Athens Travel Tips: The Nine Things That Decide a Trip

Three nights, and what they hold

Day one goes to the Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum. The Parthenon was finished in 432 BC, blown open by a Venetian shell in 1687, and the museum below holds the sculpted originals with white casts marking what Elgin carried off. Day two covers the Ancient Agora, where the assembly, the courts and the market of classical Athens sat, then the National Archaeological Museum.

Day three slows down, with the hills at sunset and a food walk. That is the city done properly. Plan the museum mornings first, because the Acropolis is bare rock with no shade and the state sites run to 17:00 in winter while smaller ones close at 15:00. The three-day plan routes it around the heat and the closing times.

A fourth night buys a day out, not more Athens

Athens rewards a fourth night more than most European capitals because the day trips are genuinely good. Delphi takes about ten hours out of the day, and it deserves them, since the sanctuary of Apollo stayed the oracle of the Greek world until Theodosius closed the pagan sanctuaries in AD 393. Cape Sounion needs around four hours, with the Temple of Poseidon standing 15 columns high on the cliff.

The page below sorts them by how long they take, so you can match one to the daylight you have. Check the strikes page before you commit, because a transport strike can strand the plan. And keep a full evening in the city itself, since the hills around the Acropolis are at their best after the day trippers come back. The day trips page sorts them by how long they take.

What to leave out

On a short trip, leave out the Olympieion at €20 for half an hour, the Roman Agora, and any Saronic cruise. None of them is bad. The Olympieion took six centuries to build, from Peisistratos in about 550 BC to Hadrian in about AD 131, and 15 of the original 104 columns still stand, but it is a field of columns rather than a whole building.

The Roman Agora is a quick look. The cruises eat a full day and Hydra, with no cars at all, works better on its own trip. All three are second-visit material, or things you pick up inside a multi-site pass once the big names are done. The ancient sites hub is blunt about which ones.

When to come

April, May, late September and October bring mean daily temperatures between about 16 and 24°C, long site hours and bearable marble. July and August average close to 28°C with no shade on the Acropolis rock, and during official heatwaves the ministry has closed the open-air sites through the hottest hours, sometimes announced a day ahead. November to March is cheap and quiet, and it has two free state-site Sundays a month.

The cost is an earlier closing time, since from 1 November the Olympieion, Roman Agora, Kerameikos and Aristotle's Lyceum shut at 15:00 while the Acropolis runs to 17:00. Aim for the shoulder months if the choice is yours. The best time to visit has the chart.

Money and cost

The currency is the euro, cards are taken almost everywhere, and a sightseeing day reckons €45 to €55 a head before the hotel. The Acropolis at €30 is a once-per-trip line rather than a daily one, and the National Archaeological Museum adds another €20. Cheaper fills exist, since the Panathenaic Stadium is €12 with an audio guide included and Aristotle's Lyceum is €5.

Take some coins: the Panathenaic Stadium charges €1.50 for its lavatory and wants the exact amount in coins, which has caught out plenty of visitors. Hellenic Heritage tickets are non-refundable, so do not buy the Acropolis slot until you are sure of the day. Remember the free state-site days, including the last weekend of September and 28 October. What Athens costs breaks the day down.

Transport

A single ticket is €1.20 for ninety minutes with transfers, a day ticket is €4.10, and the 5-day ticket is €8.20. The three-day tourist ticket at €20 including two airport metro journeys is the one that quietly pays for itself, since the airport line alone is €9 each way. Contactless cards work at the gates, so you can arrive without queuing for paper tickets.

The system itself is young by European standards, with Lines 2 and 3 opened on 28 January 2000, and the digging turned up enough antiquities that Syntagma station keeps a free archaeological display in its concourse. Watch strike notices before you build a day around the metro, because a public transport strike can stop it outright. Getting around Athens has the full table.

The airport

Metro Line 3 runs from the airport for €9 one way or €16 return, and the extension out to it opened on 30 July 2004, days before the Games. The X95 bus to Syntagma costs €5.50 and runs around the clock, which matters on a late arrival. A taxi is a regulated flat fare of €40 to the centre, rising to €55 between midnight and 05:00, and the charge follows the time you reach the hotel, not the time you leave the terminal.

For four people the taxi beats four metro tickets, and it removes the walk from the station with luggage. Ask for a receipt, because the driver is required by law to give one. From the airport does the arithmetic for one, two and four people.

Strikes

A Greek general or sector strike can stop the metro, the buses and the ferries and close the state museums. The law, 1264/1982, requires at least 24 hours notice to the employer, and four days where a public utility or public service is involved, so you usually get warning. There is no official English calendar. apergia.gr lists strikes in Greek and OASA posts service notices, and the strikes page explains where to look.

State sites are staffed by ministry employees, so a public-sector strike can shut the Acropolis without any warning beyond the union announcement. Hellenic Heritage tickets are non-refundable, so the defence is the change rule rather than a refund: you can move each ticket twice, up to two hours before the slot.

Water, heat and shoes

Tap water is safe in the city. There is no shade on the Acropolis, and during official heatwaves the ministry has repeatedly closed it through the hottest hours, roughly midday to 17:00, so start early in summer. The marble underfoot is polished by centuries of visitors and turns slippery, so flat soles matter more than fitness.

Carry water, because there is a fountain at the Acropolis entrance and nothing on top. The same logic applies at Sounion and the other open-air sites, where the shade is thin and the stone is hot by late morning. Municipalities open air-conditioned rooms during heatwave days, which is worth remembering if you are caught out with children.

Do the climb first thing, then take the museum indoors at midday.