Car hire Thessaloniki airport: P5 pickup and Halkidiki

Car hire Thessaloniki airport starts in a car park, not at a counter. Makedonia airport (SKG) lists its rental desks in the arrivals hall, and the three companies Vrooem offers here, Green Motion, Let’s Drive and Surprice, are not among them: their staff meet you at P5, the coach park opposite the terminal, and take you by shuttle to their offices on the road towards Perea. Most travellers then head south-east to Halkidiki, so this guide covers the meeting point and the desk rules first, then the roads to Kassandra, Sithonia and the Athos peninsula, and parking in Thessaloniki itself.

The rules come from the companies’ terms and station pages, the airport operator Fraport Greece, the Halkidiki Tourism Organisation, Visit Greece and the city’s parking system, all checked on 1 October 2026. Green Motion’s Greek terms are written for bookings on its own website, so with a Vrooem booking the conditions on your voucher take precedence.

Car hire Thessaloniki airport: three companies, one meeting point

Company	Where you meet them	Office	Opening hours
Green Motion	Meeting point 80 m from the terminal exit, next to P5; follow the signs to the coaches	15th km Thessalonikis-Peraias	08:00 to 21:00 daily, bank holidays included
Let’s Drive	Straight ahead about 100 m from arrivals to parking area 5, where the buses park; look for the Let’s Drive sign	14 km Thessaloniki-Perea	08:00 to 22:00, Monday to Sunday
Surprice	Meet and greet at Parking 5, arrivals level	About 2 km away, Thessalonikis-Peraias 16, Thermi	Not listed in its terms; out-of-hours handovers on request

The airport describes P5 as the area for coaches and pre-booked taxis, one of six car parks (P3 to P8) facing the terminal building, which is why all three meeting points share one spot. If nobody is there, call the number on your voucher. Green Motion’s hours and Surprice’s office address are as the companies supply them to Vrooem; the rest comes from their own station pages and terms.

The terminal never closes, the offices do. The airport lies about 15 km from the city, according to the Halkidiki Tourism Organisation, and Let’s Drive puts it in the municipality of Thermi, roughly 30 minutes from Thessaloniki by car.

At the end of the trip you return the car to the office, not the terminal, so enter the office address in your sat nav. Let’s Drive’s shuttle then takes you back to the airport, and Green Motion’s Greek terms ask for the car at the office car park or the place in your rental agreement; leaving it elsewhere without written permission costs extra.

Late landings and early departures

Compare your flight times with each company’s rules before you book:

• Green Motion: its Greek terms treat handovers between 21:01 and 07:59 as out of hours, at an extra charge that depends on the hour and on how much notice you give. A booking is held for 2.5 hours after the booked time; without a flight number, 2 hours or until the office closes.
• Let’s Drive: a pickup or return between 22:00 and 08:00 carries a charge per rental, and a late return is charged by the hour.
• Surprice: bookings outside the station’s hours are handled on request at an extra charge, also on national holidays. Arriving more than 4 hours late without phoning may count as a no-show, although an exception may be made when you gave flight details in advance. Returns get a two-hour grace period before an extra day is charged.

For a flight home before 08:00, arrange the early return when you collect the car.

The deposit: which card to bring

All three pre-authorise a deposit on a credit card in the main driver’s name. Amounts come from the companies’ own terms.

Company	Card for the deposit	Amount	Good to know
Green Motion	Visa or Mastercard credit card, valid at least 2 months after the return	By car group and package; for the smallest groups (GR-A to GR-C) 806 euros on Basic, 403 on Plus, 202 on Premium; Premium Plus has zero excess and the lowest deposit	Release may take up to 14 working days, longer for some cards
Let’s Drive	Visa or Mastercard credit card; no cash, debit, Diners or American Express	Equal to the excess of your cover, minimum 250 euros	CDW excess from 800 euros (mini, economy) to 1,700 euros (7 and 9 seat minivans); SCDW makes it zero
Surprice	Visa or Mastercard credit card, valid at least one month after drop-off	Equal to the excess of the car	Release may take 15 to 25 working days

Green Motion takes debit and prepaid cards for rental charges only. If Surprice cannot pre-authorise the deposit on your card, extra cover may become compulsory. One rule matters for long summer stays: for rentals over 11 days, Green Motion’s Greek terms allow the excess to be charged to your card instead of pre-authorised, because a pre-authorisation expires. Our guide to deposit and excess on a hire car explains how the two amounts relate.

Fuel and kilometres on Halkidiki days

• Green Motion: Basic includes 150 km per day and Plus 250 km per day; Premium and Premium Plus are unlimited, and extra kilometres are charged. The Greek terms set a like-for-like fuel rule for all packages, but in our Vrooem search for Thessaloniki airport on 1 October 2026, Premium and Premium Plus were listed as full to full, so read the fuel line on your own booking.
• Let’s Drive: return the car with the fuel level you received.
• Surprice: same level back, unlimited mileage, and no refund for extra fuel.

