👤 Giulia's picks
Museums, walks (Lycabettus, Filopappou to Petralona), old tavernas, and her friend Maya's shop Indigo. 22 places.
Vibe: ● Alternative · ● Trendy · ● Classic · ● Posh · ● Must-see Price: € cheap · €€ mid · €€€ expensive (Google's per-person range) ⏸ = temporarily closed on Google
Psyri & Monastiraki
🍽️ 4Linou Soumpasis & Sia (LS & SIA)
A hyped modern-Greek neo-taverna and bistro in a former candle shop in Psyrri. It is dinner-focused with a natural-wine list and no cocktail menu, reservations needed, Michelin Plate 2024-2025. Opened in December 2021 by Myrsini Linou and George Soumpasis, it is also a shop, natural-candle maker and creative office, and hosts exhibitions and record launches.
🍸 7Booze Cooperativa (K.O.T.E.S.)
🍺 beer €8
A multi-level arty bar and cultural space with galleries and a performance basement, open from late morning. By day people come for coffee, chess and backgammon, and at night it turns into a loud bar with indoor smoking. Founded in 1989 in a neoclassical building, it has also been the headquarters of K.O.T.E.S., a tongue-in-cheek smokers' party, since 2018.
Gazi, Kerameikos & Metaxourgeio
🪩 22SMUT Athens
An underground queer techno club at Vatsaxi 4, in an industrial space in Metaxourgeio, open on Saturday nights. There is a no-camera policy and a consent briefing at the door, as part of its safe-space approach. The look is raw, red-lit Berlin warehouse.
🏛️ 26Benaki Museum - Pireos 138
The Benaki's large contemporary venue in a converted industrial building, used for temporary exhibitions of art, architecture and photography.
Exarchia, Omonia & north centre
🍽️ 31I Kriti (Η Κρήτη)
A family-run Cretan taverna and rakadiko in an arcade (stoa) off Veranzerou, by Kaningos Sq. It serves home-style Cretan dishes such as apaki, Sfakian pies and liver with honey, with raki and a free dessert, using produce from Cretan cooperatives. Running for about 30 years, it is now seen as a classic.
🏛️ 41National Archaeological Museum
Greece's largest archaeological museum, with prehistoric to late-antique finds: the Mask of Agamemnon, the Artemision Bronze and the Antikythera Mechanism.
🖼️ 43Romantso
A creative hub in the former printing works of 'Romantso' magazine. It combines a start-up incubator, artist studios and residencies with a café-bar and a busy programme of exhibitions, parties and concerts.
Kolonaki & Lycabettus
🍽️ 45Filippou (Taverna Filippou)
🍽️ plate €10
A classic Kolonaki taverna for lunch or dinner, not a bar, with daily-changing home-cooked dishes (mageirefta) from an open kitchen. It is a third-generation family business founded in 1923 as a basement wine shop, at its current ground-floor site since 1968.
🏛️ 52Benaki Museum - Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika Gallery
The former home and studio of modernist painter Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika (1906-94), now a Benaki branch showing his work and that of his circle, with views from the upper floors.
🏛️ 53Benaki Museum (main building)
The Benaki's flagship mansion, covering Greek art and culture from prehistory to the 20th century; its rooftop café looks over the National Garden.
🏛️ 54Museum of Cycladic Art
Museum built around the Goulandris collection of Cycladic figurines and ancient Greek and Cypriot art, also staging major contemporary art shows.
🏛️ 55Byzantine & Christian Museum
A national museum of Byzantine and post-Byzantine art (icons, mosaics, frescoes, manuscripts) in the 1840s Villa Ilissia, built for the Duchess of Plaisance, with a large modern underground extension and gardens.
🛍️ 57Indigo (@indigo_ath)
A small lifestyle and gift boutique (Indigo Atelier) selling handmade jewellery, ceramics and macramé. Co-owned by Niki Protopapa and Maya Simou, which matches Giulia's 'friend Maya'.
🛍️ 58Benaki Museum Shop
Founded about 40 years ago as the first museum shop in Greece, it sells replicas, jewellery, prints, books and pieces by Greek designers. There are five branches across the Benaki buildings plus an online shop.
⛰️ 59Lycabettus Hill walk
At 277 m, the highest hill in central Athens, with the chapel of Agios Georgios on top and 360° views over the city to the sea. You can walk up through pines in about 20-30 minutes, or take the funicular from Aristippou St.
Pangrati, Mets & Ilisia
🍽️ 62Akra
A bistronomy restaurant and bakery with an open kitchen, a counter and a wood-fired grill. It runs as a bakery-café for breakfast, with dinner as the main event. Chefs Giannis Loukakis and Spiros Pediaditakis opened it in 2023, and it holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand (since the 2024 Athens guide).
☕ 64Ohh Boy
🍸 cocktail €8 · 🍺 beer €7 · 🍽️ plate €13 · ☕ coffee €2.5
An all-day Pangrati bakery-café and bistro for brunch, porridge, protein pancakes, chia bowls and cakes, with many vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. It also serves spritzes, craft beer and wine in the early evening.
Acropolis, Koukaki, Thissio & Petralona
🏘️ 67Filopappou Hill (Philopappos)
A pine-covered archaeological hill south-west of the Acropolis, topped by the 2nd-century Philopappos Monument and crossed by Pikionis' stone paths. It has the classic Acropolis and sunset view, is free and open, and has a local, unpretentious feel, more green space than scene.
🍽️ 68Taverna Oikonomou
🍷 wine €9 per ½ L · 🍽️ plate €12–13
An old-school Petralona taverna with home-cooked mageirefta (stuffed vegetables, rabbit stifado, beans), courtyard and street tables, and a recited menu. It has operated since the 1930s.
🏛️ 75Benaki Museum of Islamic Art
The Benaki's Islamic collection (ceramics, metalwork, textiles, carved woodwork from the 7th-19th c.) in two neoclassical mansions. Part of the ancient city wall is visible in the basement, and there is a rooftop café facing Kerameikos.
🏛️ 76Acropolis Museum
Bernard Tschumi-designed museum (opened 2009) for finds from the Acropolis, including the Parthenon gallery; glass floors show the excavations below.
⛰️ 77National Observatory of Athens - Thissio Visitor Center (evening tour)
The historic 1842 observatory on the Hill of the Nymphs runs evening visits with the Geoastrophysics museum, the historic Synge/Doridis telescopes and stargazing (weather permitting).