ATHENS · GREECE
Ancient marble, island light, the Aegean an hour away.
The Acropolis and the museums below it. Plaka tavernas and the Central Market. Day trips to Delphi, Meteora, Cape Sounion and the Saronic islands. The whole of classical Greece, from one city.
Where Greece begins
Three wonders, one base.
Plenty of cities have a good museum and a nice old quarter. The Acropolis above the rooftops, the oracle at Delphi and the monasteries of Meteora belong to this country alone, and you reach all three from Athens.
On the rock
The Acropolis
The Acropolis has crowned Athens for nearly 2,500 years. The Parthenon went up in the 5th century BC as a temple to Athena, raised without mortar from twenty thousand tonnes of Pentelic marble that still turns honey-gold at sunset. You climb the same rock the city has climbed since antiquity, past the theatre where tragedy was born.
- 1 Athens: Acropolis & up to 5 Archaeological Sites Combo Pass
- 2 Athens: Acropolis Ticket with Optional Audio or Live Guide
- 3 Athens: Acropolis, Parthenon & Acropolis Museum Guided Tour
The oracle
Delphi
For a thousand years the ancient world travelled to Delphi to ask the oracle what to do next. On the slopes of Mount Parnassus, where the Greeks marked the navel of the earth, the Temple of Apollo, the theatre and the stadium still climb the hillside above a vast sea of olive trees. Two and a half hours from Athens, and the most sacred ground in Greece.
- 1 From Athens: Delphi Full Day V.R. Audio Guided Tour
- 2 From Athens: Small-Group Delphi, Museum & Arachova Day Trip
- 3 Delphi English Day Trip from Athens with Official Guide
In the air
Meteora
Meteora means suspended in the air, and that is exactly where the monasteries sit, on top of sheer sandstone pillars that rise hundreds of metres straight off the Thessalian plain. Monks first hauled themselves up by rope and net in the 14th century to be nearer to God. Six monasteries still hold the summits, and the road that winds up to them is one of the great drives in Greece.
- 1 Athens: Meteora Monasteries Day Trip with Caves and Lunch
- 2 Athens: Meteora Monasteries Day Tour with Lunch
- 3 Athens: Meteora Tour with Local Guide and Greek Lunch
Start here
The one experience everyone books first.
If you do a single thing in Athens, more travellers start with this than anything else in the city.
The classics
Athens’s Most Popular Tours
The Acropolis, the Acropolis Museum, a food walk through Plaka and the sunset at Cape Sounion. The experiences most travellers come to Athens for.
Where to begin
The experiences an Athens trip is built around.
The Acropolis, Delphi and the oracle, the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, the monasteries of Meteora, a long Greek lunch and a boat to the Saronic islands. The handful of days most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
The one everyone asks about
How to do the Acropolis.
It is the reason most people come, and there are three ways up the rock. Pick by how much you want explained, how fast you want through the gate, and whether you are pairing it with the museum below.
The Greek table
Athens is a city you eat your way through.
Souvlaki off a Monastiraki grill, meze and tsipouro in a back-street taverna, the spice stalls and fishmongers of the Varvakios Central Market. A food walk through Plaka and Psyrri is the fastest way to read the city, and an evening tasting is the easiest way to settle in.
Read the guide: the best food tours in Athens →After the heat
The city saves its best for the evening.
When the sun drops the Acropolis turns floodlit gold and the whole city comes outside. Rooftop dinners under the lit-up rock, a night walk through Plaka and the Anafiotika lanes, a sunset cruise off the Riviera, and the bars of Psyrri after. Summer in Athens really begins at dusk.
See the evening experiences →The edge of Attica
Where the marble meets the sea.
An hour down the coast road, the Temple of Poseidon stands on a headland 60 metres above the Aegean, white columns against the blue since the 5th century BC. Byron carved his name into one of them. Time the drive for late afternoon and watch the sun go down behind the sea from the same spot sailors once prayed to come home.
Cape Sounion day trips →By sea
Three islands, one boat, one day.
From the port of Piraeus a cruise loops the Saronic Gulf to three islands in a single day. Hydra, where no cars are allowed and the donkeys still do the carrying. Poros, green and close enough to touch the Peloponnese shore. Aegina, with its pistachios and its temple of Aphaia. Lunch on board, a swim off the back, and home to Athens by evening.
- 1 All Day Cruise -3 Islands to Agistri,Moni, Aegina with lunch and drinks included
- 2 From Athens: Hydra, Poros, and Aegina Day Cruise with Lunch
- 3 Athens cruise: Agistri, Moni/Metopi, Aegina with lunch & drinks
By how far
A day from Athens.
No city in Greece is a better base. Pick by how far you want to go: a half-day out to the coast, a full day to the oracle or the islands, or the long haul north to the monasteries.
Half a day
Out to the coast and back.The Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion for the sunset, the Corinth Canal on the way to the Peloponnese, an afternoon on the Athens Riviera.
A full day
The oracle, or an island three.Delphi on the slopes of Parnassus, ancient Corinth and Mycenae across the canal, or a boat hopping Hydra, Poros and Aegina.
The big one
Worth the early start.Meteora and its cliff-top monasteries, four hours north by road or rail. The longest day from Athens, and the one nobody regrets.
Below the rock
The marbles that came off the Parthenon.
When you have stood on the Acropolis, the Acropolis Museum at its foot is where the sculpture went. The Parthenon frieze is laid out at eye level on the top floor, lined up with the temple you can see through the glass, and the original caryatids stand together again. For a city its size, Athens holds an astonishing run of museums, from the gold of Mycenae to the bronzes pulled from the sea.
See all 100 museum experiences →By place
Greece, six ways from one city.
The Acropolis for the heart of the city. Delphi for the oracle. Cape Sounion for the sunset temple. Meteora for the monasteries in the air. The Peloponnese for Mycenae and Nafplio. The Saronic islands for a day at sea.
By activity
Pick how to spend the day.
A guide if you want the history made plain. A food walk if you want the city. A boat if you want the sea. A cooking class, a museum, or an evening under the lit-up rock.
Plan it
Three perfect days.
First time in Athens? Here is a long weekend that hits the essentials without a wasted hour.
Just added