I have always wanted to visit Athens because of so many reasons – great history and architecture, amazing islands near the Athens, great weather and good atmosphere. So let’s find out if this was actually true!
Getting from the Airport to the city centre is absolutely easy! You can took a bus or a train it doesn’t matter everything looks new, solid and easy to find.
This time we booked Hotel Alexandros which was pretty expensive. I actually didn’t expect that hotels in Athens are so pricey. This one was 100Euro/night. However we had a great terrace, a/c and we lived near the city centre so overal it was worth the money!
To begin with, I want to mention that if you love walking then you should not go for a Hop On Hop Off bus, because we were also thinking about this option and decided to go by walk. After the day finishes we were glad that we didn’t took that service as all the main attractions in Athens are in a circle and you can easily walk to them.
Our day started by walking from hotel to the Acropolis, which was actually a great route. Ofcourse we did some turns to the right and left, some circles depending on what attractions were nearby. The first thing we approached was the City Centre of Athens which was full of people, souvenirs shops and the most interesting part that almost from every spot you can clearly see Acropolis up on the hill.
By reaching our destination, there was a hill where you can enjoy the amazin view of Acropolis and a really nice panorama. I highly recommend going there, just be careful it’s really slippery!
Hill next to Acropolis
Finally we reached it! Entering to the zone of Acropolis you’ll have to pay 20 Euro, unless you are a student then it’s free. However free or paid there is not even a discussion if it’s worth visiting – it is!
This is the place where you can feel the spirit of Athens and feel like in some ancient movies. You can finally explore the Parthenon, visit Acropolis museum, enjoy the ancient Theatre, admire the city view and much more. In this place we spent about 3 hours, even though it was +35 the excitment was much more powerful than the sun 😀
After visiting the famous Acropolis, we headed straight to the another popular attraction – Plaka market. To get some energy we went to the Juice Bar and took some cockaitls – they are cold, fresh, healthy and tasty – highly recommended!
Plaka is also the best place for getting authentic souvenirs from Athens including spices, oils, olive oils and so much more. That’s exatcly what we did bought some stuff and continued walking until we decided to eat something. We chose a totally random place, but it was a perfect restaurant. Prices, portions of food, taste absolutely exceeded my expactations.
Another place we approached was Syntagma. All 3 days we were walking there we saw a lot of events taking place – djs, sports and more. It is a really a good place to chill and enjoy the events. In the same place few meters away there is also a parliament where you will see some guards standing with interesting clothes and without ability to move, unless they do their famous walking.
That’s pretty much everything we did in the city and because of the intensive hot temperature next day we went to look for a nice beach.
Exploring Athens Beaches and Vouliagmeni lake
Before going to Athens I really didn’t expect that there a so many beaches just 10-15km away which is very easy to travel. The first beach we approached was the one that was closest to the city. It’s a simple beach called Edem, nothing crazy or unique, but if you want to just lay down for a while it’s a perfect place and it is really easy to get there.
Another place was a really hidden gem! It’s not even a beach, but more like a lake. Vouliagmeni Lake has a paid entrance, but it’s really worth the money. It’s clean, private and safe with plenty of sun beds and nice restaurant.
This lake cost us about 15Euro each. The price is high, but the views and the water itself is amazing. So totally worth it!
If you don’t want to spend anything, you can also go to the other side of the lake, which is not private and a lot of people are swimming there as well. Personally I didn’t try it but looks pretty good!
We spent the whole day in Vouliagmeni lake just chilling, swimming and laying down on the comfortable sun beds.
The 3rd day was even more amazing!
One Day Cruise to 3 Islands Aegina – Poros – Hydra
We took the most famous day trips from Athens Cruise which was One Day Cruise to 3 Islands Aegina – Poros – Hydra. The price was about 100 Euro each, but the experience, food in the ship, program and the islands we saw was stunning!
At first we headed to Hydra island and we had the most free time here. This island is unique because of many factors and it looks just beautiful! As long as cars are not allowed in this island you can walk by it, or take a water taxi, donkey or horse if you are too lazy. We chose walking, because we love going by foot!
After spending few hours on Hydra Island we headed to Poros island. We had less than a hour of free time here, but the island is really small, and similar to Hydra just not that unique, so don’t get dissappointed that you have only 1 hour here.
The last place we visited was the famous Aegina. The pistachios heaven! Everything and everywhere on the island is related to pistachios, so we took the opportunity and bought plenty of delicious things which are made of pistachios. More than that, this island has crystal clear water and nice beaches, so we definitely didn’t miss the chance to jump into it.
After that our cruise had some music program on the way back and some nice spots to chill and relax while going back.
So that was our 3 days holidays in Athens. I think we did a lot during these days, so you can just imagine what you can do in Athens if you have one week here or even more.
To sum up, Athens and surroundings are great destination for those who want to explore, see something new and at the same time to chill and lay back in the most interesting beaches. Thank you for reading and if you have questions or you also want to share your experience please do that. See you!
2 comments
Hi. I love the video! I was wondering how you travelled to Vouliagmeni lake?
Hello, thank you! We simply used a city bus which goes directly to that place. However, it was really crowded so be ready to squeeze 😀