Athens Marathon 2026 : the course km by km, race week and travel

Athens is the classic course with the honest profile: it starts low, gets lower, and then spends the middle of the race going up. Between the Rafina junction at about km 17.7 and the top of the course just past Stavros at about km 31.2, the road rises 201.7 m without a single downhill stretch to rest on. Everything before km 17.7 is a warm-up for that, and everything after km 31.2 is payment for it: 11 km of descent into the marble stadium. A runner who treats the first 17 km as easy and the climb as the race will have the downhill left to use.

The course runs point to point from the stadium in the town of Marathon to the Panathenaic Stadium in central Athens, almost all of it on one long road: Marathonos Avenue, then Mesogeion Avenue, then Vasilissis Sofias. The kilometres and heights below are measured along the walked 2026 course, on a 30 m terrain model smoothed over 1 km. The climbing adds up to 281.2 m, and the finish is about 55 m higher than the start.

Km 0 to 4: out of Marathon

The start blocks line up along the start line, around the stadium’s ring road and inside the stadium itself. The first 200 m run downhill out of the facility, and the course reaches Marathonos Avenue at about km 0.3. The road keeps falling gently towards the coast, from about 31 m at the start to about 9 m by km 4.

Km 4 to 6.3: around the Tomb of Marathon

At km 4 the course leaves the avenue for Marathonomachon Street and runs an almost circular 2.2 km loop around the Tomb of Marathon, the mound raised for the 192 Athenians who fell in the battle of 490 BC. The mound sits inside the loop, about 120 m from the road at its nearest, and the course rejoins the avenue at about km 6.3.

Km 6.3 to 17.7: the plain, then the first climb

The organiser calls km 6 to 10 flat, and the lowest point of the race comes here: 4.7 m on the plain at about km 7.7. Nea Makri, the coastal town at about km 10, marks the start of the climbing. The course stays inland on the avenue, never closer than about 600 m to the sea.

The organiser calls km 11 to 17 uphill in parts. The road rises from about 16 m at km 10 to a first top of 82.3 m at about km 16.2, then gives almost all of it back: a steep drop of 47.4 m in about 1.5 km to the bottom at the Rafina junction, at about km 17.7. It is the last downhill for 13.6 km.

Km 17.7 to 31.2: the long climb to Stavros

From the Rafina junction the road climbs through Pikermi, Pallini and Gerakas, and on the smoothed profile it does not lose a metre for 13.6 km. Halfway comes early in this climb, at around 90 m. The steepest full kilometre averages about 2.75%, near km 24, and by km 26 the road is at about 179 m. The course crosses the Marathonos Avenue overpass in Pallini at about km 28.3.

The organiser calls the Stavros junction, km 30 to 31, the last and most difficult part of the route: an intense, prolonged climb. The junction is at about km 30.7, where the course passes under the A621 motorway, and the top of the course is half a kilometre on: 236.6 m at about km 31.2, just before Marathonos Avenue becomes Mesogeion Avenue. From the Rafina junction that is 201.7 m of climbing. Pace it by effort rather than by the watch: everyone slows here.

Km 31.2 to 39: down Mesogeion Avenue

The organiser warns of a steep descent from Stavros to Agia Paraskevi square, and from there Mesogeion Avenue points straight at the city centre. The steepest of the late downhills runs from the Ministry of National Defence to Katehaki, where the course passes under Santiago Calatrava’s footbridge over the avenue at about km 37.3. The road is at about 152 m by km 38. A runner who went too hard up to Stavros finds out here, on tired legs.

Km 39 to the finish: Vasilissis Sofias and the stadium

The course joins Vasilissis Sofias at about km 39 and runs downhill on it towards Syntagma, past the US Embassy, the Athens Concert Hall and Eleftherias Park, where the last aid station stands at km 40. At about km 41.2, some 250 m short of Syntagma Square, the course turns off onto Irodou Attikou, past the Maximos Mansion and the Presidential Mansion beside the National Garden. It enters the Panathenaic Stadium from the forecourt, and the last 170 m are on the track. The finish line is on the left side of the stadium.

Bibs and the expo

Bibs and race kits are handed out at the Runners’ Center, at the allwyn Marathon EXPO in the Faliro Indoor Hall and Exhibition Centre, the former Tae Kwon Do venue on the Olympic coastal zone at Palaio Faliro. It opens from 12:00 to 21:00 on Wednesday 4 November, 10:00 to 21:00 on the Thursday and Friday, and 10:00 to 20:00 on Saturday 7 November. Bring a copy of the bib number email and an ID card or passport. Bib numbers and blocks arrive by email about ten days before the race. A representative can collect up to four kits, with a photocopy of each runner’s ID and their bib email. Nothing is handed out on race day.

The bag drop is at the expo, not the start

This rule changes how you plan race morning. There is no clothing bag service at the start on race day. Bags go in at a designated area inside the expo, in the official bag with your bib sticker, from Wednesday to Friday until 22:00 and on Saturday until 21:00. You collect it after the finish on Vassilisis Olgas Avenue, on the lower side of the Zappeion, by bib number. Bags not collected are stored for 15 days and then thrown away. So whatever you wear on the bus to Marathon, you either run in or leave behind.

Buses to Marathon

The organiser’s buses are free for registered runners and need no booking. For blocks 1 to 10 they leave between 05:00 and 06:30 from six points in central Athens: Syngrou-Fix (last bus 06:15), Syntagma, Panepistimio, Evangelismos, Katechaki and Omonia metro stations. For blocks 11 to 15 they leave between 06:30 and 07:30 from metro line 3 stations on Mesogeion Avenue, among them Ethniki Amyna, Katechaki and Nomismatokopio. The organiser’s page is inconsistent on how many stops this group has, so check it in race week. There is no organiser transport after the last bus of each group. Anyone driving must arrive by 07:30, the drop-off parking is about 800 m from the start, and the organiser advises against it.

Blocks and the start

The field starts in 15 blocks in two waves. Blocks 1 to 10 go between 08:30 and 09:18, with a block for runners with disabilities at 08:54; blocks 11 to 15 go between 09:45 and 10:09. The times are indicative. Block 1 holds 20 elite athletes, 180 runners in the Greek championships and about 600 more of the fastest. Blocks are assigned on a certified race result from 2024 to 2026; runners without one go to the last blocks, and anyone starting from a block they were not assigned is disqualified. Warm-up ends 20 minutes before your start, and you enter your block from the back 15 minutes before it goes.

Aid on the course

Supply stations stand every 2.5 km from km 5 to km 40, each with water, medical or rescue staff and toilets. The ones between (km 7.5, 12.5 and so on) add sponges. Electrolyte drinks are at km 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40, gels at km 10 and 20, bananas from km 20 to km 35, savoury snacks at km 30 and 35, and cola at km 30, 35 and 40. Physiotherapists wait at km 25 and 30. The finish hands out water, isotonic drinks, juice and bananas. The organiser’s pages say nothing about pacers.

The cut-off

The time limit is eight hours, and all finishes close at 18:15. The limits along the course are single clock times, from 11:08 at 5 km and 14:14 at halfway to 17:49 at 40 km, and they apply to every block alike. A runner in block 15 therefore has a good deal less time in hand than one in block 1. Past a limit you continue at your own risk while the traffic police reopen the road, and a sweeper bus follows the last runners to the finish.

The rest of the weekend

On Saturday 7 November the flame is carried from the Tomb of Marathon at 12:30 and the cauldron lit at the historic start at 13:50. From 17:00 that day the 5 km races start from Vasilissis Amalias Avenue and finish in the stadium, and on Sunday the 10 km starts there at 08:00.