- When to go
- October 19° · 3 rainy days
- Per day
- ~27 · 74 · 92 €budget · mid · comfort, per person · checked 22 Sep 2026
- How many days
- 2–3days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 20 km Athens
- Right now
Athens needs two or three days: one morning for the Acropolis and the museum below it before the heat, a second day for the Archaeological Museum and the neighbourhoods, and an evening in Plaka below the rock. Give it a single day between the flight and the ferry and you see the Parthenon and nothing of the city around it — sixties concrete blocks with the rock appearing above them round every corner.
Most people use Athens as a stopover on the way to the islands. The Acropolis Museum goes on the same morning as the rock, since it sits a few hundred metres away; the National Archaeological Museum is about two kilometres north and wants a morning of its own. Around it is Exarcheia, and closer to Monastiraki is Psiri — the quarters where Athens goes out at night, with nothing of the postcards about them.
Guides for Athens
Shorter, practical pages for one concrete question each — how many days, how much money, where to sleep, where to escape the city.
Athens in 2 days
→The Acropolis, the ancient centre and Plaka in two days — with one morning that decides whether you queue or not.
Day trips from Athens
→Sounion for half a day, Delphi for a whole day, an island for one — and Marathon for those who have already seen…
Where to stay in Athens
→Koukaki sleeps quietly right below the rock, Plaka sleeps in its shadow at a higher price, Monastiraki sleeps late…
What Athens costs
→A day in Athens per person, from a hostel and souvlaki to a hotel and a taverna — and why one Acropolis ticket costs…
Kerameikos, the stadium and Philopappos Hill: four places beyond the six main sights
→An ancient cemetery older than the Acropolis looking down on it, the only stadium in the world built entirely of…
What to eat in Athens
→Souvlaki in pitta is a meal in your hand, a taverna is a table of shared sides, and a freddo espresso is a coffee…
The best time to visit Athens
→Athens has no real winter, but summer pushes toward 30°C on stone with no shade — Mar–May · Oct–Nov carries the best…
Getting around Athens
→The metro from the airport runs straight to the centre with no change, three lines cover the rest of the city, and…
Mistakes everyone makes in Athens
→The Acropolis needs a booked slot and the rest of the list doesn't; the Acropolis Museum shuts on days the rock itself…
What to see in Athens
The Acropolis and Parthenon
The rock rises 150 metres above the sea and there is no shade on top — so go the moment it opens, with a ticket bought online. From the top you see the whole city out to Piraeus and the sea.
€30 · 1 h 30 · booking: timed slot
The Acropolis Museum
A building at the foot of the rock, with glass floors over the excavated remains of an ancient neighbourhood. The glass top gallery is aligned exactly with the Parthenon, visible through the windows, so the frieze is laid out as it stood on the temple.
€20
Plaka and Anafiotika
The oldest quarter below the Acropolis, and inside it Anafiotika — lanes built in the nineteenth century by builders from the Cycladic island of Anafi, modelled on their home village, on the north-east slope of the rock itself.
free
The National Archaeological Museum
The entrance is on Patission Street. This is where the Mask of Agamemnon from Mycenae and the Antikythera mechanism are, and those two are why you come — pick the rest of the collection room by room rather than trying to see it all.
€12 · 2 h
Lycabettus
A 277-metre hill, almost twice the height of the Acropolis. A funicular from Kolonaki or a footpath takes you up; at dusk you watch the lights come on across the whole of Attica.
€10 (€13 return)
The Temple of Olympian Zeus
Fifteen of its 104 columns still stand, and one lies where a storm threw it down in 1852. The temple waited almost seven centuries to be finished — the emperor Hadrian completed it, and his arch stands by the entrance. Entry €8 (€4 winter/reduced), no booking; hours 8–20 (Apr–Oct), 8–17 (Nov–Mar).
€8 (€4 winter/reduced)
Three things you probably did not know
There is almost no straight line in the Parthenon. The columns swell slightly towards the middle and the floor is higher at the centre than at the edges, all deliberate, so that an eye which would otherwise see sagging sees a straight building.
The National Archaeological Museum holds the Antikythera mechanism, a device of some thirty bronze gears from the first century BC. It computed the motion of the sun and moon and predicted eclipses; nothing of comparable complexity appears for another thousand years.
Digging the Athens metro turned into the largest archaeological excavation in the city's history. That is why Syntagma station has a glass wall showing layers of earth with graves and water pipes, left where they were found.
Ready for Athens?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Athens — day trips or weekends.
Greece
→The north by road, the Cyclades by ferry, Rhodes by air — pick the region first and the island second
Turkey
→Istanbul, then one direction: Cappadocia by plane, Ephesus and Pamukkale by train, or the Lycian coast by bus
Montenegro
→The Bay, the riviera or Ulcinj for the sea, Durmitor for July — choose the coast by its beaches and the north by the month
All 277 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
Within reach from here: Nafplio, Mykonos and Monemvasia
See how much of that actually suits you — or pin Athens if you have been.
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