Athens

Honestly, I don’t have a ton to write in this blog, but I thought it was worth a short entry to share my thoughts. I’ve been twice and loved it both times, which may sound surprising. Athens gets a bad rep and I really don’t get it. The culture and food are incredible, it’s so cheap so your money goes far (especially compared to the Greek islands), and it’s always sunny in the summer. The shopping is great too.

The first time I came to Athens, it was after my 2020 Mykonos trip for a night and we ended up extending an extra night because we were loving it. This recent time, we went for 5 nights in between Pride in Amsterdam and our trip to Mykonos to work remotely. We tried to eat groceries during the day while working and we didn’t get to a ton of activities given the work schedules. We got shamed for how long we were staying there, but honestly, I could have stayed longer we all loved it.

Areas to stay

Ok so I don’t know much about all of Athens. All I can speak to is Plaka is the main area where you’ll be super close to a lot of the shipping, restaurants, and the Parthenon. This is the area that is typically recommended. Because I used Kindred (a house swap app), we didn’t have much flexibility and ended up staying in Exarcheia and absolutely loved it. It turns out its the bougie area for locals to live. I would highly recommend staying here if you are coming for a longer period of time. It is on a bit of a hill so the views are amazing and walking to our dinners were all downhill, but we did opt for Ubers home most of the time.

Restaurants

• Dopios: This is known by locals as a place they take their tourist friends, but they also really enjoy it! We went on a Monday at like 9:30pm and it was absolutely packed with a wait, so I recommend getting a reservation. This spot was so good, we all loved it. We had a greek salad every day for 2 weeks and this was unanimously the favorite one. The meatballs were also insane. Honestly, everything we ordered was really fantastic. Every other spot we went for our entire 2 weeks was more rustic Greek food with the same menu. This spot was definitely a bit more new age elevated I’d say and it was delish. Highly recommend.

• Tavern Klimataria: This spot had some serious character. They have a live band playing Greek music which was very loud, but fun. The food is dirt cheap, authentic, and simply amazing. I would return in a heartbeat. There will be a long line and they run out of a lot of options throughout the night, so I’d recommend getting there on the earlier side and go hungry so you can order as much as possible. The stuffed zucchini was my favorite dish here.

• Atlantikos: This spot has what seemed like endless seating. It was also dirt cheap and so yummy. We loved the fried sardines and basically everything we ordered. The orange cake at the end is also a must! It’s in a touristy area, but worth it.

• The Black Salami Microbakery: We grabbed sandwiches and pastries here, which all were yummy! I wouldn’t say its a must do, but they were very good. Honestly, this was my only lunch out because the grocery store greek yogurt was so yummy I ate a lot of that at the AirBnB in between work calls.

• Coffilosophy: This spot was right next to where we were staying and the iced lattes were insane. It was some of the best coffee for a quarter of the price of an NYC coffee. We came basically every day.

Things to do

I’m not going to list out all of the historical sites and museums Athens has to offer, but I’ll detail some things I did during my trips. As per usual for every big city trip, my favorite thing to do is just walk around the different neighborhoods.

• Parthenon: Sometimes doing tours of historical sites in 100 degree weather doesn’t sound like my idea of fun, but I can’t emphasize enough how worth it this is. It feels dumb even saying that - of course it's worth it. It’s one of the most incredible things to see. Make sure to save a good chunk of the day to walk through everything. And bring a fan and water!

• Shopping: Walking around Plaka, you'll find a bunch of cute boutiques and high end shops that are worth checking out.

• Lycabettus Hill: We had this small hike right behind where we stayed which was a perfect little hour hike up and down with insane panoramic views of the entire city (I took the cover photo of this blog in this park!). It was a lovely way to start the day. Go early if you’re there in the summer because it gets too hot in the afternoon.

• Beaches: The beach area, known as the Athens riviera, is only a 20 minute drive from the city center. We went on my first trip to Athens, but not this most recent time. We went to a beach club and it honestly was super fun. It’s no Greek island, but we had a lovely day. There are also a bunch of restaurants in this area if you want a sunset dinner on the water.