Hi friends! It’s been over a month now since I’ve returned from my Euro trip and I finally have some time to sit down and share all the details with you guys. So sorry this took forever to share! ICYMI, I recently tore my Achilles so this past month and a half has been crazy but I finally am getting around to share all the details from my Greece trip! I decided to do things a little differently this time around for my travel post – per your request on IG stories, I’ve decided to break up my Greece blog post into three separate posts: 1 for Athens, 1 for Mykonos, and 1 for Santorini. So I’m going to start with Athens because that was the first stop of our trip.
ATHENS, GREECE:
When planning this trip Mykonos and Santorini were definitely what we were most looking forward to BUT I definitely wanted to stop in Athens because I have always wanted to visit and see all the history the city has to offer. We planned this trip about two months in advance and took a red eye from LA to Munich to Athens. We booked two nights in Athens because after doing our research, the common consensus was you don’t need more than 1 or 2 days in Athens. And after visiting, I completely agree!
Since we had quite a bit of a delay with our initial flight from LAX, we ended up losing our first afternoon in Athens. We arrived around 9 PM and we were beyond exhausted from all the travel that we just checked in, showered, and passed out!
We booked our stay at the Perianth, which is a small boutique hotel in the middle of Athens. The location was nice and central to everything. There were some cute restaurants and bars right downstairs and it was walkable to many attractions, including Acropolis. It was very clean (which basically is the most important thing for me) and the service was good. If you’re into the boutique hotel vibe, I recommend this place! If you prefer a larger hotel or more commercial hotel, then I would pass on this. It was good for us and the two nights we had there!
There are not a TON of things to do in Athens but it does have a lot of history so we spent our one day exploring the city, visiting the historical sights, and walk around, basically seeing the city by foot.
WHAT TO SEE IN ATHENS:
- Acropolis: You can see Acropolis at a distance when you’re in Athens, it’s situated on top of a large hill overlooking the entire city. This is one of the most important ancient ruins in the world and it’s home to one of the most sacred and religious buildings. Here you will find Parthenon and quite a few other historical buildings which date back to the 5th century BC. Parthenon is absolutely stunning, it’s so crazy to learn about all the history and actually see it in person! When visiting, you can not go inside Parthenon, but you can walk around outside and get pretty close to it. It’s truly magnificent!
- Temple Of Zeus: Another ancient Greek temple, this is dedicated to the Greek God Zeus. This is at the religious site of Olympia and is another beautiful and historical place to check out. It is walking distance from Acropolis.
- The Panathenaic Stadium: Another must see in Athens, this is where the worlds first modern Olympics was held back in 1896. It is the only stadium in the entire world built with marble and to this day it is not only a tourist attraction, but it is still used for many special events. This is also walking distance from Acropolis!
- The Acropolis Museum: This is one of the most popular museums in Athens. This museum is dedicated to Parthenon and all the surrounding temples in Athens. We didn’t get a chance to visit, but if you have time and enjoy museums, I’ve heard great things about this!
- Explore the city: One of my favorite things about Athens was that everything was walking distance to each other. We could walk to dinner, to get drinks, to shop, to sight see; we basically could walk wherever whenever and I loved that! Just make sure to wear comfortable shoes because a lot of the streets have uneven pavement and are cobble stoned. There’s also a lot of steps and walking uphill when visiting Acropolis so I just recommend comfortable shoes and a casual look for sure!
- Shop: Athens has a ton of shopping, they have everything from designer boutiques to your everyday shops like Zara and H&M to small family owned boutiques unique to the city.
- Have rooftop drinks at sunset: There are a few popular rooftop bars which are great to go later in the afternoon or early evening for sunset drinks. We went to 360 Cocktail Bar and grabbed a seat outside and loved it! We had a beautiful view or Acropolis and stayed there for sunset, into the night. Acropolis lights up at night and it was just so stunning so see! The drinks were delish as well! Warning though, this place gets super crowded so make sure to get their earlier before sunset to grab a spot! They only take reservations for dinner, not for drinks. We didn’t get a chance to visit A for Athens but I heard it is another great rooftop bar for sunset drinks and it was right across the street from 360 Cocktail Bar in the case you want to visit both!
Overall, we really enjoyed our Athens but I definitely recommend only 2 nights max in the city. There is not a whole lot to do and you can get all the sight seeing done in one day! I recommend Athens as a place to fly into or out of because it is a major city, and then book ferries or flights to the islands from there!
I hope this helps a bit if you’re planning a trip to Athens! And don’t forget I have my entire Greece trip highlighted on my IG stories so you can always refer back to that!
As always, thanks for reading! xx, S
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