Guide to Athens, Greece
When to Go
When deciding when to visit Athens, it will really depend on what kind of weather and what kind of crowds you’re okay with. I went to Athens at the very end of August-early September. It was hot, sunny and windy. For me, it was perfect. The hotels, however, were very full around that time because it was nearing the end of peak tourism season in Greece. If you don’t mind heavy crowds - this is a good time to go weather-wise. The crowds honestly were not that bad. At the Acropolis it did get a bit overwhelming with the number of people there, but we were able to walk around, see everything and get some photos in.
Most of the time, for me, I prefer to go when the weather is the best. If I have to deal with a bit more people, that is okay.
Things to keep in mind when planning when to go to Athens: December-February = winter in Athens, fewer crowds, chilly. March-May & September-November = nice weather, not as many tourists. June-August = peak season, hot, lots of tourists.
Where to Stay
Chances are if you are visiting Athens your trip is probably short. That’s okay because you can do a lot in just a few days, but you will want to stay where the action is. If you’re going during peak season - book early. There were only a few options left when we booked our hotel a couple of months out. We stayed at New Hotel which is near the cute Plaka neighborhood. New Hotel sits pretty much in the center of everything. You could easily walk to the famous Syntagma Square or even the Acropolis of Athens itself (which we did).
One thing that I loved about New Hotel was the rooftop. We did not eat there, but it was a great place to get drinks before heading out to dinner. There is an awesome view of Mount Lycabettus.
What to Do
As I said before, many people choose to skip Athens when visiting Greece. If you are interesting in the country’s history and culture - don’t skip Athens.
Athens Walking Tours
We went on two tours with Athens Walking Tours. I highly recommend this tour agency. They are very organized, professional and knowledgeable. They have a few different tours but I chose the two that I felt would give us the most in such a short period of time. We went on the “Ancient Athens Tour: Acropolis & Acropolis Museum” our first full day in Athens and the “Hidden Athens Tour” the second day.
These tours allowed us to cover a lot of bases when it came to discovering Athens. And, come on, you can’t go to Greece and not visit the Parthenon.
Food Tour
Confession - We did not book a food tour. All of the tours were full! So, we made our own food tour. I’ll talk more about where we went to eat below. I recommend trying different foods in Athens though. If you can - book a proper food tour ahead of time. The food in Athens was great, and the experiences at the restaurants were cool too.
Shopping on Ermou Street
While I am not a big shopping person, this is a good place to go if you want to kill some time before dinner.
Where to Eat
Κυρ Αρίστος
For meat - Κυρ Αρίστος is the place to go. It was good, filling and awesome to be able to try everything. We got the “Mixed” which came with 1 kebab on the spit, 1 kaserli kebab on the spit, 1 shish of chicken, and we replaced with chicken shish with veal. We also got some stuffed grape leaves and tzatziki on the side.
Psyri Neighborhood
For the next two nights we went to the Psyrri Neighborhood for dinner. There are SO many food options in this neighborhood. This is also where we chose to do our little self-made food tour.
Appetizers at Nikitas
Grape leaves, Fries and Lamb Chops
Dinner at Oinopoleion
This place is just amazing. It is a whole vibe. There is the cool, in the action seating on the street in front of the restaurant, but also seating inside and in the back. The seating in the back has a Secret Garden-like atmosphere with low, yellow lights and greenery surrounding. The seating area in the back is actually pretty small. Small in a good way though. Very intimate.
Another reason that I loved this place, aside from the food, is that it comes with some rich history. In 1928 the location served as an inn for horses and carriages, run by granddad Spyros Markou. In the 1940’s he turned it into a Wineshop & Cookhouse. So, of course, we had to get wine.
The Food: Grilled Mushrooms & Moussaka (eggplant). Wow. The eggplant was incredible. You will not be disappointed should you decide to try it.
Dessert at fullSpoon
So yummy that we went twice.
Safety in Athens
The last thing I want to talk about in this Guide to Athens is safety. Safety is important anywhere, but I did have a bit of a scary experience while in Athens. So, I wanted to talk about it. It is a bit lengthy, but I believe that it is important.
One day while in Athens, we booked a half-day walking tour of the city. After the tour was over, we went back to one of the places that our guide had taken us. It was in the neighborhood of Anafiotika. Anafiotika is a bit of the blue and white that you see in Santorini and Mykonos - in Athens. It is a highly touristy area because of that. We went back to this little passageway to take some photos because the graffiti was cool.
While we were taking photos, a well-dressed man came up and tried to take my water that was sitting on the ground. His friend that was with him said to him, “No. That’s not yours.” We thought it was weird. We got done taking our photos and started walking away. As we were walking away a family came through and started taking photos with the art too. As we were leaving, we saw the same man pass us. We turned around and saw that he was stealing a wallet out of the family’s backpack that had been sitting on the ground. He started trying to walk towards my friend, Frances. He tells her to shut up and puts his finger over his mouth. She said, “I’ll shut up if you don’t attack us.” I did not realize what was going on at the time, the context, because I was ahead of her.
At that moment she looked at me and said, “Run.” We started running fast in the other direction, the man following behind. We were hoping not to run into his friend. I just ran to wherever I saw other people. We were shaking. Terrified that he was going to stab us, rob us, beat us up, whatever. We felt bad for the family, but there was nothing we could do.
Frances and I are both experienced travelers. We were both scared and shaken up. We quickly walked back to the Acropolis. As women travelers we know to always carry a crossbody bag. Which we did, but what we did not realize is that crime was this bad in Greece. Theft in particular. Athens in particular. Our guide kept warning us throughout the day. She had said we wouldn’t hear any gunshots, but we would get our things stolen. We brushed it off as the normal travel safety spiel.
Moral of the story - you can never be too safe. And no matter how experienced you may think you are you are not exempt to things like this.
Overall
Athens is a must. DO NOT skip it. Don’t let stories like mine scare you either because that could have happened anywhere in the world (including right outside my door in Columbus, Ohio). A lot of Greek people stay on the islands during peak tourism season, but many of them are actually from Athens. I was so pleasantly wowed by Athens. It was hard for me to level with people that didn’t vibe with it or chose not to visit. I loved it.
If you have any questions - please comment below!