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As one of the world’s oldest cities, there's no surprise at the sheer amount of things to do in Athens – the destination is a master of reinvention. Athens has morphed into southern Europe’s capital of cool. Long weekenders are swooping in to check out the exciting food scene and check into the new wave of cool hotels in Athens. Artists and designers are settling in for good, lured by affordable rents, the promise of sunshine, and an anarchic spirit where you don’t have to play by the rules. There’s nothing orderly about Athens: traffic is chaotic, life is messy, the architecture a mash-up of Byzantine and Bauhaus, neoclassical and nondescript. The Parthenon still dominates the skyline – and will forever be one of the key things to do in Athens – but for most Athenians the antiquities embedded among tightly packed apartment blocks are an afterthought. It’s in the graffitied backstreets and café-lined squares, the factories converted into galleries, bars hidden in arcades, and secret coves for skinny dipping where the heartbeat of Athens is racing. Beyond the classics, these are the best things to do in Athens.
1. Browse the Benaki Museums
Athens has a surfeit of great museums. If you only have time for one, make it the Benaki Museum of Greek Culture. Housed in a neoclassical-style mansion, the collection covers everything from prehistoric busts and ancient amulets to Byzantine icons, traditional folk costumes, and 19th century engravings. This is where the fashion set come for inspiration, and coiffed ladies meet for coffee on the roof terrace. The Benaki museum has six other venues, specialising in everything from Islamic art to embroidery. Don’t miss The Ghika Gallery, a rich retrospective of 20th century Greek art in the former atelier of modernist artist Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika. And check out the temporary architecture, fashion, and photography exhibitions at Pireos 138, a purpose-built space with a brilliant gift shop dedicated to contemporary Greek design. Opt for a combined ticket, valid for all seven sites for three months, if you plan to museum-hop.
2. Cinema Paradiso
Athens is a city of cinephiles. Forget blockbusters in soulless multiplexes; Athenians prefer arthouse flicks in retro picture houses. Watching movies by moonlight is a highlight of summer in the city. Around 60 open-air cinemas are scattered around Athens — hidden in parks, on roof terraces, or occupying empty plots between apartment blocks. Our favourites are Cine Dexameni, built above a Roman aqueduct next door to an old-fashioned ouzeri; Zefyros (Troon 36, Petralona), which screens vintage classics for its bohemian clientele, and Cine Oasis (Pratinou 7, Pangrati) in a lush garden in Pangrati, a lively neighbourhood popular with actors and directors. Cine Thisio, a cult classic since 1935, has the best location of all, right below the Acropolis. Besides distracting Parthenon views, patrons get gourmet snacks such as home-made cheese pies and sour cherry cordial.
3. Hit the beach
The Athens Riviera stretches 35 miles from Paleo Faliro to the resplendent temple of Poseidon at cape Sounion. To locals, these coastal communities are simply known as ‘Nou-Pou’, short for notia proastia, or southern suburbs — a succession of waterfront boardwalks, marinas and urban beaches that gradually gives way to sleepy seaside resorts and rocky coves like Limanakia, where tanned teens leap from the rocks. High rollers have seasonal passes to Astir beach in Vouliagmeni, where the remains of an ancient temple are surrounded by sunbeds and boutiques. When the south winds roll in, surfers ride the waves at nearby Vouliagmeni. A young, hip crowd strip off at Krabo, while families gravitate to Zen beach. The balmy climate means you can swim comfortably for six months of the year. A warmer alternative for winter swimmers: the healing waters of Lake Vouliagmeni, fed by thermal springs that keep the temperature a steady 22-29 degrees.
4. Explore Athenian attitudes to the afterlife
Of all the archaeological sites that circle the Acropolis, the most moving (yet often overlooked) is the ancient cemetery of Kerameikos. Named after the potters’ workshops that flourished here in antiquity, the site is built on what were once the banks of the Eridanos river. In the 11-acre necropolis, you can wander among monumental tombstones, haunting epitaphs, and sections of the Themistoclean walls built in the 5th century BC. The on-site Oberlander museum is a trove of funerary treasures, from painted urns to perfume bottles. It’s intriguing to decipher what the carved marble gravestones signified about the status of the deceased. By contrast, the ornate tombs in the First Cemetery of Athens tell a less ambiguous story about class and culture. This is where the great and good of Athens are laid to rest among the bitter-orange and cypress trees. You might come across Melina Mercouri or George Seferis, asleep alongside the resident cats.
