keynes, a Greek travel agency and tour operator for flight tickets, ferry tickets and hotel reservations, working with Greek clients across the UK by phone and email.
Not flying anywhere? The Greek List events page is the most complete list of Greek events in the UK, and the next ten days look like this:
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Evangelos Kasapakis
Evangelos Kasapakis
Evangelos Kasapakis
