Few cities pack as much history into a single walkable centre as Athens. From the Acropolis and its perfect Parthenon to the Ancient Agora where democracy was born, the treasure-filled National Archaeological Museum and the romantic lanes of Plaka, these are the 18 attractions worth building your trip around — each with prices, opening hours and tips to beat the crowds and the midday heat.
€20Acropolis & Parthenon
Area
Acropolis
Category
Ancient Site
“Enter at 08:00 the moment it opens, or 90 minutes before closing, to beat the cruise crowds and midday heat.”
€15Acropolis Museum
Area
Makrygianni
Category
Museum
“The glass-floored top gallery frames the real Parthenon through its windows — visit after the rock itself for the full story.”
Incl. AcropolisThe Parthenon
Area
Acropolis
Category
Ancient Temple
“Walk a full circle around it — the west and east ends show the surviving pediment sculptures and the finest columns.”
€10Ancient Agora
Area
Monastiraki / Thissio
Category
Ancient Site
“Combine the well-preserved Temple of Hephaestus with the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos museum — allow a slow 90 minutes.”
Incl. AgoraTemple of Hephaestus
Area
Thissio
Category
Ancient Temple
“Photograph it from the Agora path at sunset, when the Doric columns turn gold against the pines.”
€8Temple of Olympian Zeus
Area
Central Athens
Category
Ancient Temple
“It sits beside Hadrian's Arch — see both together, then walk five minutes to the National Garden for shade.”
FreePlaka
Area
Plaka
Category
Historic District
“Wander uphill and off the souvenir strips into the quiet lanes — the higher you go, the prettier and calmer it gets.”
FreeAnafiotika
Area
Plaka
Category
Historic District
“Go early — the whitewashed lanes are residential and tiny, so quiet mornings are the respectful (and prettiest) time.”
FreeMonastiraki
Area
Monastiraki
Category
Square & Market
“Climb to a rooftop bar on the square for the classic postcard shot of the Acropolis rising above the old-town roofs.”
€8Roman Agora & Tower of the Winds
Area
Plaka
Category
Ancient Site
“The octagonal Tower of the Winds is the highlight — the world's oldest surviving weather station and sundial.”
FreeSyntagma Square & Changing of the Guard
Area
Syntagma
Category
Square & Ceremony
“Come at 11:00 on Sunday for the full-dress ceremonial change, with the whole platoon, band and hundreds of pleats on show.”
€12National Archaeological Museum
Area
Exarcheia
Category
Museum
“Head straight for the Mycenaean gold and the bronze statues first — they are the collection's unmissable masterpieces.”
€10Panathenaic Stadium (Kallimarmaro)
Area
Pangrati
Category
Historic Site
“Your ticket includes an audio guide and lets you run a lap and stand on the winner's podium — do both.”
Funicular €10Mount Lycabettus
Area
Kolonaki
Category
Hill & Viewpoint
“Ride the funicular up for sunset and walk down through the pine paths — the whole city and the sea glow gold.”
€8Kerameikos
Area
Kerameikos / Gazi
Category
Ancient Site
“The on-site museum's grave-marker sculptures and the quiet, green ruins make this the city's most peaceful ancient site.”
€12Benaki Museum
Area
Kolonaki
Category
Museum
“The rooftop café-terrace has lovely views over the National Garden — time your visit to end with a coffee there.”
€8Byzantine & Christian Museum
Area
Kolonaki
Category
Museum
“The tranquil courtyard and garden make a shaded escape — and admission is a bargain for the quality of icons on show.”
FreeFilopappou Hill
Area
Filopappou
Category
Hill & Viewpoint
“Walk up at golden hour for the finest side-on view of the Acropolis and a glorious sunset over the sea.”
Athens attractions in detail
1.Acropolis & Parthenon
Rising 156 metres above the city on a flat-topped rock, the Acropolis is the single sight that defines Athens and, arguably, the whole of Western culture. Its crowning glory is the Parthenon, the fifth-century-BC temple to Athena built at the height of the city's Golden Age under Pericles, its Doric columns still commanding the skyline from almost everywhere in the capital. Climb the marble path past the monumental Propylaia gateway, the elegant little Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion with its famous porch of caryatids — the six draped maidens who stand in for columns. The views over Athens to the sea and the surrounding mountains are magnificent. Go at opening time or late afternoon to dodge the tour groups and the fierce midday sun, wear grippy shoes for the polished, slippery rock, and carry water. Buy a timed ticket online to skip the queue, and consider the €30 combined ticket that also covers the Ancient Agora, Roman Agora, Kerameikos and the Temple of Olympian Zeus.
