The Uber app does work in the Greek capital of Athens, but the full range of services you might be expecting are not available. Here’s some important things you need to know about Uber in Athens.
If you’re used to using the Uber app only a daily basis to get around, you’ll probably be wondering if it works in the Greek capital of Athens. The short answer is yes – kind of!
This is because when Big Tech met Greek Bureaucracy, Uber had to compromise. It was basically impossible to put a pool of gig economy private drivers together as a result of the way the taxi industry is tightly regulated with strict licenses.
In a nutshell, the compromise is you can use the Uber app in Athens, but you’ll still end up in an official yellow licensed taxi. In addition, the fare price in the app will give an estimate, but it may change at the end of the journey because meter rates still apply.
How Uber Actually Works in Athens
Here’s what you need to know before opening the app:
- Only licensed yellow taxis are allowed to operate through Uber in Athens; the app simply connects you to regular taxi drivers, not a separate Uber driver fleet.
- You can request a ride 24/7 using the Uber app, and it will match you with a licensed taxi driver.
- The app may show an upfront estimated fare, but the final cost is usually tied to the taxi’s metered rate, so prices aren’t always guaranteed.
- Not all licensed taxi drivers in Athens are on Uber – I’ve not idea of numbers, but I would be surprised if it was even 10%. Local ride sharing apps like Beat are more popular.
- UberX, Uber Black, and UberPool (peer‑to‑peer or luxury rides) are not available in Athens — only taxi‑based services.
- Uber Eats may be available for food delivery (as indicated in the Uber app), but for local food delivery Greeks more commonly use services like E‑food.
Why Uber in Athens never fully took off
When Uber first arrived in Athens around 2015, it briefly offered its usual ridesharing service (UberX) with drivers using their personal cars. But Greek transportation law says all paid passenger transport must be performed by licensed taxi drivers — private drivers are not permitted without that license.
Because of that, Uber’s original model was legally challenged, and by 2018 Uber suspended its UberX service in Athens entirely. What remains is Uber Taxi — the app only connects you to regular licensed yellow taxi drivers who operate under Greek regulations.
The official Uber site confirms you can* request rides in Athens via the Uber app and plan ahead on the platform, but what you’re booking is essentially a taxi.
Uber maintain heavy advertising inside the Athens Airport Arrivals area, and keep a presence, probably waiting patiently for laws to change in Greece in regard to gig economy drivers. Don’t hold your breath though!
So you thought Greece didn’t have rules!
Several factors explain why Uber didn’t evolve into the familiar UberX or Uber Black model here:
- Strong regulation: Greek law is designed to protect licensed taxi drivers and keep private ride-sharing out of the market unless the driver meets professional taxi requirements (more or less impossible to do).
- Taxi culture: Athens has a dense network of yellow taxis that locals and tourists alike already rely on. That means there wasn’t the same sort of gap in the transport market that Uber filled in other cities.
- Local competitors: This is the big one – Greek apps like Beat (which started as Taxibeat and remains widely popular) operate similarly by connecting taxi drivers to riders, and they grew faster from the beginning as they concentrated on the official taxi drivers for signing up.
Put simply: the “ride‑sharing disruption” that Uber brought to some cities never really had room to grow here — the taxi system was already established and tightly regulated.
Can You Use Uber Black or Other Uber Services?
Unlike in cities like London or New York, Uber Black, Uber Comfort, and similar tiered services are not available in Athens. All Uber rides are by professional taxi drivers or taxis already operating in the city. Uber Taxi Comfort might be presented as an option in the app in some cases, but it still involves the same licensed taxi drivers and vehicles — just potentially higher‑quality cars.
Uber Eats and Food Delivery
The Uber app may show Uber Eats availability in Athens, but local food delivery is dominated by Greek services like E‑food. I really recommend E-Food – They have far more choice of places who will deliver to you.
Do you even need a taxi in Athens?
A bit of an ‘it depends’ answer really! When you arrive in Athens airport, you can get to your hotel by bus, metro, taxi, or pre-booked car. Read my article how to get from Athens airport to the city center for more info. Assuming you are staying in central Athens, you might not need a taxi at all. All the main historic sites are within walking distance, and the metro is also a good way of getting around.
Hope all this helped!
Dave
– Dave BriggsDave is a travel writer from the UK who has been living in Athens since 2015. As well as creating this travel blog post on how to use Uber in Athens, he's written many more travel blogs and itineraries for destinations all over Greece. Follow Dave on social media for travel inspiration from Greece and beyond: