Carriers and services on this route
Five carriers operate significant volumes on this corridor. DHL provides the fastest service to Athens and Thessaloniki with consistent 3-4 day delivery. UPS serves the B2B and high-value express segment with good coverage of industrial zones in Attica and Central Macedonia. ELTA (Hellenic Post) is Greece's national postal operator and has the widest last-mile network in the country, including all inhabited islands - the only carrier with full island coverage. ACS Courier and Speedex are leading domestic Greek carriers with strong urban networks.
Greece is a Mediterranean EU country sharing cultural and economic ties with Spain. Around 15,000 Spanish citizens live in Greece, primarily in Athens and Thessaloniki. Common shipments include personal parcels, food products, fashion goods and B2B volumes. Greece's geography is complex: mainland Greece plus over 200 inhabited islands in the Aegean and Ionian Seas mean that delivery to island addresses requires additional routing through ferry connections, which adds 1-3 days to transit times for remote islands.
Delivery times in detail
Transit times are measured in working days from pickup in Spain to last-mile delivery in Greece. Both countries are EU members so no customs clearance is required. Parcels travel approximately 3,500 km via France, Italy and the Adriatic or overland through the Balkans. Express services deliver to Athens in 3-4 days; economy services in 5-7 days. Island deliveries add 1-3 working days depending on ferry connection schedules.
How to pack your parcel for this route
Use double-wall boxes on this route - parcels travel over 3,500 km with multiple sorting hub transfers and, for island deliveries, additional ferry handling. Wrap fragile items individually in 3 cm of bubble wrap and fill all six sides. Mark the outside 'Fragile' in both Spanish and Greek (Εύθραυστο) for best results.
Practical tips for this route
Two route-specific points. First, Greek islands vary significantly in delivery time. Major islands like Crete, Rhodes, Corfu and Mykonos are well served with regular connections and 1-2 day additional transit. Smaller or more remote islands (Kastellorizo, Samothrace, Ikaria) may take 3-5 additional days. If your recipient is on an island, always use ELTA for guaranteed delivery - other carriers may reject or sub-contract island deliveries. Second, Greek postcodes are 5-digit (e.g., 10431 for central Athens, 54622 for Thessaloniki). Including the correct postcode is critical for Attic suburb routing, where dozens of suburbs share similar street names.
For a complete list of prohibited and restricted items on this route, see the customs section below.