Hours
Daily 08:00–20:00 summer, 08:00–17:00 winter
Price
€20 (Nov–Mar €10); combo ticket €30 covers 7 sites
Getting there
Metro L2 (red) to Acropoli, then a five-minute walk up the pedestrian path
Insider tip: Enter at 08:00 the moment it opens, or 90 minutes before closing, to beat the cruise crowds and midday heat.
2.Acropolis Museum
Opened in 2009, the Acropolis Museum is one of the world's great archaeological museums and the essential companion to the rock above it. Bernard Tschumi's glass-and-concrete building is a masterpiece in its own right, raised on pillars over an excavated Roman-era neighbourhood you can see through the transparent ground floor. Inside, the collection climbs chronologically: serene Archaic korai and kouroi, the sculptures of the Erechtheion including five original caryatids, and — the emotional summit — the top-floor Parthenon Gallery, a glass hall aligned exactly with the temple and set at its true dimensions, so the surviving frieze, metopes and pediments hang in their original arrangement with the actual Parthenon visible through the windows. Gaps left for the Parthenon Marbles held in London make a quiet, pointed argument for their return. Visit after the Acropolis itself so the fragments make sense, allow around two hours, and stop at the second-floor café-restaurant, whose terrace has a superb, and inexpensive, Parthenon view.
Hours
Tue–Sun ~09:00–20:00 (Fri to 22:00); reduced winter hours
Price
€15 summer, €10 winter
Getting there
Metro L2 (red) to Acropoli — the museum is right at the exit
Insider tip: The glass-floored top gallery frames the real Parthenon through its windows — visit after the rock itself for the full story.
3.The Parthenon
The Parthenon is the reason people cross oceans to reach Athens — the temple that has stood for Greek achievement for nearly 2,500 years. Built between 447 and 438 BC by the architects Iktinos and Kallikrates under the sculptor Pheidias, it was dedicated to Athena Parthenos, the city's virgin patron, and once housed a colossal gold-and-ivory statue of her. Its genius lies in subtle optical refinements: the columns lean slightly inward, the platform curves gently upward, and there are almost no straight lines, all to make the marble mass look flawlessly regular to the eye. Over the centuries it served as a church, a mosque and a gunpowder store — the last of which caused a catastrophic 1687 explosion during a Venetian siege. Ongoing restoration means scaffolding is often present, but the scale and proportion still stun. Circle it fully to see the pediment fragments and the honey-coloured Pentelic marble glow at golden hour, and remember the finest surviving sculptures now sit in the Acropolis Museum below.
Hours
Same as the Acropolis (daily 08:00–20:00 summer)
Price
Included in the Acropolis ticket
Getting there
Metro L2 (red) to Acropoli, then up through the Propylaia
Insider tip: Walk a full circle around it — the west and east ends show the surviving pediment sculptures and the finest columns.
4.Ancient Agora
Spread below the Acropolis between Monastiraki and Thissio, the Ancient Agora was the beating heart of classical Athens — its marketplace, law courts, political assembly and social hub, the very ground where Socrates questioned passers-by and the ideas of democracy first took shape. Today it's a tranquil, tortoise-dotted archaeological park threaded with paths among olive trees and scattered ruins. Two buildings stand out. The Temple of Hephaestus, on the western rise, is the best-preserved ancient Greek temple anywhere, its Doric colonnade almost entirely intact thanks to centuries of use as a church. Opposite, the Stoa of Attalos — a long two-storey colonnade faithfully reconstructed in the 1950s — houses an excellent museum of everyday Athenian objects, from voting tokens to a child's potty. It's a green, uncrowded counterpoint to the packed Acropolis, and a place to grasp how ordinary Athenians actually lived. Enter from Adrianou or Thissio, wear sun protection, and give it a relaxed hour and a half.
Hours
Daily ~08:00–20:00 summer, to 15:00 winter
Price
€10; free on the combined Acropolis ticket (€30)
Getting there
Metro L1/L3 to Monastiraki, then walk down into the site
Insider tip: Combine the well-preserved Temple of Hephaestus with the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos museum — allow a slow 90 minutes.
