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

At the top of Ploutarchou Street where it meets Aristippou, in Kolonaki. 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.

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

Nineteenth-century, whitewashed, tiny, with a bell that rings out over the city. It is a working church and dress is expected to be reasonable inside; the terraces around it are where everyone stands.

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 the best terrace in Athens and prices that reflect it. You are not obliged to buy anything to use the viewing terraces.

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. It is a separate trip with a separate ticket, and it is not open to walk into on a normal day.

Lycabettus gives you the city

It is the highest point and it is north-east of the Acropolis, so what you see is the whole Athens basin with the 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 it in, how far the concrete runs, where the sea starts.

Philopappos gives you the Parthenon

It 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.

If you only do one

On a first short trip, Philopappos — it is free, it is next to everything else you are doing, and it gives the better picture. 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 to Aegina.