Must-see attractions in Athens

  • Odeon of Agrippa statues in the Ancient Agora of Athens, Greece
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    Ancient Agora

    Athens

    The Agora was ancient Athens' heart, the lively hub of administrative, commercial, political and social activity. Socrates expounded his philosophy here;…

  • ATHENS, GREECE - APRIL 8, 2011: Statue of hunter on the horse killing lion in Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens; Shutterstock ID 1701764272; your: Erin Lenczycki; gl: 65050; netsuite: digital; full: poi
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    Byzantine & Christian Museum

    Athens

    This outstanding museum, based in the 1848 Villa Ilissia, offers exhibition halls, most of them underground, crammed with religious art. The exhibits go…

  • G2NPXM Traditional Greek costumes on display at The Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
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    Benaki Museum of Greek Culture

    Athens

    In 1930 Antonis Benakis – a politician's son born in Alexandria, Egypt, in the late 19th century – endowed what is perhaps the finest museum in Greece…

  • Ceramic vase like hedgehog in National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece. Remains of famous Ancient Greek culture. Old artifact,  historical dishes, crockery and pottery.  Athens - May 7, 2018; Shutterstock ID 1522798868; your: Erin Lenczycki; gl: 65050; netsuite: digital; full: poi
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    National Archaeological Museum

    Athens

    Housing the world's finest collection of Greek antiquities in an enormous neoclassical building, this museum is one of Athens' top attractions. Treasures…

  • Columns at the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens.
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    Temple of Olympian Zeus

    Syntagma & Plaka

    A can't-miss on two counts: it's a marvellous temple, once the largest in Greece, and it's smack in the centre of Athens. Of the temple's 104 original…

  • 11.03.2018 Athens, Greece - Gate of Athena Archegetis, on the winds square (plateia aeridon) below the Acropolis of Athens.; Shutterstock ID 1053590486; your: Barbara Di Castro; gl: 65050; netsuite: digital; full: poi
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    Roman Agora

    Athens

    This was the city’s market area under Roman rule, and it occupied a much larger area than the current site borders. You can see a lot from outside the…

  • Sculptures are seen during a preview of the exhibition "Kallos, The Ultimate Beauty" at the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, Greece, on Sept. 27, 2021. A new exhibition by the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens invites visitors to reflect on their personal notion of ultimate beauty by taking them on a time-travel in ancient Greece. Through 300 antiquities gathered from 52 museums, Ephorates of Antiquities and collections in Greece, Italy and the Vatican, the exhibition entitled "Kallos, The Ultimate Beauty," presents what this concept meant in everyday life and the philosophical discourse in ancient Greece, the organizers told a press conference on Monday. (Photo by Marios Lolos/Xinhua via Getty Images)
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    Museum of Cycladic Art

    Athens

    The 1st floor of this exceptional private museum is dedicated to the iconic minimalist marble Cycladic figurines, dating from 3000 BC to 2000 BC. They…

  • Church of Agios Dimitrios Loumbardiaris near Filopappou hill; Shutterstock ID 1666148053; your: Barbara Di Castro; gl: 65050; netsuite: digitl; full: POI
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    Church of Agios Dimitrios Loumbardiaris

    Athens

    At the foot of Filopappou Hill, this 16th-century church may not be the oldest in Athens, but it is certainly one of the loveliest, with a heavy timber…

  • Athens, Attica / Greece - 2018/04/03: Arch of Hadrian known as Hadrian’s Gate as gateway to Temple of Olympian Zeus, Olympieion, in ancient city center old town borough; Shutterstock ID 1730853691; your: Barbara Di Castro; gl: 65050; netsuite: digital; full: poi
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    Hadrian’s Arch

    Syntagma & Plaka

    The Roman emperor Hadrian had a great affection for Athens. Although he did his fair share of spiriting its Classical artwork to Rome, he also embellished…

  • A verdant archway full of plants at the National Garden in Athens

    National Garden

    Syntagma & Plaka

    The former royal gardens, designed by Queen Amalia in 1838, are a pleasantly unkempt park that makes a welcome shady refuge from summer heat and traffic…

  • 2E6AXR9 Detail of a 19th century laghouto, or lute, inlaid with ivory and tortoise shell, displayed at the Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments (MELMOKE) in Athens February 15, 2015. Tucked away in a corner of Athens' historic Plaka district is the small MELMOKE where visitors are treated to rows of wood and bone flutes, pottery drums called toumbeleki, and gaida - bagpipes made of sheep or goat skins. The laghouto is said to have been made by luthier Manolis Venios of Constantinople (present day Istanbul), a master craftsman whose works now sell for many thousands of dollars. Picture taken Februa
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    Museum of Greek Popular Instruments

    Syntagma & Plaka

    A single avid ethnomusicologist collected almost 1200 folk instruments; the best are on display in three floors of this house-turned-museum. Headphones…

  • Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation

    Athens

    Opened in October 2019, this new museum showcases the collection of modern and contemporary artworks belonging to shipping magnate Basil Goulandris and…

  • Greece, Athens, Panathenaic Stadium

    Panathenaic Stadium

    Athens

    With its serried rows of white Pentelic marble seats built into a ravine next to Ardettos Hill, this ancient-turned-modern stadium is a draw both for…

  • TAF

    Athens

    Whether you want a shot of art, a clever design morsel or a refreshing drink, stop in at TAF, a just-barely updated complex of 1870s brick buildings. The…

  • Stavros Niarchos Park

    Athens

    Athens is short on green spaces, so this vast seaside park is a blessing. Covering a man-made slope that incorporates the roof of the Stavros Niarchos…

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    Tower of the Winds

    Athens

    This Pentelic marble tower within the Roman Agora, likely built in the 2nd century BC, is both beautiful and functional. Devised by Andronicus, a…

  • Temple of Hephaestus at Ancient Agora, the best preserved Doric temple in Greece.