5.Temple of Hephaestus
Crowning the low hill on the western edge of the Ancient Agora, the Temple of Hephaestus is a revelation: the most completely preserved temple to survive from ancient Greece, standing with its columns, entablature and much of its roof structure essentially intact. Built around 450 BC and dedicated to Hephaestus, god of metalworking, and Athena Ergane, patron of craftsmen — fittingly, this was the district of foundries and workshops — it slightly predates the Parthenon and shares its classical Doric grammar in a smaller, more human scale. Its remarkable state of preservation owes everything to its long afterlife as the Christian church of Saint George, which kept it roofed and maintained for centuries. Frieze panels depicting the labours of Heracles and Theseus (which gave it the old nickname 'Theseion') survive on the ends. Because it sits within the Agora park among cypresses and olive trees, it's blissfully peaceful compared with the Acropolis, and one of the best spots in Athens for a sunset photograph of a genuinely complete ancient temple.
Hours
With the Ancient Agora (daily ~08:00–20:00 summer)
Price
Included in the Ancient Agora / combined ticket
Getting there
Metro L1 to Thissio, then a short uphill walk into the Agora
Insider tip: Photograph it from the Agora path at sunset, when the Doric columns turn gold against the pines.
6.Temple of Olympian Zeus
The Temple of Olympian Zeus — the Olympieion — was the most ambitious temple project of the ancient Greek world, and its scale still astonishes even in ruin. Begun by the tyrant Peisistratos around 520 BC, it was left unfinished for centuries and only completed under the Roman emperor Hadrian in AD 131, more than 600 years later. In its pomp it held 104 towering Corinthian columns; today just fifteen still stand, with a sixteenth lying where it fell in a storm in 1852, its enormous marble drums scattered like a toppled stack of coins. The surviving columns rise to seventeen metres, giving a vivid sense of the temple's original, temple-dwarfing bulk. It sits in an open archaeological field beside the monumental Arch of Hadrian, which marked the boundary between the classical Greek city and Hadrian's Roman extension, so the two are naturally visited together. There's little shade, so come early or late, pair it with the nearby Panathenaic Stadium and National Garden, and let the sheer height of those columns do the talking.
Hours
Daily ~08:00–20:00 summer, to 15:00 winter
Price
€8; free on the combined Acropolis ticket (€30)
Getting there
Metro L2 (red) to Acropoli, or a short walk from Syntagma
Insider tip: It sits beside Hadrian's Arch — see both together, then walk five minutes to the National Garden for shade.
7.Plaka
Plaka is the romantic old heart of Athens, a labyrinth of narrow, pedestrian-friendly streets spilling down the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis. Often called the 'neighbourhood of the gods', it's the city's oldest continuously inhabited quarter, a picturesque tangle of pastel neoclassical mansions, tiny Byzantine churches, tavernas under vine-shaded terraces and shops selling everything from leather sandals to worry beads. Yes, the main arteries around Adrianou Street are unashamedly touristy and the restaurants there pricier for it, but the magic is in getting lost: climb the lanes towards Anafiotika and you'll find flower-filled alleys, cats dozing on doorsteps and sudden framed views of the Parthenon. It's endlessly photogenic, especially in the soft light of early morning or golden hour, and it's the natural base for exploring the ancient sites, all of which are within a short walk. Come for a leisurely stroll, a coffee or a slow dinner, keep your wallet secure in the busiest stretches, and treat Plaka as a place to soak up atmosphere rather than tick off sights.
Hours
Streets always open; shops ~10:00–21:00
Price
Free to wander
Getting there
Metro L1/L3 to Monastiraki or L2 to Acropoli / Syntagma
Insider tip: Wander uphill and off the souvenir strips into the quiet lanes — the higher you go, the prettier and calmer it gets.
8.Anafiotika
Tucked into the highest, quietest corner of Plaka, right beneath the north face of the Acropolis, Anafiotika feels like a stray fragment of a Greek island washed up in the middle of the capital. It was built in the 1860s by construction workers from the Cycladic island of Anafi who came to build King Otto's palace and reproduced the architecture of home: sugar-cube whitewashed houses, blue shutters and doors, tumbling bougainvillea, cats, potted geraniums and stepped lanes barely wide enough for two people. There are no cars, no shops and almost no crowds — just a handful of tiny chapels and sudden, spectacular glimpses of the Parthenon rearing up directly above the rooftops. Because people actually live here, it rewards a slow, quiet visit rather than a noisy one: come early in the day, tread lightly, and enjoy one of the most unexpected and charming pockets of the city. It's completely free, takes maybe twenty minutes to wander, and provides some of the loveliest photographs in Athens, marrying island simplicity with an ancient wonder overhead.
