Acropolis Museum
Cost: €1
Opened in 2009 at a cost of €130m, the Acropolis Museum is a fittingly grand home for the archaeological riches of ancient Athens. The museum contains precious relics discovered by excavations of the Acropolis, dating as far back as 3000BC.
A... Continue reading →
Benaki Museum
Cost: €6 (free Thu); concessions free
Occupying a neo-classical house in Kolonaki, the Benaki Museum offers a walk through the history of Greek art from 3000 BC up to the 20th century. Laid out in chronological order, exhibits include jewellery, ceramics, sculpture, paintings, furnitur... Continue reading →
Byzantine & Christian Museum
Cost: €4
In its underground exhibition space in Kolonaki, the Byzantine and Christian Museum traces the Byzantine Empire from the birth of Christianity to the 1453 fall of Constantinople. Exhibits include solemn icons, religious frescoes, jewellery and eccl... Continue reading →
Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art
Cost: €7; Mon €3.50; concessions €2.50-€3.50; under 18s free
In Kolonaki, the Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art is revered for its collection of elegant marble figurines. Surprisingly contemporary in style, these enigmatic pieces were placed in burial chambers in the Cycladic islands over 4,000 years ago.
T... Continue reading →
Kapnikarea
Cost: Free
The 12th-century Byzantine church of Kapnikerea, near Monastiraki, stands in a modern pedestrian shopping street. Built over an ancient temple, its frescoed-walls, solemn icons, incense-filled air and flickering candles offer a spiritual retreat ty... Continue reading →
Kerameikos Archaeological Site
Cost: €12; concessions €6; under 19s free
The Kerameikos was the potters' quarter of classical Athens and also the city's official cemetery. Today it is a fascinating archaeological site, featuring parts of the city walls, the ancient gates, tombstones and other burial monuments.
Excavati... Continue reading →
Lykavittos
Cost: Free; access by funicular €3
Athens' highest point, 295 metres high, Mount Lykavittos is served by cable car from Kolonaki. Paths zigzag up through pinewoods to the summit, capped by a whitewashed church and cafe. A viewing platform with coin-operated binoculars affords a magn... Continue reading →
Museum of Greek Folk Art
Cost: €2
The Museum of Greek Folk Art in Plaka displays costumes, embroidery, jewellery, ceramics, arms and folk theatre artefacts from around Greece. Don't miss the Theofilis Room, decorated with fanciful, 19th-century frescoes from a house on the island o... Continue reading →
Museum of Greek Traditional Instruments
Cost: Free
Hidden away in pretty Plaka, the Museum of Greek Traditional Instruments displays 1,200 musical instruments, ranging from gypsy flutes to shepherds' goatskin bagpipes. Exhibits are accompanied by headphones, so visitors can listen to them being pla... Continue reading →
National Archaeological Museum
Cost: €7; concessions €3; children free
Home to the world's finest collection of ancient Greek art, the marble-floored National Archaeological Museum, near Omonia, displays larger-than-life sculptures of heroes from Greek mythology, and intricately crafted gold jewellery and weaponry, in... Continue reading →
National Gardens
Cost: Free
Designed as the grounds of the 19th-century royal palace, now the Parliament, the National Gardens in Syntagma display lush planting, duck ponds, strutting peacocks and a small zoo. With two cafes, it offers a welcome green retreat from urban chaos... Continue reading →
Plaka
Cost: Not Specified
Sitting in the shadow of the Acropolis, the Plaka is mostly pedestrianised and one of Athens' most pleasant neighbourhoods. Along with a jumble of restaurants, cafés and shops, it is home to archaeological sites, including the Tower of the Winds.... Continue reading →
Roman Forum
Cost: €2; free for Acropolis ticket-holders (€12; concessions €6)
From the first century BC, traders met in the Roman Forum - a rectangular courtyard lined with shops. Also on the site in Plaka stands the octangular Tower of the Winds, built in 1BC by Macedonian astronomer Andronikos.
The Roman Forum, also known... Continue reading →
Technopolis
Cost: Not Specified
The once run-down industrial area of Gazi began its transformation into Athens' most happening nightlife district with the opening of Technopolis in 1999. Occupying the former city gasworks, the disused buildings have been converted to provide a mu... Continue reading →
Temple of Olympian Zeus
Cost: €3; concessions free; free for Acropolis ticket-holders (€12; concessions €6)
Soaring out of Athens' modern-day centre, 15 marble columns remain a jaw-dropping symbol of Ancient Greek know-how. Today's ruins were once part of a much larger temple complex, begun in the 6th century BC and consisting of 104 colossal columns.... Continue reading →
The Acropolis
Cost: €12 (ticket also valid for the Ancient Agora and Roman Forum)
Floodlit by night, the Acropolis is a rocky mound rising above Plaka. It is the birthplace of Athens, and crowned by three ancient temples, the best known being the Parthenon. Its towering columns have withstood the elements for over 2500 years.
T... Continue reading →
The Agorá
Cost: €4 (also covered by Acropolis block ticket)
In ancient times Athens' political, administrative and cultural heart, today the Ancient Agora in Monastiraki is a green landscape dotted with crumbling ruins. It is here that Socrates and St Paul made their public speeches, and where democracy was... Continue reading →