A First Timer’s Guide to Athens – Things To Know Before You Go

Athens is often booked as a short stay before or after a trip to the Greek islands or tour of the mainland, however Athens is a fascinating destination and one to try and visit in its own right. We recently visited Athens for the first time as a couple and, despite the sprawl of the city, were pleasantly surprised by how close together many of the main sights were, which made it perfect for exploring on a short stay. Here are some things to know before you go to Athens.

When to visit Athens?

They say that the Shoulder seasons of April to mid-June, and September to October, are the best times to visit Athens as the weather is still warm, but cooler than the summer months of July and August. Ultimately, I suppose when to visit Athens depends how much heat you can cope with. We visited Athens at the start of September when it was still 33 degrees, hot but thankfully cooler than the 40 degrees it had been during July and August.

Visiting in September we still needed sun hats, sunglasses, sun cream and bottles of water as many of the sights are in exposed places, like at the top of the Acropolis and at the Panathenaic Stadium.

Where to stay in Athens?

There are endless options of places to stay in Athens depending on your budget. However, if you opt for somewhere near Syntagma Square then you will be in an excellent location for the main sights on your first visit to Athens, although you will also be in the thick of the hustle and bustle of the city.

We stayed at the St George Lycabettus Lifestyle Hotel in the affluent (and quieter) neighbourhood of Kolokani which was a 15-minute walk to Syntagma Square (downhill on the way there and uphill on the way back!). It is near the funicular station and so is well placed for a trip up Lycabettus Hill and the Lycabettus Theatre if you are attending a concert there.

However, the real benefit of the St George Lycabettus Lifestyle Hotel for us was that it had a roof top pool and bar which was great for relaxation after a morning of sightseeing in the sunshine. We were also able to enjoy a nightcap at the bar with a magical view across to the Acropolis and Parthenon illuminated at night. It felt as though we were escaping the chaos of the city when we retreated to our hotel, which worked well for us – we have to pace ourselves these days!

How to get around Athens

For sightseeing

The sights we wanted to see on our short stay in Athens were within a 25-minute walk of each other and so we tried to walk everywhere. However, when we were hot and tired, and ready to head back to the hotel, we just picked up taxis which were easy to flag down and relatively cheap.

There is a decent subway system in Athens to help move you around quickly, although we didn’t use it on our short stay.

We were glad not to be using a hire car in Athens as, whilst the larger main roads were fine, the roads in the area around our hotel were very narrow, steep, and windy. Even the taxis struggled at times to navigate the corners on these tiny roads. Think it would have sent our blood pressure through the roof!

Transport to/from the airport

We ordered a taxi from the airport to our hotel as we were arriving at 1.30am and just wanted to get there as quickly as possible. To be honest, we needn’t have prebooked as there were lots of available taxis at the official airport taxi rank. It took 35 minutes in the cab and cost about 55 Euros (more expensive because we landed after midnight).

Athens International Airport is directly linked to the city centre by the Metro (Blue Line 3) and is the cheapest way to get there between 6.30am and 11.30pm. It takes about 40 minutes and the trains run every half hour.

Transport to/from the port of Piraeus

From Athens Airport

The options from Athens international Airport to the Port of Piraeus include:

a bus (Route X96) which goes directly to the port of Piraeus and runs every 20-30 minutes and takes about 1 hour (6 Euros)

a suburban train from the airport during the daytime which also takes an hour (10 Euros)

A taxi which usually takes about 45 minutes but could get stuck in congestion (50 euros during the day, more at night)

Unfortunately, there is no direct Metro link and so you’d have to take Blue Line 3 into the city centre, change at Monastiraki onto the Green Line 1 out to Piraeus, which takes a lot longer (bout 1.5 hours).

From the city Centre

There were a lot of guests in our hotel who were picking up a cruise and had their own transport to the port of Piraeus. If, however you are making your own way there from the hotel, the options include picking up the Metro from Monastiraki station (Green Line 1) which takes 18 minutes and is very cheap, although we would have to get to Monastiraki with suitcases so not necessarily the best option from here. We would probably go for a taxi and leave in good time (25 Euros).

Booking restaurants in Athens

I had tried to book a couple of restaurants on-line before we landed in Athens, however most used an ‘email request form’ which I duly completed and returned. Sadly, only one of the restaurants replied to accept our booking – thank you Restaurant Orizontes Lycabettus!

Not having tied down all our dinner reservations in advance of our trip, was one of the reasons that I booked a Greek Street Food Tour which ended up being a highlight of the trip. Also, having explored the lively Psyrri and Monastiraki districts on the Greek Street Food tour, I feel confident now that we could have just rocked up and got a table at most places.

Prices in Athens

We found Athens to be very reasonable in price, and less expensive than other European capital cities, which was a pleasant surprise. I suppose that comes with the caveat that how much things cost depends on where you eat and stay.

Athens is hilly and everywhere has a view!

We are not sure why this surprised us, but it did. The advantage of Athens being so hilly is that you are never far from a good vantage point to enjoy views of this vast metropolis spreading around you. The Parthenon temple atop the Acropolis seems to stand out no matter whereabouts you are in central Athens – a constant reminder of ancient and mythical times gone by.

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