Hours
Streets always open (a residential area)
Price
Free
Getting there
Metro L2 to Acropoli, then climb the lanes above Plaka
Insider tip: Go early — the whitewashed lanes are residential and tiny, so quiet mornings are the respectful (and prettiest) time.
9.Monastiraki
Monastiraki is the noisy, colourful crossroads of old Athens, a square where nearly every layer of the city's history is visible at once: the little tenth-century Pantanassa church that gives the area its name ('little monastery'), the Ottoman-era Tzistarakis Mosque, the ruins of Hadrian's Library, and, floating above it all, the Acropolis. Radiating out from the square is the famous flea market — a warren of streets around Ifestou and Avissinias Square packed with antiques, vintage clothes, records, souvenirs, leather and genuine junk, at its liveliest on Sunday mornings. It's also souvlaki central: the corner of Mitropoleos is lined with legendary grill houses doing cheap, superb skewers and gyros to eat on the hoof. Rooftop cafés and bars around the square deliver some of the best Acropolis views in the city, especially at sunset. It's a place to soak up energy, bargain-hunt, snack and people-watch rather than sightsee formally — chaotic, atmospheric and quintessentially Athenian. Keep an eye on your belongings in the crush, and go up top for a drink as the floodlights come on.
Hours
Square always open; flea market daily, biggest on Sunday
Price
Free
Getting there
Metro L1 (green) / L3 (blue) to Monastiraki — the square is at the exit
Insider tip: Climb to a rooftop bar on the square for the classic postcard shot of the Acropolis rising above the old-town roofs.
10.Roman Agora & Tower of the Winds
A short walk east of the classical Ancient Agora, the Roman Agora marks where Athens' commercial life shifted under Julius Caesar and Augustus, who funded a new colonnaded marketplace in the first century BC. Its grand western entrance, the Gate of Athena Archegetis, still stands, along with rows of column bases and the ruins of shops and a public latrine. The undisputed star, though, is the Tower of the Winds (Horologion of Andronikos) — an exquisite octagonal marble tower built around 50 BC that functioned as a combined sundial, water clock and weather vane, each of its eight faces carved with a personified wind deity. It's considered the world's first meteorological station and is astonishingly intact, having survived by serving as a church and later a Sufi lodge. The site is compact and rarely crowded, making it a quiet, rewarding stop between Plaka and Monastiraki. Include it on the €30 combined ticket rather than paying separately, pair it with the neighbouring Hadrian's Library, and take time to study the beautifully preserved wind figures circling the tower.
Hours
Daily ~08:00–20:00 summer, to 15:00 winter
Price
€8; free on the combined Acropolis ticket (€30)
Getting there
Metro L1/L3 to Monastiraki, a short walk into Plaka
Insider tip: The octagonal Tower of the Winds is the highlight — the world's oldest surviving weather station and sundial.
11.Syntagma Square & Changing of the Guard
Syntagma (Constitution) Square is the civic centre of modern Athens, a broad marble plaza overlooked by the imposing Old Royal Palace, now the Hellenic Parliament. In front of it stands the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, guarded around the clock by the Evzones — elite ceremonial soldiers in a striking traditional uniform of pleated white foustanella kilt, red cap with black tassel and tsarouchia, pom-pommed shoes weighing several kilos each. Every hour, on the hour, a small Changing of the Guard takes place, the guards performing a slow, exaggerated, almost balletic march that draws a permanent crowd; on Sunday at 11:00 the full ceremony unfolds with the entire relief platoon and a military band, and it's well worth timing your visit for. Beyond the spectacle, the square is a useful hub: the metro interchange sits below it, the National Garden and the shopping streets of Ermou and Kolonaki spread out from it, and it has long been the stage for the city's political demonstrations. It's free, central and a fine, characterful introduction to the modern capital.
Hours
Square always open; guard change every hour on the hour, grand version Sun 11:00
Price
Free
Getting there
Metro L2 (red) / L3 (blue) to Syntagma — directly beneath the square
Insider tip: Come at 11:00 on Sunday for the full-dress ceremonial change, with the whole platoon, band and hundreds of pleats on show.