    Temple of Hephaistos

    Athens

    On the western edge of the Ancient Agora, the Temple of Hephaistos, god of the forge, was surrounded by foundries and metalwork shops. It was one of the…

  • Lykavittos Hill and Athens urban sprawl viewed from the Acropolis.

    Lykavittos Hill

    Athens

    The 277m summit of Lykavittos – 'Hill of Wolves', from ancient times, when it was wilder than it is now – gives the finest panoramas of the city and the…

  • September 25, 2015: Statue at the National Library of Greece in Panepistimio.

    National Library of Greece

    Athens

    In 2018, the National Library shifted more than 720,000 items from its collection to this stunning new building that is part of the Stavros Niarchos…

  • Agora Museum

    Athens

    Within the Ancient Agora, this museum is packed with archaeological finds, but can get uncomfortably crowded if a tour group is cycling through. It is set…

  • Jewish Museum

    Syntagma & Plaka

    This small museum traces the history of the Jewish community in Greece – starting with the deeply rooted Romaniote community established in the 3rd…

  • Anafiotika

    Syntagma & Plaka

    Clinging to the north slope of the Acropolis, the tiny Anafiotika district is a beautiful, architecturally distinct subdistrict of Plaka. In the mid-1800s…

  • Presidential Guard

    Syntagma & Plaka

    Get a close-up look at the evzones, the traditionally dressed Greek soldiers, standing in front of their main barracks and, further down Irodou Attikou,…

  • Athens' First Cemetery

    Athens

    Under Ottoman rule, Greeks buried their dead at their local church. Only after independence in 1821 was this city cemetery established. It's a peaceful…

  • Moni Kaisarianis

    Athens

    Nestled on the lower slope of Mt Hymettos east of the city, this beautiful 11th-century working monastery is maintained as a well-restored archaeological…

  • 2G6CNWA The new, fully renovated National Gallery of Athens, and in the foreground a part of the Glass Runner, a famous glass statue and modern landmark.
National Sculpture & Art Gallery

    National Sculpture & Art Gallery

    Athens

    While the National Gallery is being rebuilt, a small portion of the collection is on display at the National Sculpture Gallery, in the former royal…

  • Numismatic Museum

    Athens

    The collection of coins here, dating from ancient through to modern times, is excellent, but of more general interest is the dazzling 1881 mansion in…

  • Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

    Syntagma & Plaka

    In front of Parliament, the traditionally costumed evzones (presidential guards) stand by the tomb and change every hour on the hour. On Sunday at 11am, a…

  • National Historical Museum

    Syntagma & Plaka

    This grand old collection of swords, ship figureheads and portraits of moustachioed generals is a bit short on signage; it's best for people who already…

  • Plateia Syntagmatos

    Syntagma & Plaka

    Generally considered the centre of Athens, this square is a transport hub and general hang-out spot, especially on warm summer evenings when young people…

  • Herakleidon Museum Building B

    Athens

    This eclectic private museum, split over two locations, examines the interrelation of art, mathematics and philosophy, explored through rotating exhibits…

  • Church of Agios Eleftherios

    Athens

    This 12th-century church, dedicated to both Agios Eleftherios and Panagia Gorgoepikoos (Virgin Swift to Hear), is Athens' religious history in one tiny…

  • National library with an extra roof.

    National Library

    Athens

    One of the neoclassical 'trilogy' of buildings on Panepistimio, the late-19th-century National Library is a dazzling design by Danish architect Theophil…

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The seats of Pnyx, a place of gathering for Athenians.

    Hill of the Pnyx

    Athens

    North of Filopappou Hill, this hill was the official meeting place of the Democratic Assembly in the 5th century BC – really, the first site of democracy…

  • Church of Sotira Lykodimou

    Syntagma & Plaka

    First built in the 11th century and now the Russian Orthodox Cathedral, this is the only Byzantine church with an octagonal plan. It's quite small but…

  • Church of Agios Nikolaos Rangavas

    Syntagma & Plaka

    This lovely 11th-century church was part of the palace of the Rangavas family, who counted among them Michael I, emperor of Byzantium. The church bell was…

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    Parliament

    Syntagma & Plaka

    Built between 1836 and 1842 by Bavarian architect Friedrich von Gärtner, Greece's Parliament was originally the royal palace. From its balcony, the…

  • Athens, Greece - January 9, 2018: Fighter plane in front of Athens War Museum.
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    War Museum

    Athens

    This relic of the junta years is a stark architectural statement of the times. But its displays of weapons, maps, armour and models from the Mycenaean…

  • Athens, Greece – November 15, 2016. Exterior view of St Catherine Orthodox Byzantine Church (Church of Agia Ekaterini), dating from the 11th century, in Athens.; Shutterstock ID 1605338002; your: Barbara Di Castro; gl: 65050; netsuite: Digital; full: poi
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    Church of Agia Ekaterini

    Syntagma & Plaka

    One of the few very old Byzantine churches that is open regularly, this is definitely worth a peek inside to see how an 11th-century space is still in…

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