Spata is a town in East Attica beside Athens airport, at the heart of Attica’s wine country, with vineyards, a designer outlet and a zoo nearby. Explore it alongside skip-the-line sightseeing tickets and tours from My Greece Tours.
This airport-area town is a practical and surprising corner of the Athens travel guide. The sections below cover what Spata is, the wine country and tastings, the things to do, the ancient sites nearby, and how to use it around the airport.
What is Spata?
Spata is a town in East Attica, about 19 kilometres east of central Athens and just 5 kilometres from Athens International Airport, which it hosts. Long a farming and wine-growing community, it sits at the heart of Attica’s traditional vineyards. Today it combines its rural, wine-country roots with airport-related development, offering wineries with tastings, a major designer outlet, the Attica Zoological Park and easy access to the ancient sanctuary of Brauron. Its closeness to the airport makes it a convenient base or stop for travellers.
Spata is a town in the East Attica region, lying about nineteen kilometres east of central Athens and only around five kilometres from Athens International Airport, which is located within its area, making Spata best known to many simply as the place where the airport is. But there is far more to it than runways.
For centuries Spata has been a farming and especially a wine-growing community, sitting at the historic heart of Attica’s vineyards, and despite the arrival of the airport it retains much of that rural, agricultural character, with vineyards still covering the surrounding countryside. Today the town blends these wine-country roots with the modern development that has clustered around the airport, so visitors find an appealing mix of traditional Greek wineries offering tastings and tours, a large designer shopping outlet, the popular Attica Zoological Park, and easy access to the important ancient sanctuary of Brauron and the east-coast beaches. Above all, its location right beside the airport makes Spata a genuinely useful and pleasant base or stopover for travellers arriving in, departing from, or laying over in Athens, with plenty to do close at hand. The questions below cover what visitors ask most.
What is the wine country like?
Spata sits at the centre of Attica’s wine region, which has historically been based around Spata, Markopoulo and Koropi. The surrounding countryside is covered with vineyards, much of it protected as permanent farmland, and several wineries near Spata welcome visitors for tastings and vineyard tours, explaining Greek winemaking and the local Savatiano grape used in retsina and dry whites. For wine lovers, this makes Spata an easy and rewarding wine-country escape close to Athens and the airport, ideal for a tasting outing.
The defining feature of Spata beyond the airport is wine, for the town lies at the very heart of Attica’s traditional wine region. The vineyards of Attica have always been centred around Spata together with the neighbouring towns of Markopoulo and Koropi, and although the construction of the airport sacrificed a large area of vines, a protective decree ruled that much of the surrounding land must remain farmland indefinitely, which has preserved a great part of the region’s vineyards for the future.
As a result the countryside around Spata is still green with vines, and several wineries in and near the town open their doors to visitors for tastings and vineyard tours, offering insights into Greek winemaking traditions and the chance to sample the local wines. The area is particularly associated with the Savatiano grape, the backbone of Attica’s whites and of the famous resinated wine, retsina, as well as crisp dry whites. Notable estates around Spata and the wider region welcome wine lovers, and an annual wine festival in September celebrates the local production with tastings, music and dancing. For anyone with an interest in wine, Spata offers an easy and characterful wine-country experience within a short drive of both Athens and the airport, making a vineyard visit here a pleasant and unexpected addition to a trip. The questions below cover what visitors ask most.
What else is there to do near Spata?
Near Spata, the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet offers a big shopping complex with international and local brands, popular for an airport-area visit. The Attica Zoological Park, close by, is a full zoo with animals from around the world and a fun family day out. The Koutouki Cave, with striking natural formations, offers an underground adventure a short drive away. Together with the wineries and the beaches of the east coast, these give Spata and its surroundings plenty to fill a day or a layover.
Spata and its surroundings offer several attractions that make it more than a wine stop, several of them ideal for filling a layover or entertaining a family. The most prominent is the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet, a big shopping complex near the airport with a wide range of international and local brands at outlet prices, a popular destination in its own right and an easy way to pass time close to the airport.
For families, the nearby Attica Zoological Park is a major draw, a full zoo home to a wide variety of animals from around the world, with educational exhibits and interactive experiences that make for an enjoyable day out, conveniently located in the same eastern Attica area. A little further afield, the Koutouki Cave offers a different kind of adventure, an impressive show cave with beautiful natural rock formations to explore underground, a short drive from the town. Add to these the wineries on the doorstep and the long sandy beaches of the east coast at nearby Artemida and Rafina, and the Spata area provides a surprising variety of things to do, from shopping and wildlife to caves, wine and the sea, all within easy reach of the airport. Whether you have a full day or just a few layover hours, there is plenty here to enjoy. The questions below cover what visitors ask most.