12.National Archaeological Museum
A little north of the centre, the National Archaeological Museum holds the most important collection of ancient Greek art on earth, and for anyone interested in antiquity it rivals the Acropolis itself as a reason to visit Athens. Its treasures span the entire arc of Greek civilization. The Mycenaean Gallery glitters with Bronze Age gold, above all the so-called Mask of Agamemnon unearthed by Schliemann. The bronze collection is world-class: the powerful Artemision Bronze of Zeus or Poseidon poised to hurl a thunderbolt, and the spirited Jockey of Artemision, both recovered from ancient shipwrecks. There are serene, minimalist Cycladic figurines that inspired modern sculptors, the intricate Antikythera Mechanism (an ancient analogue 'computer'), and hall after hall of sublime marble statuary and painted pottery. It's large — allow at least two to three hours — and mercifully less crowded than the star sites near the Acropolis. The neoclassical building itself is handsome, there's a pleasant café in the courtyard, and it repays a slow, unhurried visit. An absolute must for history lovers.
Hours
Daily ~08:30–20:00 summer; reduced winter and Tuesday hours
Price
€12 summer, €6 winter
Getting there
Metro L1 to Victoria, or a 15-minute walk from Omonia
Insider tip: Head straight for the Mycenaean gold and the bronze statues first — they are the collection's unmissable masterpieces.
13.Panathenaic Stadium (Kallimarmaro)
The Panathenaic Stadium, known affectionately as Kallimarmaro ('beautiful marble'), is the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble, and one of the most evocative sights in Athens. It stands on the site of an ancient stadium first used in the fourth century BC for the athletic contests of the Panathenaic Games; that arena was excavated and lavishly rebuilt in gleaming white Pentelic marble to host the inaugural modern Olympic Games in 1896, seating around 45,000 on its steep horseshoe of tiered benches. Visitors can walk out onto the running track, jog a lap where Olympic champions once competed, climb the stands for a fine view back towards the Acropolis, and stand on the medal podium for the obligatory photo. A small tunnel museum displays posters and torches from every modern Olympiad. The included audio guide brings the history to life, and it remains a living venue — the finish line of the Athens Marathon and the handover point for the Olympic flame. Combine it easily with the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the National Garden next door.
Hours
Daily ~08:00–19:00 summer, to 17:00 winter
Price
€10 including audio guide
Getting there
Metro L2 to Akropoli or Evangelismos, then a 10-minute walk; or bus to the stadium
Insider tip: Your ticket includes an audio guide and lets you run a lap and stand on the winner's podium — do both.
14.Mount Lycabettus
At 277 metres, Mount Lycabettus (Lykavittos) is the highest point in central Athens and delivers the city's most spectacular panorama — a full 360-degree sweep taking in the Acropolis floodlit below, the sprawl of the modern city, the ring of mountains and, on a clear day, the shimmering Saronic Gulf with the port of Piraeus and its islands. A little whitewashed nineteenth-century chapel, Agios Georgios, crowns the summit, alongside a café and a restaurant. You can reach the top the easy way on the funicular railway that tunnels up from the smart Kolonaki district, or earn the view on foot via shaded, pine-scented switchback paths, a moderately steep 20–30 minute climb. Either way, sunset is the moment to be there, as the light turns the marble monuments gold and the city begins to twinkle. There's also an open-air theatre near the top that hosts summer concerts. Bring water for the walk, go up before dusk to claim a good vantage point, and consider ascending by funicular and strolling back down through the trees.
Hours
Hill always open; funicular ~09:00–02:00
Price
Funicular ~€10 return; free on foot
Getting there
Metro L3 to Evangelismos, walk up through Kolonaki, then the funicular from Aristippou
Insider tip: Ride the funicular up for sunset and walk down through the pine paths — the whole city and the sea glow gold.
15.Kerameikos
Kerameikos, on the western edge of the old city near buzzing Gazi, was the potters' quarter of ancient Athens — the source of the word 'ceramic' — and, above all, its most important cemetery. For over a thousand years Athenians buried their dead along the roads leading out of the city here, and the site preserves an atmospheric spread of tombs, marble grave stelae and funerary monuments among wildflowers, tortoises and the meandering Eridanos stream. It also holds the remains of the two great gates of the ancient walls: the Dipylon, the main entrance where the Panathenaic procession began, and the Sacred Gate on the road to Eleusis. A small but excellent museum displays superb original grave sculptures — including the famous bull of Dionysios and moving reliefs of the deceased — along with pottery and offerings. Green, shaded and blissfully quiet compared with the Acropolis, it's a lovely, contemplative site that many visitors miss. Include it on the combined ticket, allow an unhurried hour, and pair it with an evening out in the neighbouring Gazi district.
