Athens
Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece.
Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica region and is the southernmost capital on the European mainland. With its urban area's population numbering over 3.6 million, it is the eighth-largest urban area in the European Union (EU). The Municipality of Athens, which constitutes a small administrative unit of the entire urban area, had a population of 643,452 in 2021, within its official limits, and a land area of 38.96 square kilometres. Athens joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities in 2016.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Athens
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, simply referred to as the University of Athens, is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses along the Athens agglomeration. It has been in continuous operation since its establishment in 1837 and is the oldest higher education institution of the modern Greek state and the first contemporary university in both the Balkan Peninsula and the Eastern Mediterranean.
3.8 km · university in Athens, Greece · Wikipedia - 02Olympic Stadium in Athens
The Olympic Stadium of Athens "Spyros Louis" is a sports stadium in Marousi, in the north section of Athens, Greece. With a total capacity of 75,000, it is the largest sports venue in Greece.
7.8 km · multi-purpose stadium in Athens, Greece · Wikipedia - 03Erechtheion
The Erechtheion or Temple of Athena Polias is an ancient Greek Ionic temple, on the north side of the Acropolis, Athens, that was primarily dedicated to the goddess Athena. The iconic Ionic building, which housed the statue of Athena Polias, has in modern scholarship been called the Erechtheion, in the belief that it encompassed two buildings mentioned by the Greek-Roman geographer Pausanias: the Temple of Athena Polias; and the Erechtheion.
1.4 km · ancient Greek temple on the north side of the Acropolis of Athens · Wikipedia - 04Panathenaic Stadium
The Panathenaic Stadium or Kallimarmaro is a multi-purpose stadium in Athens, Greece. One of the main historic attractions of Athens, it is the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble.
2.1 km · stadium in Athens, Greece · Wikipedia - 05Daphni Monastery
Daphni or Dafni is an eleventh-century Byzantine monastery eleven kilometers northwest of central Athens in the suburb of Chaidari, south of Athinon Avenue. It is situated near the forest of the same name, on the Sacred Way that led to Eleusis.
8.7 km · 11th-century Byzantine monastery in Greece · Wikipedia - 06Karaiskakis Stadium
The Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, commonly referred to as the Karaiskakis Stadium, is a football stadium in Piraeus, Attica, Greece, and the home ground of the Piraeus football club Olympiacos. It is named after Georgios Karaiskakis, a military commander and national hero of the Greek War of Independence, who was mortally wounded in the area.
7 km · football stadium in Piraeus, Attica, Greece · Wikipedia - 07Temple of Athena Nike
The Temple of Athena Nike, the smallest temple on the Acropolis of Athens, is dedicated to the goddesses Athena and Nike. Built around 420 BC, the temple is the earliest fully Ionic temple on the Acropolis.
1.4 km · ancient Greek temple built in the fifth century CE on the Acropolis of Athens in honor of Athena as the goddess of victory, located in Athens Municipality, Greece · Wikipedia - 08National Archaeological Museum of Athens
The National Archaeological Museum in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. It is considered one of the greatest museums in the world and contains the richest collection of Greek Antiquity artifacts worldwide.
700 m · museum in Athens, Greece · Wikipedia - 09National Library of Greece
The National Library of Greece is the main public library of Greece, located in Athens. Founded by Ioannis Kapodistrias in 1832, its mission is to locate, collect, organize, describe and preserve the perpetual evidence of Greek culture and its uptake over time, as well as important representative evidence of human intellectual production.
5.7 km · national library in Athens, Greece · Wikipedia - 10Temple of Hephaestus
The Temple of Hephaestus or Hephaisteion, is a well-preserved Greek temple dedicated to Hephaestus; it remains standing largely intact today. It is a Doric peripteral temple, and is located at the north-west side of the Agora of Athens, on top of the Agoraios Kolonos hill.
1.1 km · ancient Greek temple in Athens · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
At first glance, Athens seems entirely to be composed of unremarkable, four- to six-story concrete buildings, lacking character and badly in need of a paint job. But if you look beyond that, you will find little gems tucked in among the grey.
From Wikivoyage: Athens, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
If you're lucky enough to be in Athens for the Easter Weekend, you'll see the spectacular sight of hundreds of people making their candlelit way down the hill on Holy Saturday night as part of the Easter Vigil procession. If the weather is good, head to the beaches in south Athens. Take buses A2, B2 or E22 from metro station Sygrou, or the tram from Syntagma. Just get off wherever the sea takes your fancy.
From Wikivoyage: Athens, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
The districts Kolonaki and Plaka are especially good areas for dining out. For a quick, decent and low-budget meal, try a souvlaki (σουβλάκι, soo-VLAH-kee), meat (usually pork or chicken) grilled on a skewer. They are typically served with tomato, onion and tzatziki (τζατζίκι, tzah-TZEE-khee), yogurt enriched with garlic and cucumber, wrapped inside a pita (πίτα, PEE-tah), a thin pan bread.
From Wikivoyage: Athens, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Athens
- Airports
- Athens Eleftherios Venizelos (ATH), 20 km · Santorini (JTR), 235 km · Chania (CHQ), 275 km
- Stations
- Piraeus, 8.5 km · Ellinikon International Airport, 9.5 km
- Santorini Island → Athens11161 km · quickest by air, 22h 3m · $1,630–2,510
- Souda → Athens279 km · quickest by air, 4h 31m · €110–170
- Thessaloniki → Athens303 km · quickest by air, 4h 48m · €120–180
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Athens
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Athens. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inGenerally, pedestrian ferry users will be closer than cruise passengers to the Metro station providing access to central Athens; walking distances can vary considerably.
- Go nextPiraeus - the harbour of Athens, and Rafina (on the east coast of Attica) are the departure points for a large number of ferry services to the Greek Islands and other destinations in the eastern Mediterranean, including ports in Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Israel and Cyprus.
- Go nextThe closest islands, suitable for a day trip from Piraeus, are in the Argosaronic (or Saronic) gulf: Hydra Aegina Poros Spetses Kea (also pronounced Tzia) is a very nearby destination, too, less than two hours from the port of Lavrio.
- Go nextFrom here you can continue to Kymi and take the ferry to Skyros island or choose to explore the islands hidden gems.
- Go nextDay trips to the Corinth Canal, the ancient theatre at Epidaurus and to the ancient sites of Olympia, Delphi and Mycenae are easy with a rental car.
From Wikivoyage: Athens, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
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If you know how people move in Athens – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Athens
- Acropolis of Athensancient citadel above the city of Athens1.4 km
- Atticahistorical region of Greece, including the city of Athens6.5 km
- Classical Athenscity-state in ancient Greece1.4 km
- Peristerisuburb of Athens, Greece5.3 km
- Kallitheasuburb of Athens, Greece4.5 km
- Nikaiasuburb of Athens, Greece8.5 km