Rafina Port

Rafina Port (© Copyright: Leif Ingvarsson / Dreamstime)

Rafina Port

Essentially, Rafina is the 2nd largest port town found on the eastern coast of Attika, whose origins go back from prehistoric times to one of the one-hundred municipalities of Athens.

Defined by Cleisthenes as the 'Arafin' here dwelled one of the ten tribes of Attika led by Arafina. The ancient town of Rafina was located above the harbor and its modern history began in 1923. Since the 2011, the over 13,000 inhabitants of Rafina's local government reformed as part of the municipality Rafina-Pikermi.

The port lies on the Aegean Sea coast, east of the Penteli mountain and northeast of the Mesogaia plain. It can be accessed through Greek National Road 54 (Athens – Pallini – Rafina), Greek National Road 83 (Athens – Marathona – Rafina) and Greek National Road 85 (Lavrio – Rafina).

This "gateway port" serves ferries heading to the southern part of Evia as well as most of the Cyclades Islands via its two ramps for catamaran passenger and thirteen passenger-ferry ramps. More specifically, picturesque Rafina unites Attika trade and tourism with many islands closer to it than from Piraeus, such as: Evia Island, Andros Island, Tinos Island, Mykonos Island, Paros Island and Skyros Island.