The Best Things to Do in Athens, From Art Galleries to Live Music Cafes

Within the coronary heart of city simply by the Varvakios central market, basement joint Diporto has been in enterprise because the Eighties, churning out the identical chickpea, grilled sardines, fava and greek salad combo of dishes for time immemorial. It’s right here you’ll be able to come for a taste of stripped-back, dwelling cooking. On the subject of dwelling cooking, don’t miss a visit to Geitonia within the downtown neighborhood of Kypseli for traditional dishes like spanakorizo, pastitsio, and gemista—cooked as they might be by a Greek yiayia.

Over in Pagrati only a stroll away from the Nationwide Gardens and Athens’ homes of parliament in Syntagma Sq., Akra has develop into the restaurant of the second with a lot of the Athenian crowd, and for good cause. An open kitchen with a cooking-on-fire idea together with prep-benches that run the periphery of the restaurant in order that the motion occurs all around the diners makes for an entertaining eating expertise. Recent grilled seafood and beautiful patisserie are what to order at this place.

If you happen to’re heading out and questioning which evening is finest to celebration, don’t fret—”each evening of the week,” is the reply most Athenians gives you. Locals dine late and dance till daybreak. Athenian wine bars, like Tanini Agapi Mou in buzzing Exarcheia, are the place you can begin the evening, with the choice of a tasting in case you’re new to the Greek varietals and wish to discover out extra. Head to Galaxy Bar, an Athenian establishment for 50 years now, in case you’re extra into the concept of a martini. For reside music, Feidiou 2 is a small rebetadiko, or conventional music cafe, recognized for its melancholic Greek folks music and meze bites swilled down with sharp swigs of tsipouro, a Greek model of grappa. Then it’s onto Romantzo, an previous journal printing manufacturing facility, for dancing till late on a moonlit roof terrace.

The place to remain

What Athens lacks in inexperienced areas it makes up for with its proximity to the seaside. Keep on the Four Season Astir Palace for a nod to a golden interval of tourism for town within the Nineteen Sixties. Perched on the Saronic Gulf overlooking the island of Aegina, the resort’s trendy mid-century bungalows designed by famed Greek architects Prokopis Vasileiades, Emmanouel Voulekas, Konstantinos Dekavallas and Pericles Sakellarios are the final word hideaway if escaping the crowds is one thing you crave on a metropolis break. Past the privateness of your sea-view bungalow, the resort’s supply contains six eating places, together with Nobu off-shoot Matsuhisa and the wave-lapped Taverna 37 proper by the seaside.

If the heady nightlife of town is what you’re most occupied with, then look to the newly opened design resort Apollo Palm for a snug, central location that’s only a stroll away from many of the bars and golf equipment of downtown Athens. This 48-bedroom resort on the coronary heart of Psyrri has a terrace with a view of the Acropolis. It nods to LA or Palm Springs with its fresh-feeling Americana aesthetic, punctuated with coloration and bespoke furnishings.

For a chance to reside like a neighborhood, keep at Monsieur Didot, a neoclassical townhouse within the well-heeled neighborhood of Kolonaki, a stroll away from one in every of Athens’ finest bakeries, Kora, and one-time hosts of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The suite with its personal roof terrace is the one to plump for right here.