Athens

Greece's capital and its arrival airport from India: the Acropolis with the Parthenon, the Acropolis Museum, the Ancient Agora and Roman Forum, the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Plaka and Monastiraki lanes below them. Lycabettus Hill and the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion are the sunset views; Aegina, Agistri and Hydra are an hour or two by boat from Piraeus. Ferries to every island group leave from Piraeus and Rafina. The Acropolis runs on timed tickets and closes in the hottest hours during heatwaves. Indian restaurants are easy to find in the centre, and IndiGo flies non-stop to Mumbai and Delhi.

Highlights

• Acropolis and the Parthenon at opening time
• Acropolis Museum
• Ancient Agora and the Temple of Hephaestus
• Plaka and Anafiotika lanes
• Sunset at Cape Sounion
• Lycabettus Hill at dusk
• Day trip by boat to Aegina
• Changing of the guard at Syntagma

Things to do

• Acropolis and the Parthenon (book the first slot)Morning · 3h
• Acropolis MuseumAfternoon · 2h 30m
• Ancient Agora, Roman Forum and Plaka walkMorning · 3h
• National Archaeological MuseumAfternoon · 2h 30m
• Sunset at the Temple of Poseidon, Cape SounionEvening · 4h 30m
• Day trip by ferry to Aegina (pistachios, Temple of Aphaia)Morning · 8h
• Lycabettus Hill at duskEvening · 2h
• Panathenaic Stadium and the Temple of Olympian ZeusMorning · 2h
• Evzones guard at Syntagma and the National GardenMorning · 1h 30m
• Varvakios central market and a Psyrri food walkAfternoon · 2h
• Benaki Museum of Greek CultureAfternoon · 2h

Tours & tickets

When to go

Best time: April – June, September – October

• Orthodox Easter (Pascha) — Greece's biggest festival: candlelit Good Friday processions, the midnight Resurrection service on Saturday with fireworks and church bells, and lamb roasts on Sunday. Corfu's is the most famous, with clay pots thrown from balconies on Holy Saturday morning. Greeks travel home, so ferries, flights and hotels fill, and shops, museums and sites close or shorten hours from Good Friday to Easter Monday. Book well ahead.
• Clean Monday and the end of Carnival — The first day of Orthodox Lent and a public holiday: families fly kites (in Athens on Filopappou Hill) and eat a meatless picnic of lagana bread, taramosalata and vegetable dishes, easy for vegetarians. The Carnival (Apokries) parades end the weekend before.
• Epiphany: the Blessing of the Waters — Priests throw a cross into the sea, a river or the harbour and young men dive to bring it back, at Piraeus, Thessaloniki's seafront and island harbours. A public holiday.
• Athens Epidaurus Festival — Summer performances in ancient theatres: music, dance and theatre at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus under the Acropolis, and ancient Greek drama on weekend nights in the theatre of Epidaurus, 40 minutes from Nafplio. Book seats early; coaches run from Athens and Nafplio on performance nights.
• Dekapentavgoustos (the Assumption) — The feast of the Virgin Mary and the peak of the Greek summer holiday: village festivals (panigiria) with music and food the night before, a great pilgrimage to Paros' Church of a Hundred Doors, and every ferry and island room full in the week around it. Athens empties and many of its shops close.
• St Demetrius and Ochi Day — Thessaloniki celebrates its patron saint on 26 October and holds Greece's main military parade on Ochi Day (28 October), the national holiday for the "No" to Italy's ultimatum in 1940; school parades fill every town. Some museums and shops close on the 28th.

Part of a longer route

Athens is a stop on a curated circuit through Greece.