By car to Greece – how much does travel, highways and fuel cost?

Greece next to Turkey still remains the most popular holiday destination among Polish tourists. And although there is no shortage of air connections on both the Balkan peninsula and Greek islands, we decided to check how much in 2025 it costs a trip to Greece by car. From a purely financial point of view, traveling by car can pay off.

In recent weeks, we took a closer journey by car to Croatia and Italy. This time it was Greece – one of the most popular holiday destinations, which popularity last year has become clearly increased not only among Polish tourists.

According to the data of the Greek Institute of Tourist Enterprises, in 2024, the country visited a record of 1.4 million Polish tourists – by over 200,000. More than a year ago. In this respect, our compatriots gave way only to the British, Germans, Italy and the French.

Counting how much you have to pay for a car trip to Greece, we took four Polish cities for the starting point: Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdańsk and Kraków. As target points, we accepted: Athens, lying in the Peloponnese city of Patras and the island of Corfu.

According to Bankier.pl estimates, the least time and money will consume the journey to Athens and Patras, which will last from about 20 hours in the case of Krakow to 25 hours for traveling from Gdańsk and will consume from around 2130 to 2880 PLN both ways.

The biggest expense will be associated with a trip on Corf, which paradoxically will involve covering the smallest number of kilometers. However, as Corfu is an island, the total cost will be significantly raised by the need to cross the ferry, e.g. from the city of Igumenits, lying on the Balkan Peninsula.

With the help of a ferry you can reach Poland to each of the larger Greek islands, also Crete. In this case, a family of four crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Pireus to Heraklion will have to add about PLN 1,000 one way.

When going to Greece, it should also be remembered that we will leave the European Union at about 750 km. Suggested by Google Maps and the only logical road leads along the A1 highway through the territory of Serbia and North Macedonia. In both countries, at least for motorways, you can pay using the euro.

We will get to Serbia through Slovakia and Hungary, and we have also accepted the path in the case of Krakow and Warsaw. The Google Maps application coming from Gdańsk and Wrocław suggests a path that also takes into account the transit through the Czech Republic. This will be associated with the spending of approx. PLN 71 for two valid vignette for one day.

Driving from Wrocław, thanks to this, they will be able to save themselves a dubious pleasure, which is the journey of the eternally renovated A4 motorway from Katowice to Krakow, which would involve a similar (PLN 68 in two ways) at the expense of Czech vignette.

The cost of the trip by car to Greece – how much for fuel?

We assumed that two weeks will pass from the trip to return. We estimated fuel costs for the currently most popular cars among Polish individual clients-a hybrid Toyota C-HR, for which combustion on the road-according to the autocentrum data-is 6 liters per 100 km.

We also used the data of E-Petrol, according to which (as at 11 June 2025) for unleaded gasoline, 95-octane gas, you have to pay in Poland an average of 5.69 PLN/l.

Due to the significant difference between the average fuel price in Poland and Greece, we estimated the cost of travel from Poland to Italy based on the Polish price of unleaded gasoline. Estimating the cost of returning, we took into account the average rates at Greek stations. According to E-Petrol, at the beginning of the second decade of June 2025 it was 7.38 PLN/l.

Highway fees on the way to Greece

The assumption of two weeks that will pass from the trip to arrival brings with it the need to buy one -day vignettes in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, which is a cheaper choice compared to vignettes valid for a month.

Travelers would pay less if a maximum of 10 days passed from the trip to return. Vignettes with this expiry date are provided for in both Czech, Slovak and Hungarian price list.

Staying with the aforementioned 14 days, the journey through the Czech Republic and Austria will require the payment of 21.60 euros in Slovakia, 10,640 forints in Hungary and also 420 Czech crowns also driving through the Czech Republic, i.e. PLN 68.90, PLN 117 and PLN 71.40, respectively.

Already in Serbia and North Macedonia, for the journey by the A1 motorway, which is a transit route to Greece, you will have to pay as in Poland, at goals. In Serbia, around 37 euros will be paid both ways (approx. 158 PLN) in Northern Macedonia, approx. 11 euros (approx. 46.70 PLN).

For travelers from Gdańsk, highway fees will be slightly larger, due to the need to use the paid section of the A1 motorway from Gdańsk to Toruń. The 152-kilometer road will be associated with the release of PLN 29.90 one way.

Motorways and ferries in Greece

We will also pay at Greece at the highway charging points. According to the price list, in 2025 it will be from around 13 euros (approx. 113 PLN both ways) for those going to Igumenitsy in the west of Greece, for 29.70 euros in the case of a road to Patras (approx. 252 PLN both ways) to 32.15 euros for Athens (approx. 273 zlotys in two ways).

For every kilometer of the Greek highway you have to pay from 15 to 25 gr/km. For comparison, the A1 highway from Gdańsk to Toruń costs about 20 gr/km. In the case of the A4 motorway from Katowice to Krakow, it is over 50 gr/km.

Driving to the Peloponnese Patras, however, you also have to pay for the rio-Andrio bridge-15.40 euros (approx. 131 PLN) one way.

When traveling on Corfu, you also need to add the cost of swimming to the island by ferry from the city of Igumenits. In this case, the sooner we buy tickets, the cheaper. If a cruise came in a month, so in mid-July, a family of 4 and a car would pay about PLN 340 one way.

Much more would have to be paid for a pyreus cruise to Heraklion in Crete. Even about PLN 1,000 one way in an analogous case.

By car to Greece – how much will we pay?

In summary, leaving by car from Poland to Greece will be associated with the spending of at least PLN 2,100 – 2,200. That's it, according to Calculations Bankier.pl, will pay those from Krakow to Athens and Patras. Considering a family of four, in terms of person it will be about 525 – 550 PLN, i.e. comparable to plane travel.

The cheapest flights to Athens and back, according to the data of skyscanner.pl, cost 400 – 720 PLN per person.

Also comparable to a car and aircraft travel on Corfu. When driving a car from Poland, you need to spend both ways from around 2.5 thousand. PLN to 3.2 thousand PLN, i.e. from approx. 625 to 800 PLN per person. Flights in Corfu in July are currently valued at approx. PLN 450 – 800 per person.

Much less by car travel pays off in the case of a trip to Crete. According to our calculations, it costs PLN 1040 – 1200 per person. The flight on similar routes would consume from approx. 550 to 900 PLN per person.

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