5. Customise your cosmetics at Naxos Apothecary
Pharmacist George Korres, founder of Korres cosmetics, created his first herbal remedies for friends while working in Greece’s oldest homeopathic pharmacy. The Naxos Apothecary pays tribute to his roots on the island of Naxos. Exceptionally effective and exquisitely packaged face and body products are named after Naxian villages. Candles and fragrances seduce with the summery scents of prickly pear, fig, cedar and sea salt. At the flagship store, you can watch phytotherapists at work in the open lab or book a skin analysis and personalise your skincare. Upstairs, the tranquil tearoom serves divine tisanes and cocktails exclusively made with Greek herbs and spirits, all of which are for sale. (They also do a power breakfast of yoghurt, honey, bee pollen, nuts and fruit.) Daphnis & Chloe, a niche brand that specialises in sustainably sourced herbs and seasonings from all over Greece, is another excellent source of easily transportable gifts. Their smoked chilli flakes and wild thyme flowers have a cult following. Visits to the showroom in up-and-coming Neos Kosmos are by appointment.
6. Bookmark these shops
Are bookshops the new coffee shops? In Athens, they are often both. On a charming square in Petralona, Adad is the petite new HQ of curator Alix Janta’s independent art publishing house. Leaf through monographs, catalogues, and limited-edition sketchbooks with a glass of wine on hand-carved Cretan chairs. Aiora Press specialises in modern Greek classics in translation. Pick up definitive translations of Elytis and Cavafy at their bookstore in Exarchia. O Meteoritis, in the heart of scruffily hip Kypseli, hosts screenings and talks among piles of second-hand books. Zatopek is a peaceful spot to bring your laptop, or to enjoy an evening spritz and salad on a pedestrian street. Run by a stylist and graphic designer, Hyper Hypo is very zeitgeisty, from the Yves Klein blue walls to the queer art books. Lexikopoleio in Pangrati has enthusiastic staff and an exhaustive selection of books about Greece. Browse your purchases at Aerostato café around the corner, a mellow local hangout.
7. Modern cultural icons
After several false starts, the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) has hit its stride since Katerina Gregos was appointed artistic director in 2021. The donation of 140 large-scale installations from the D. Daskalopoulos Collection will add serious cachet to the museum’s permanent collection. A converted brewery, EMST occupies an entire block on Syngrou Avenue, which connects the city centre to the seaside. Among the strip clubs and business hotels are two more 21st century landmarks: Onassis Stegi, with a game-changing line-up of performances, talks, festivals, and pop-up events all over town, and Renzo Piano’s Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre, a masterclass in sustainable design. A drought-resistant park and seawater canal surround the Greek National Opera and Library, slotted into a man-made hill that doubles as a green roof. A glass elevator glides up to The Lighthouse, an observatory with a floating solar canopy that powers the complex.
8. Shop local and seasonal
The weekly farmers market (or laiki) is a communal ritual in every Athenian neighbourhood. Once a week, from dawn until around 3pm, whole blocks are transformed into seasonal bazaars, with stall after stall loaded with seasonal bounty. There might be beetroot, chestnuts, and pomegranates one month, sunflowers, cherries and tomatoes the next. You can pick your own produce, and stock up on olives, honey, and herbs to take home. Cheap, colourful, and cheerful, the laiki is also a social event. Sometimes a few buskers entertain the sharp-elbowed shoppers, while the stallholders bellow witty sales pitches and outlandish promises about their products: “Half a watermelon a day, keeps Viagra away!” “Don’t squeeze the tomatoes, they don’t honk!” Some of the biggest and best farmers markets are in Exarchia and Neos Kosmos (Saturdays), Pangrati and Koukaki (Fridays).
9. Hit the bottle
The days when Greek wine meant cheap retsina served in a tin jug and priced by the kilo are long gone. Greek wines are winning global accolades, but most wineries have low yields which means you won’t find them in your local off-licence. Try them at Heteroclito, where well-priced wines by the glass are served with Levantine meze from Feyrouz, purveyor of the city’s finest street food. At Materia Prima, which has two easy-going outlets in Koukaki and Pangrati, low-intervention wines are paired with delicate carpaccio, ceviche, and artisan cheese. Eprepe, the latest addition to the lively social scene on pedestrian Agias Zonis street in Kypseli, serves semi-cured mackerel in buttermilk and pea and asparagus tarts to accompany Greek natural wines (and cracking cocktails). At Paleo, sommelier Yiannis Kaimenakis has taken a punt on a 100-year-old warehouse on a grubby Piraeus backstreet. By day, Polydefkous street is a curious melange of edgy galleries, machine shops, and squawking seagulls. At night, it's like a scene from Never on Sunday — a noir-ish throwback to the 1960s. Paleo’s tapas menu is small enough to fit on the paper tablemats, but the wine list is long and thrilling.
10. Shopping and bar hopping in the Historic Triangle
The Historic Triangle is a tangle of streets, stoas, and pedestrian alleys wedged between Syntagma, Omonia and Monastiraki squares. The traditional shopping centre of Athens, whole streets are devoted to specialist shops selling door handles, lights, and cloth. Natural Greek Fabrics, in business since 1936, makes gorgeous bedlinen and beach towels in Mediterranean stripes. Hit Ancient Greek Sandals for beautifully crafted footwear inspired by mythology. After dark, the area is more of a Bermuda triangle for cocktail lovers. Two of the world’s best bars, Baba au Rum and The Clumsies, are located a few blocks apart and there are fine drinking spots hidden in arcades or on rooftops. Look for Galaxy (Stadiou 10), an old-fashioned American bar beloved of the hard-drinking intelligentsia, or the hotel bars at Ergon House and The Zillers.
