Athens
Greece
Ancient ruins above a restless modern city
Photo by Constantinos Kollias on Unsplash
Photos by Hans Reniers, Dimitris Kiriakakis, Dawid Tkocz and Patrick on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Greece
April to May, late September to October
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 74mm in Dec
Where it is
37.98°N, 23.73°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Visit the Acropolis at opening time
- See the Parthenon marbles context at the Acropolis Museum
- Walk the Ancient Agora
- Climb Lycabettus for sunset
- Eat your way through the Varvakios market
- Day trip to Cape Sounion
Athens travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Greece
Good valueEuro. Cash is still common in tavernas and markets despite card rules — carry €50 or so. Skip the Plaka exchange shops.
ATMs & cards
Use Alpha Bank, Piraeus, Eurobank or National Bank of Greece. Greek ATMs commonly charge €2-3 for foreign cards, so take out larger sums. Always decline conversion.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- ATMs in Plaka and around Monastiraki
Use these instead
- Alpha Bank
- Piraeus Bank
- Eurobank
- National Bank of Greece
Greek banks charge foreign cards €2-3 themselves, so withdraw larger sums.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Greece
Stay alertLow violent crime, but persistent pickpocketing — the metro line from the airport and the crowd at Monastiraki are where it happens. Omonia and parts of Exarchia feel rough after dark and are worth avoiding rather than exploring. Keep bags in front of you on the metro.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (8 areas)
Worth more attention
- Omonia Square — and Vathi, and the streets between them, especially after dark
- Exarcheia — politically active, and occasionally sees clashes with police
- Metro line 3 from the airport, worked by pickpockets on arriving flights
- Monastiraki Flea Market — in the crowd
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Greece visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Greece
Good and affordableRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment. Island clinics handle basics; anything serious means a transfer to Athens or Crete, which is quick but not instant.
Summer heat is the most common reason tourists need help — heatstroke and dehydration, not accidents.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodSkip Plaka’s tourist tavernas. Eat in Psyrri or Koukaki, order mezedes to share, and finish with a shot of tsipouro. Souvlaki should cost €3-4, not €10.
Nightlife
Rooftops early, then bars that treat 01:00 as the beginning. Summer moves the whole scene to the coast.
- Psyrri — and Gazi, for the bars and the clubs
- Koukaki — a local night under the Acropolis
- Monastiraki — the rooftop bars with the view
- Glyfada — the coast, which is where the city goes in summer
Closing: 03:00 in town, later in Gazi, and the beach clubs run to dawn from June.
A beer in a bar: €4–6
Getting around
Easy- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- FREE NOWWorks here
FREE NOW the Athens taxi fleet · Uber which dispatches taxis here
- From the airport
- Athens airport to the centre is a flat €40 by day, €55 at night
- Against a taxi
- The same metered taxis, ordered rather than flagged.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Athens — 7 hours ahead of you
1 hour of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–10:00 your time, 16:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 02:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 02:00–10:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Greece
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fair. Video calls and streaming for one or two people — fine for a holiday, thin for a household working. Broadband here runs at 75% of the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fast. Enough to work from a cafe or a beach on a hotspot all day. Mobile runs at 1.7× the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Greece, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Greek
- HelloΓεια σας — Yia sasyah sas
- PleaseΠαρακαλώ — Parakalópa-ra-ka-LO
- Thank youΕυχαριστώ — Efharistóef-ha-ri-STO
- Yes / NoΝαι / Όχι — Ne / Óhineh / O-hee
4 more phrases
- Excuse meΣυγγνώμη — Signómisig-NO-mee
- How much is it?Πόσο κάνει; — Póso káni?PO-so KA-nee
- The bill, pleaseΤον λογαριασμό — Ton logariasmóton lo-gar-yaz-MO
- Cheers!Γεια μας — Yia masyah mas
The trap: "ne" means yes, not no. No is "óhi".
Religion
Greek Orthodox
Orthodoxy is written into the constitution and is closely tied to national identity. Do not enter a church in shorts, and do not photograph during a service.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Accept offered food or drink — refusing outright reads as a rejection of the host
- Share plates; ordering individually is not how a Greek table works
- Learn efharistó, it goes a long way
- Put toilet paper in the bin, not the bowl — the plumbing genuinely cannot take it
Don't
- Do not show an open palm towards someone — the moutza is a serious insult
- Do not nod up for yes; a single upward head tilt means no
- Do not rush a meal or ask for the bill early; the table is yours for the evening
- Do not photograph inside monasteries without checking, and dress modestly at them
Where to stay in Athens
No Holistay rentals in Athens yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Athens on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Eleftherios Venizelos ATH
40 minfrom the airport· 19 km as the crow flies
Metro line 3 to Syntagma, 40 min.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