Sarti, on Sithonia, is 131 km from the airport by the tourism organisation’s figures, so the return run alone uses 262 km of a week’s Basic allowance of 1,050 km. Photograph the fuel gauge and odometer at pickup; our fuel policy guide has more.

Car hire Halkidiki airport: why everyone lands at SKG

People search for car hire Halkidiki airport, but the region has no airport of its own. The Halkidiki Tourism Organisation names Makedonia airport as the one that serves Halkidiki and gives the distance as 45 to 120 km, although its own page for Sarti, on Sithonia, gives 131 km. There is no railway, and KTEL coaches leave from their own station in Thessaloniki, so a car from P5 saves the trip into the city and back out.

Distances from the airport, from the organisation’s village pages:

Destination	Peninsula	From SKG
Nea Potidea	Kassandra (entrance)	57.7 km
Sani	Kassandra	72.5 km
Athitos (Afitos)	Kassandra	74.7 km
Kallithea	Kassandra	78 km
Kriopigi	Kassandra	82.6 km
Nikiti	Sithonia	89.1 km
Ormos Panagias	Sithonia	95.7 km
Neos Marmaras	Sithonia	109 km
Sarti	Sithonia	131 km

Kassandra, Sithonia and the third peninsula

Visit Greece calls Kassandra the most developed leg, with sandy beaches and resorts, and Sithonia the wilder one, with secluded coves and pine-covered landscapes.

• Kassandra: the only way in is at Nea Potidea, where a canal joins the Thermaic and Toroneos gulfs; the tourism organisation recommends the view from the bridge over the isthmus. Further south, Athitos is built on a 75-metre rock above the Toroneos Gulf.
• Sithonia: Nikiti is the seat of the municipality, with an old village of stone houses up the hill. Excursion boats leave Ormos Panagias, and Vourvourou, 5 km on, faces a bay with nine small islands.
• The Athos leg: Ouranoupoli lies 125 km and Ierissos 111 km from Thessaloniki.

If a beach is signposted down a dirt track, check your terms first: Let’s Drive allows its cars only on asphalt, whatever the category, and Green Motion’s Greek terms exclude accidents caused by off-road driving from its cover.

Mount Athos: where the car stops

Visit Greece describes Mount Athos as an autonomous monastic state. Its visiting rules, from Visit Greece and the Halkidiki Tourism Organisation:

• By sea only. Boats from Ouranoupoli serve the west coast and the port of Daphni, about an hour and a half away; for the east side, boats leave Ierissos or Nea Roda for the Iviron monastery’s harbour.
• Men only, with a permit. Visitors need a written permit, the diamonitirion, from the Mount Athos Pilgrims’ Bureau, arranged in advance. There are ten permits a day for non-Orthodox visitors and 100 for Greek and Orthodox visitors.
• The avaton. An ancient rule forbids women to enter or stay, and a breach is a criminal offence.
• A cruise for everyone. Daily boats from Ouranoupoli and Ormos Panagias follow the west coast at least 500 metres offshore, so everyone can see the monasteries.

So you drive to Ouranoupoli or Ierissos, and the hire car waits on the mainland.

Ammouliani, ferries and the borders to the north

The main village of Ammouliani is 2 nautical miles from the port of Tripiti, under 15 minutes by ferry. Whether the car may come along depends on the company:

• Green Motion Greece: only with written approval from the local office, at a charge; a ferry without notice voids the insurance.
• Let’s Drive: not without its written permission.
• Surprice: ferrying the car is not allowed from any of its destinations.

Thessaloniki is also close to two borders: the Halkidiki Tourism Organisation lists Evzoni (from North Macedonia) and Promachonas (from Bulgaria) as road crossings into Greece. Green Motion’s Greek terms do not permit border crossings, Surprice does not allow them and voids the insurance if you cross, and Let’s Drive requires its written permission.

One way from Thessaloniki to Athens and beyond

Green Motion’s location data for Thessaloniki airport lists drop-off points at Athens airport and in Athens (Leoforos Varis Koropiou), at Corfu, Preveza, Kalamata and Zakynthos airports, and in Igoumenitsa and Lefkada, with a one-way fee under its Greek terms. Surprice takes one-way requests by email to its central reservations before the rental, with any fee paid at pickup. The Let’s Drive terms we read do not cover one-way hires, so ask first. Heading south? Our guide to car rental in Athens takes over there.