11. Neoclassical iconography at the Loverdos Museum
The German architect Ernst Ziller was almost single-handedly responsible for the Neoclassical meets-Palladian-by-way-of-Byzantium look of Greece’s newly independent, late 19th century capital. Ziller designed hundreds of buildings, including a sumptuous mansion for his own large family. When Ziller hit hard times, Dionysios Loverdos, a banker and collector of icons, altarpieces, and post-Byzantine art, moved in and turned part of the house into a private museum. The building, which was later used as the dressing room for the National Opera nearby, was badly damaged by a fire in the 1980s. Spectacularly restored at last, the Loverdos Museum reopened in May 2021 as an outpost of the Byzantine and Christian Museum. The architecture — all stencilled ceilings, patterned floor tiles, murals and mosaic cupolas — almost outshines the mournful icons and ornately carved altarpieces.
12. Picnic with the ancients
For the best vantage point of the Parthenon, without the crowds, follow the pedestrian boulevard circling the Acropolis into Philopappou hill. The meandering footpaths were laid out by architect Dimitris Pikionis in the 1950s, using stones and marble salvaged from local buildings. Otherwise known as the Hill of the Muses, this peaceful oasis is full of surprises — a Byzantine chapel, an ancient quarry, and a 19th century observatory, whose silver dome contains an antique telescope where you can occasionally go stargazing. Hidden among the pine trees is the Pnyx, the world’s first democratic assembly, where the ancient Athenians noisily debated politics. Now it’s a glorious spot for a twilight picnic with Acropolis views. Pick up olive bread and pastries from Takis Bakery at the foot of the hill, and some bubbles and cold cuts from Drupes Spritzeria across the street.

The Academy Park is a big plot of land located in the Kolonus neighborhood of Athens. It was here the great philosopher, Plato, decided to build one of the most famous universities (we can even say the first university) of the ancient world, the Academy of Plato. It is said that the name of the area (and the school) comes from an ancient Athenian hero, Ecademus or Academus. Others say that it comes from the etymology of the word, meaning ‘’a municipality far from the city center’’.
The Academy Park, is a gorgeous contrast from the modern Athenian urban environment. It is a place anyone can visit at any time of the day with free entrance, and during the morning days it is sprawling with families doing activities, like playing soccer, picnics etc. But of course, it is not just the natural beauty of the park that attracts visitors.
The Park can be divided into three main sectors, based on the ancient Greek ruins within it:
1) The Sacred House Sector: North of Drakontos Street (Οδός Δράκοντος) lies the “sacred house”, the ruins of a building dating all the way back to Geometric Period (circa 800 B.C.E.). A traveler can also find the ruins of prehistoric building, dating around 2500 B.C.E. These houses are a testament of the scarce urbanization of the area before the construction of the Gymnasium.
2) The Gymnasium Sector: The ruins of the Gymnasium were excavated within the second sector of the park. Visitors can see some parts of the rectangle gymnasium court. North of the court is a cistern, built as a bathroom for the ancient athletes. The gymnasium sector houses the ruins of Plato’s Academy.
3) The Peristylium Sector: In this small sector, visitors come across a small 40m by 40m (131 by 131 feet) square cloister. The use of this is unclear. It is however speculated that this square was the original fighting ring of the gymnasium.
After walking through the park, visiting the ruins, and checking the museum, a visitor might like to find a nice place to sit down and enjoy the local cuisine. While Kolonos is a densely residential area, there are some cozy restaurants around the park:
1) Platon Kafemezedopoleion: Triploeos 61. Open from 8.30AM to 11.00PM. local cuisine, alcohol, coffee, close to the park (check their Page for live music)
2) Ta Skalakia: Open from 1PM till midnight. Restaurant, alcohol.
3) The Cafe at the Academy of Plato: Monasteriou 140. A small cafe overlooking the park serving coffee, drinks, snacks and light meals.
4) Cafe Poletia: Monasteriou 136. A small cozy and interesting cafe which has cultural events and shows films many linked to philosophy, poetry and other ancient Greek subjects. Very friendly staff.
On Tilefanous Street there are several small cafes and restaurants in a nice pedestrian area where they also have events.
And in the end…
If you ever decide to visit Athens, it is strongly suggested to visit the academy park. Admittedly, it is in a part of Athens that is not considered a tourist spot. However, the people of Colonus were the ones who grouped up in 2012 to turn the park into what it is today. And within this green place in the Greek metropolis, you will come across people from every aspect of Athenian life.