Exploring Athens: A Comprehensive Guide for Visitors

Athens is one of the oldest cities in the world and the historical heart of Europe. Known as the Cradle of Western Civilization, it rewards visitors with layer upon layer of history, culture, and cuisine. This guide covers where to stay, eat, and explore during your trip.

Where to Stay

Athens offers accommodation across a wide range of budgets. For a luxury stay, the Hotel Grande Bretagne on Syntagma Square is a landmark property with views of the Acropolis and a long history of hosting dignitaries. The Grand Hyatt Athens is another upscale option close to the city center. Those travelling on a tighter budget will find numerous guesthouses and well-reviewed hostels in Monastiraki and Koukaki, both within walking distance of the main sites.

Food and Drink

Athenian cuisine draws on traditional Greek recipes with strong Mediterranean influences. A few dishes not to miss:

1. Gyros – pita bread wrapped around slow-cooked lamb or chicken with tomato, onion, and tzatziki. Street stalls across the city sell them for just a few euros.
2. Moussaka – layers of aubergine, minced meat, and potato topped with a baked bechamel. Every taverna has its own version.
3. Souvlaki – small skewers of marinated pork or chicken grilled over charcoal, served with flatbread and salad.
4. Spanakopita – flaky filo pastry filled with spinach and feta, available as a snack throughout the day.

For seafood, Varoulko Seaside in Mikrolimano is a well-regarded restaurant helmed by chef Dimitris Varoulis.

The central market on Athinas Street (the Varvakios Agora) is worth a visit in the morning for olives, cheese, fresh fish, and spices. It gives a clear picture of everyday Athenian life away from the tourist trail.

The Acropolis

The Acropolis is the defining landmark of Athens and one of the most significant archaeological sites anywhere in the world. It sits on a flat-topped limestone rock roughly 150 metres above the city and has been continuously inhabited since the Neolithic period. During the fifth century BC, under the statesman Pericles, it was transformed into a monumental religious complex whose ruins still dominate the skyline.

The Parthenon is the centrepiece: a Doric temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, completed in 432 BC. Despite centuries of reuse as a church, a mosque, and an ammunition store, a great deal of the original structure survives. The carved marble friezes and pediment sculptures – many now held in the Acropolis Museum – depicted scenes from mythology and Athenian civic life.

Other structures on the rock include the Erechtheion, famous for its south porch supported by six draped female figures (the Caryatids), and the Temple of Athena Nike, a small Ionic temple that marks the southwestern bastion of the site. The Propylaea, a monumental gateway, forms the main entrance and gives the first sense of the scale of the complex.

The Acropolis Museum, located at the base of the hill, opened in 2009 and houses the most important finds from the site in a purpose-built building with glass floors that reveal excavations below. It is one of the best archaeology museums in Europe and is worth at least two hours. The ground floor displays finds from the slopes of the Acropolis, while the top floor is dedicated to the Parthenon sculptures, displayed in the same orientation as the original building.

Practical notes: arrive early in the morning (gates open at 8am) to avoid the worst of the summer heat and the tour groups that peak mid-morning. A combined ticket covers the Acropolis, the Ancient Agora, the Roman Agora, the Kerameikos cemetery, and several other sites. Wear shoes with grip on the marble pathways, which become very slippery after rain.

The Plaka District

Plaka is the oldest inhabited neighbourhood in Athens, spread across the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis rock. Its street grid follows ancient routes, and excavations have turned up finds from every era of the city’s history. Walking through Plaka is genuinely disorienting in the best way: Byzantine churches sit a few metres from Roman-era monuments, and both are overlooked by the Parthenon above.

The main pedestrian streets – Adrianou and Kydathinaion – are lined with shops selling ceramics, icons, leather goods, and the usual tourist items, but side streets are quieter and more rewarding. The neighbourhood is compact enough to cover on foot in a couple of hours, though it repays multiple visits at different times of day.

Key points of interest within Plaka include:

• The Tower of the Winds (Horologion of Andronikos Kyrrhestes) – a marble octagonal tower from the first century BC that functioned as a water clock and sundial. Eight relief figures on the exterior each represent a wind direction.
• The Roman Agora – the commercial centre of Athens in the Roman period, including the Gate of Athena Archegetis.
• The Monument of Lysikrates – a well-preserved choragic monument from 335 BC, one of the earliest uses of the Corinthian order on the exterior of a building.
• Anafiotika – a small cluster of whitewashed houses on the upper slopes of Plaka, built in the nineteenth century by workers from the Cycladic island of Anafi. The architecture is unlike anything else in Athens and the streets narrow to almost nothing.

In the evening, the restaurants along the lower streets of Plaka fill up early with tourists, but the neighbourhood is still pleasant to walk through after dark, when the Acropolis is lit and the crowds thin out.

The Ancient Agora

Below the Acropolis to the northwest, the Ancient Agora was the civic and commercial heart of classical Athens. The site is large and requires some effort to read without a guide, but the Stoa of Attalos – a reconstructed colonnaded hall that now serves as the Agora Museum – helps orient visitors and displays many finds from the excavations. The Temple of Hephaestus, on the western edge of the site, is one of the best-preserved ancient temples in Greece and gives a good sense of what the Parthenon may have looked like before centuries of damage.

The National Archaeological Museum

Located north of the city centre in Exarchia, the National Archaeological Museum holds one of the most important collections of Greek antiquities in the world. Highlights include the gold funeral masks from Mycenae (including the so-called Mask of Agamemnon), a large collection of Cycladic figurines, bronze statues recovered from shipwrecks, and the Antikythera Mechanism – a first-century BC analogue computing device whose function was only understood in the twentieth century. Allow at least three hours.

Activities

• Walking tours: Several companies offer free and paid walking tours departing from Syntagma Square. They vary considerably in quality but are a good way to get initial bearings on the first day.
• The Olympic Stadium (Panathenaic Stadium): The marble stadium used for the 1896 Olympics is open to visitors. It was built on the site of an ancient stadium and seats 50,000 people. Entry is reasonably priced and includes a small museum.
• Neighbourhood walks: The neighbourhoods of Exarchia, Kolonaki, and Koukaki each have a distinct character and are worth exploring beyond the immediate tourist centre. Exarchia is known for independent bookshops and cafes; Kolonaki is the upmarket residential and shopping district; Koukaki has become a hub for independent restaurants and wine bars in recent years.
• Cape Sounion day trip: About 70 kilometres south of Athens, the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion sits on a clifftop above the Aegean. It is a straightforward day trip by bus or car and offers some of the most dramatic scenery in Attica.

Practical Tips

1. Heat: Athens in July and August is extremely hot, regularly reaching 38-40 degrees Celsius. Plan outdoor sightseeing for early morning or late afternoon and drink water consistently throughout the day.
2. Timing: April to June and September to October offer more comfortable temperatures and smaller crowds than peak summer. Most sites are also open for longer hours in summer if heat is not a concern.
3. Transport: The Athens Metro is clean, reliable, and covers all the main tourist areas. Line 2 (red) and Line 3 (blue) are most useful for visitors. Taxis and ride-hailing apps are widely available and reasonably priced by Western European standards.
4. Language: English is spoken widely in hotels, restaurants, and tourist areas. Learning a handful of Greek words – kalimera (good morning), efcharisto (thank you), parakalo (please/you’re welcome) – is appreciated by locals.
5. Pickpockets: Take the usual precautions in Monastiraki market, on the Metro, and in any crowded tourist area. Keep valuables in a front pocket or a bag worn across the body.
6. Sunday closures: Some shops and smaller museums close on Sundays or keep reduced hours. Check opening times in advance for anything you particularly want to visit.