Lycabettus Hill

What it is

Two cars of thirty-four passengers each, running on a single track that splits at the midpoint so they pass. The line is 210 metres long and the whole run is inside a tunnel cut through the hill, so there is no view from the carriage at all — the view starts when you step out at the top. It opened on 19 April 1965 and was rebuilt mechanically in 2002.

It carries about 300,000 passengers a year.

Where it starts

The lower station stands at the top of Ploutarchou Street where it meets Aristippou, in Kolonaki. The funicular opened on 18 April 1965 and has run from this same spot ever since, climbing inside a tunnel to the chapel of Saint George. The nearest metro is Evangelismos on Line 3, about ten minutes away and uphill.

That approach is itself a steep walk through one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in Athens, which surprises people who expected the funicular to start at the bottom of the hill. Kolonaki grew from the late nineteenth century for families who wanted to live near the royal palace, now Parliament, and the streets around the station still carry that. Allow time for the walk up Ploutarchou, because the gradient does not ease off until you reach the ticket point.

When it runs

The operator says 365 days a year, every thirty minutes, more often at peak. On closing time its own page contradicts itself: the prose says the service runs from 09:00 to 01:30 and notes that it may stop earlier in winter, while the box below says 09:00 to 02:30. We print both rather than pick one.

If you are relying on a late descent, ask at the base station on the way up.

Saint George's chapel

The funicular arrives at the chapel of Saint George, a whitewashed nineteenth-century church with a bell that rings out over the city. It is small, and on busy days the terraces around it hold more people than the building ever could. It is a working church, so dress is expected to be reasonable inside, though most visitors come for the panorama and stay outside.

The hill itself carries a legend recorded in antiquity: Athena was carrying a limestone rock to the Acropolis, a raven brought her bad news, she dropped it where she stood, and the hill stayed there. The white walls and the bell make the chapel the fixed point of every summit photograph. Come early or late if you want the terraces quieter, because tour groups cluster around midday.

The view, and where to stand

From 277 metres you see the whole basin: the Acropolis below and to the south-west with the Parthenon in silhouette, Piraeus and the sea beyond it, the ridge of Hymettus to the east, and on a clear day as far as Aegina. The Acropolis side is the one to stand on and the hour before sunset is the one to be there, when the rock is lit and the city goes blue.

The restaurant and the café

There is a restaurant and café on the summit, run by the same group as the funicular, with one of the best terraces in Athens and prices that reflect the location. You are not obliged to buy anything to use the viewing terraces, so you can sit out a hot afternoon with nothing but your own water. The tables face the city, and on a clear day after rain the view runs a long way towards the islands.

Note that the cables went in decades ago: the funicular dates from 1965, and the summit buildings have grown up around the upper station. Service slows when a tour group arrives, so order before they do. If you want dinner with the view, book ahead, because the terrace fills on summer evenings and at sunset.

The theatre

On the north-east shoulder, out of sight of the summit, is the Lycabettus Theatre, an open-air venue of about three thousand seats carved into an old quarry. It has hosted most of the big summer concerts in Athens since the 1960s, so if you know Greek popular music you will recognise the setting from decades of recordings. It is a separate trip with a separate ticket, and it is not open to walk into on a normal day.

If your visit falls inside the summer concert season, check the programme, because a ticket gets you onto the hill in the evening with a view most tourists never reach. Otherwise the theatre stays behind its fence and the summit terraces remain the point of the climb. Walk time from the upper station is short and clearly signed.

Lycabettus gives you the city

Lycabettus is the highest point in central Athens and it sits north-east of the Acropolis, so what you see is the whole Athens basin with the sacred rock as one element in it, small and distant. It is the better hill for understanding the shape of the place, how the mountains hem the city in, how far the concrete runs, where the sea starts. Legend says Athena herself put the hill here, dropping a limestone rock when a raven brought bad news.

The funicular has carried people to the top since 1965, and the chapel of Saint George marks the summit. Bring a wide lens or wide eyes, because the payoff is distance rather than detail. On a hazy day the far edge of the basin dissolves, and the city photograph loses half its argument.

Philopappos gives you the Parthenon

Philopappos Hill is lower and much closer, directly south-west of the rock, so the Parthenon fills the frame in profile with the Erechtheion beside it. That is the photograph everyone recognises, and Philopappos Hill is free, always open, and fifteen minutes from the Acropolis south gate. The summit carries the tomb of Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappos, an exiled prince of Commagene who became an Athenian citizen and a Roman consul, built in Pentelic marble between AD 114 and 116 and facing the Acropolis on purpose.

The paths up the hill were laid by the architect Dimitris Pikionis between 1954 and 1957 out of broken marble and stone salvaged from demolished houses. Walk up through them slowly. They are part of the design, not just the route.

The stories behind Pikionis paths and the Philopappos monument come alive with the context offered by Athens guided tours, and the best tours in Athens often pair this hill with the Acropolis itself.

If you only do one

On a first short trip, choose Philopappos. It is free, it sits next to everything else you are doing around the Acropolis, and the framed view of the Parthenon is the better picture. The Pikionis paths from 1954 to 1957 make the climb itself worth the walk.

Lycabettus earns its place on a longer stay, or if you want dinner with the view, or on a clear day after rain when you can see as far as Aegina. If your dates are tight, do Philopappos in the late afternoon light and keep Lycabettus for a spare morning, taking the funicular that has run from Kolonaki since 1965. If you cannot choose, remember the two hills face each other across the city, so each one shows you the other.