What ancient sites are nearby?
The Spata area lies close to important ancient sites in East Attica. The Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron (Vravrona), a short drive away, is one of the region’s most significant archaeological sites, with the ruins of a 5th-century-BC temple, a stoa and statues, plus a museum. Spata itself has ancient roots, with Mycenaean tomb finds discovered in the area. These sites let visitors combine the wine country and airport-area attractions with a dose of ancient Greek history, deepening a visit to eastern Attica.
Eastern Attica is rich in ancient history, and the Spata area gives easy access to some notable sites, chief among them the Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron, known as Vravrona, a short drive from the town. This is one of the most significant archaeological sites in the region of Attica, dedicated to the goddess Artemis, and its ruins, dating back to the fifth century BC, include the Temple of Artemis, a distinctive colonnaded stoa and several ancient statues, set in a green valley with an accompanying museum that displays the finds.
Spata itself has deep roots in antiquity too, with important Mycenaean-era tombs and finds having been discovered in the area, attesting to settlement here thousands of years ago, long before the modern town or its airport. Together these give the district a historical depth that complements its more contemporary attractions. For visitors, this means that a trip built around the wineries, the outlet shopping or the airport can easily be enriched with a visit to the ancient sanctuary of Brauron, blending the pleasures of Attica’s wine country and the convenience of the airport area with a genuine encounter with ancient Greek religion and history. This combination of the practical, the modern and the ancient is what makes the Spata area a more rewarding stop than its reputation as merely the airport town would suggest. The questions below cover what visitors ask most.
How do you use Spata around the airport?
Spata’s biggest practical advantage is being just 5 kilometres from Athens International Airport, about 19 kilometres east of central Athens, reached by car or airport-area buses. This makes it ideal for a layover or an early/late flight: you can visit a winery, the designer outlet, the zoo or the Brauron sanctuary, or simply stay overnight near the airport, rather than waiting in the terminal. Combine it with the east-coast beaches at Artemida. For drivers heading out of Athens, Spata is an easy first or last stop.
The single greatest practical asset of Spata is its proximity to Athens International Airport, lying only about five kilometres away while sitting some nineteen kilometres east of central Athens, reached easily by car or by the buses serving the airport area. This location turns the town into a genuinely useful resource for travellers managing the awkward gaps that flights create.
Rather than spending a long layover, an early-morning departure or a late-night arrival waiting inside the terminal, you can use the time to enjoy the area: a winery visit and tasting, a few hours at the McArthurGlen designer outlet, a family trip to the Attica Zoological Park, or a cultural detour to the ancient Brauron sanctuary are all within minutes of the airport, and there are hotels in and around Spata for an overnight stay close to your flight. The town also pairs naturally with the long sandy beaches of nearby Artemida and the port of Rafina, so a swim can be folded into the same outing. And for travellers picking up a hire car to explore beyond Athens, Spata and its surroundings make an easy and pleasant first or last stop on the road. In short, knowing about Spata lets you transform airport dead time into something enjoyable, which is its real value to a visitor. The questions below cover what visitors ask most.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Spata known for?
Spata is known as the town hosting Athens International Airport, about 5 kilometres away, and as the heart of Attica’s traditional wine country, surrounded by vineyards with wineries offering tastings. It is also known for the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Athens, the nearby Attica Zoological Park, the Koutouki Cave, and easy access to the ancient Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron. Its closeness to the airport makes it a handy base or layover stop.
What is there to do near Athens airport?
Near Athens airport in the Spata area you can visit local wineries for tastings, shop at the large McArthurGlen Designer Outlet, spend time at the Attica Zoological Park, explore the Koutouki Cave, or visit the ancient Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron. The sandy beaches of Artemida (Loutsa) are also close by. These options make a layover or an early or late flight far more enjoyable than waiting in the terminal.
How far is Spata from Athens?
Spata is about 19 kilometres east of central Athens and only around 5 kilometres from Athens International Airport, which lies within its area. It is reached by car or by airport-area buses. Its closeness to the airport makes Spata a convenient base or stop for travellers, ideal for a layover, an early or late flight, or as a first or last stop when picking up a hire car to explore beyond Athens.