Driving and parking in Thessaloniki

GOV.UK warns that traffic in Greece can be busy, fast and chaotic, especially in the larger cities. According to the EU’s Your Europe portal (last checked 10 January 2025), cars may do 50 km/h in built-up areas, 90 km/h outside them and up to 130 km/h on motorways; the alcohol limit is 0.5 g/l, or 0.2 g/l for novice and professional drivers; phones are hands-free only; and a warning triangle, first-aid kit and fire extinguisher are compulsory.

On-street parking in the centre runs through THESi, the Municipality of Thessaloniki’s controlled parking system:

• Bays: white lines for visitors, blue for residents with a permit, yellow for loading.
• Hours: Monday to Friday 08:00 to 21:00 and Saturday 09:00 to 16:00; free at other times, on Sundays and on public holidays.
• Limit: 4 hours per sector, then move to another sector.
• Payment: the ParkPal app (charged per minute), Scan & Pay by QR code, or about 400 sales points such as kiosks, using the registration number and the sector number on the sign along each block.
• Area: the centre from the Makedonia Palace hotel to the port and north to Agios Pavlos, plus Vasileos Georgiou, Vasilissis Olgas and Stratigou Napoleontos Zerva avenues.

Note your hire car’s registration before you leave the office. Spending your first days in the city without a car? From the airport bus stop in front of Exit 4, line 1X runs to the city centre, and lines 2X and 3X connect with the metro at Nea Elvetia and Mikra.

Licence, age and documents at pickup

• Green Motion: from 21 with a young driver surcharge (23 or 25 without, by car group), senior surcharge from 74. A physical licence held at least one year (two for premium cars and vans), passport or ID card, and an international driving permit for licences not in the Latin alphabet and for non-EU customers, except UK licence holders.
• Let’s Drive: from 21, with a young driver fee up to 23 and a senior fee from 74 to 78. The licence must be at least one year old, and non-EU citizens need an international driving licence too.
• Surprice: from 20 with a surcharge, 23 without; under 23 only car groups A to D; senior surcharge above 72. Physical passport or ID card and a licence at least one year old, no digital copies; UK drivers show the photocard, and non-EU customers also need an international driving permit.

GOV.UK says a UK photocard licence is enough to drive in Greece but that hire companies often set stricter rules, so carrying a 1968 international driving permit avoids discussion at the office. See our guides to documents for renting abroad and the young driver fee.

Before you drive away from the office

1. Add your flight number to the booking and phone the station if you are delayed.
2. Make sure every mark is on the check-out sheet; Surprice asks you to report straight away if you are not satisfied with the car’s condition.
3. Check that the triangle, first-aid kit and fire extinguisher are on board.
4. Ask about the ferry rule now if Ammouliani is on your list.
5. Shake out the beach sand before the return: Surprice and Green Motion both charge for deep cleaning when a car comes back in poor condition.

Booking car hire at Thessaloniki airport on Vrooem

At Thessaloniki airport, Vrooem offers Green Motion, Let’s Drive and Surprice. Our search of 1 October 2026, for 4 to 11 November with a 30-year-old driver, showed 46 cars: 18 from Let’s Drive, 17 from Green Motion and 11 from Surprice. Sixteen were automatics (8 Let’s Drive, 5 Green Motion, 3 Surprice), and Let’s Drive and Green Motion each had three people carriers with 7 or 9 seats. Weighing up gearboxes? Read automatic or manual.

For Green Motion, Vrooem shows all four packages before you pay, so you can match the kilometre allowance to your Halkidiki plans at home. Each booking also includes a free travel eSIM, handy for calling the station from P5. More on the companies in our Green Motion, Let’s Drive and Surprice guides, and on the rest of the country in renting a car in Greece.

Sources

Checked on 1 October 2026: Green Motion Thessaloniki airport, Green Motion Thessaloniki airport location data, Green Motion Greece terms, Let’s Drive Thessaloniki airport, Let’s Drive terms and conditions, the Thessaloniki airport “Full rental terms” (location policies) on the official Surprice booking site, Thessaloniki airport car rental, Thessaloniki airport parking, Thessaloniki airport by public bus, Halkidiki facts, travelling to Halkidiki, Mount Athos (Halkidiki Tourism Organisation), the village pages for Nea Potidea, Sani, Athitos, Kallithea, Kriopigi, Nikiti, Ormos Panagias, Vourvourou, Neos Marmaras and Sarti, Ammouliani (Halkidiki Tourism Organisation), Visit Greece on Halkidiki, Visit Greece on Mount Athos, THESi controlled parking, what THESi is, THESi parking categories, THESi zones, THESi visitor parking FAQ, road rules in Greece (Your Europe) and GOV.UK travel advice for Greece. Pickup instructions, Green Motion’s opening hours, Surprice’s office address and the car mix: as supplied by the rental companies and shown on Vrooem on 1 October 2026.