Hours
Daily ~08:00–20:00 summer, to 15:00 winter
Price
€8; free on the combined Acropolis ticket (€30)
Getting there
Metro L3 to Kerameikos, then a short walk
Insider tip: The on-site museum's grave-marker sculptures and the quiet, green ruins make this the city's most peaceful ancient site.
16.Benaki Museum
Housed in a graceful neoclassical mansion on the edge of Kolonaki overlooking the National Garden, the Benaki Museum of Greek Culture offers the single best overview of Greek civilization across its entire span. Assembled by the collector Antonis Benakis and given to the state in 1930, its beautifully arranged galleries move chronologically from prehistoric and ancient artefacts through Byzantine icons and church treasures to the Ottoman period, the Greek War of Independence and folk traditions, right up to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Highlights include exquisite Byzantine religious art, two stunningly reconstructed carved-wood reception rooms from eighteenth-century mansions, dazzling traditional costumes and jewellery, and historical relics of the fight for independence. It's a refined, manageable museum that fills the gaps between the ancient sites and modern Greece, and it's rarely crowded. The wider Benaki organisation also runs an outstanding Museum of Islamic Art and a contemporary space at Pireos Street. Time your visit to finish on the rooftop terrace café, whose greenery-framed views over the garden and towards the Acropolis make a perfect, civilised pause.
Hours
Thu–Sun ~10:00–18:00 (Thu to 24:00, often free); check current days
Price
€12; frequently free on Thursday evenings
Getting there
Metro L2/L3 to Syntagma or Evangelismos, a short walk to Kolonaki
Insider tip: The rooftop café-terrace has lovely views over the National Garden — time your visit to end with a coffee there.
17.Byzantine & Christian Museum
The Byzantine and Christian Museum, set in and around a charming nineteenth-century Italianate villa on Vasilissis Sofias Avenue, holds one of the richest collections of Byzantine and post-Byzantine art anywhere in the world — more than 25,000 objects spanning the third to the twentieth centuries. Its modern, partly subterranean galleries trace the long story of the Christian East: exquisite religious icons glowing with gold leaf, delicate mosaics, wall paintings rescued from churches, illuminated manuscripts, carved marble, liturgical vessels, vestments and jewellery. Thoughtfully arranged and clearly explained, it illuminates a chapter of Greek history — the thousand-year Byzantine Empire centred on Constantinople — that the ancient sites and museums largely skip, making it an ideal complement to a classical itinerary. The setting is a bonus: a peaceful walled garden with a courtyard fountain provides welcome shade and calm just off one of the city's busiest avenues, in the museum-rich Kolonaki district beside the Benaki and War Museums. Admission is inexpensive, the crowds are thin, and for anyone drawn to religious art or medieval history it's a quietly outstanding, often-overlooked highlight.
Hours
Wed–Mon ~08:30–15:30 (seasonal); closed Tue
Price
€8 summer, €4 winter
Getting there
Metro L3 (blue) to Evangelismos — the museum is right beside the station
Insider tip: The tranquil courtyard and garden make a shaded escape — and admission is a bargain for the quality of icons on show.
18.Filopappou Hill
Directly opposite the Acropolis, across the pedestrianised promenade, rises Filopappou Hill (the Hill of the Muses), a green, pine-scented public park that offers the single best head-on view of the Parthenon and one of the loveliest walks in central Athens. Crisscrossed by ancient stone paths — some laid out by the great modernist architect Dimitris Pikionis in the 1950s in beautiful hand-set stone — the hill is dotted with history: the Monument of Philopappos, a grand Roman-era marble mausoleum crowning the summit, the cave-like 'Prison of Socrates' cut into the rock, and the little Byzantine church of Agios Dimitrios Loumbardiaris. It's completely free, always open and blissfully uncommercial, a favourite of Athenians for a stroll, a jog or a quiet moment away from the crowds. The reward at the top is a sweeping panorama that takes in the Acropolis side-on, the sprawl of the city, the port of Piraeus and the Saronic Gulf beyond — an unbeatable, and free, spot for photographs and, above all, for sunset, when the Parthenon glows gold and the sea shimmers. Wear decent shoes for the polished stone paths, bring water, and time your climb for late afternoon.
Hours
Always open (a public hill and park)
Price
Free
Getting there
Metro L2 to Acropoli, then walk up the pedestrian paths from Dionysiou Areopagitou
Insider tip: Walk up at golden hour for the finest side-on view of the Acropolis and a glorious sunset over the sea.