The biggest advice I can give about Athens is to GO, GO, GO.
Seriously. Even with a mere 24 hours in Athens Greece under our belt, I can hands down say that this city is marvelous. In fact, Greece in general is one of my favorite places I’ve ever visited. It’s breathtakingly beautiful, filled with culture, and historical. The people are kind and helpful, and good food meets you at literally every place you sit down to try. It’s the type of place you don’t want to leave.
Athens in particular is a very cool city.
This honestly surprised me because we’d heard from multiple people that it wasn’t worth visiting. I couldn’t disagree more, especially if you love history. What I would recommend is to make a day or two of it. Our favorite places in Greece were the islands, which you CAN’T MISS. So if you’re limited on time (we had 10 days), you need to spend them wisely.
Athens is absolutely worth visiting, but 24 hours in Athens Greece was perfect for us as it allowed enough time to see all the major ruins and explore, while also allowing lots of time for the Greek Islands.
Here are some general notes about Athens
- Athens reminds me of Rome, where you walk along the streets and – BOOM – there’s stunning ruin in front of you that’s older than you can mentally comprehend.
- The sheer amount of buildings is almost overwhelming, especially as you view Athens from above. Fun fact: Did you know that the population of Greece is only about 11 million people, and over 3 million of them live in Athens? Interesting, right?
- Athens is a main travel hub of Greece; it’s where we flew in and out of the country from. So it’s pretty easy to allocated a day to touring around the city if you plan your flights right!
- Our flight landed at 9 am, and we hit the ground running from the start. When you consider the time change after a 10 hour flight, YES we were exhausted. But, we got to take in so much and felt it was worth every second.
- Book a hotel around the general vicinity of where the ruins are. They’re fairly easy to walk, but if you’re miles away I imagine it’d be hard to navigate. We stayed at the Coco-Mat Hotel which was the PERFECT location for exploring without needing to take a taxi anywhere.
- We were in Athens during the last week of May and it was HOT. I think the actual temperature was 75, which in Michigan always feels super manageable, but there was zero breeze and the sun was blaring. Be sure to wear sunscreen and drink lots of water.
I’m breaking the below into time sections, so you can see the images that correlate with each part! Here’s exactly what we did, broken down to the hour, during our 24 hours in Athens Greece. Hopefully this is a nice and easy way to digest it all, and importantly, I hope this guide is helpful for you!
Get Settled + Start Exploring!
9:20 AM – Land after a long, 10 hour flight. Collect our bags, then head straight to our hotel to get settled and freshen up.
10 AM – 11 AM – Arrive at Coco-Mat Hotel. Check into room, change, and apply sunscreen. (It’s HOT even at 10 am!) Go up to the hotel’s rooftop, which is eclectic and cool, to take in the view of Athens and plan our next move. Grab (BIG!) cups of coffee and snacks from a local coffee shop on the street.
11 AM – Noon – First main destination: The Temple of Olympian Zeus. Take a long route to see key stops along the way. We wanted to see the National Garden, so we first made our way through the gardens and came across the Zappeion building, which was lovely. One note: We were eager to see the ruins and didn’t end up making our way to the Panathenaic Stadium, and I wish we would have! It is a quick detour from starting in the gardens. I’d recommend to build this into your walk if you’re able!
Temple of Olympian Zeus + Hadrian’s Arch
Noon – 12:30 pm – Go to The Temple of Olympian Zeus. It’s the perfect start into what will be an amazing deep-dive into history as you approach the Acropolis. This temple is at the foot of the Acropolis, and also is neighbors with Hadrian’s Arch, so there’s a lot to take in at once. Make sure your camera is ready!
12:30 pm – 1 pm – Walk around Hadrian’s Arch and make your way through the streets to head to the Acropolis. There’s lots of street vendors and little shops to peruse — I bought a super cheesy head band that I wore to celebrate my newfound love of Greece, ha! This is a great place to pick up souvenirs or just to enjoy people watching.
Acropolis Museum + The Acropolis
1 – 2 pm – Before we went to Athens, a reader reached out to give some great advice: Go to the Acropolis Museum before actually heading to the Acropolis. This provides a lot of context and history prior to seeing the ruins, so that you’re able to fully comprehend and appreciate all you’re looking at.
The Acropolis Museum is well done — there are parts where you’re literally walking above preserved ruins, which is incredible. It’s great to learn more about greek mythology and the history behind the buildings of the Acropolis and helps to look at the buildings – and Greek culture in general – with much more awe! And with only 24 hours in Athens Greece, it was important for us to take in as much knowledge as possible. The museum was a must do for us!
2 – 3 pm – The highlight of our day. If you do one thing in Athens, let this be it! The Acropolis is absolutely unbelievable. It’s essentially a collection of ancient buildings, seated at the top of a rocky hill, where you can overlook all of Athens while walking among the ruins. Pictures truly don’t do it all justice – you have to experience and see it for yourself!
Explore The Plaka
3 – 4 pm – After what was already a full day exploring, we were hungry! Food time. The Plaka is so cool and right at the base of the Acropolis, so it’s a great option to explore after. It’s essentially a whole area filled with shops, restaurants, quaint boutiques, and musicians playing on seemingly every corner. Pick a restaurant to eat at (I honestly don’t think you can go wrong), and order all the Greek food you can stomach.
4 – 5 pm – After eating, we were exhausted. We made our way through the Plaka, stopped at little shops along the way, and ventured back to our hotel to rest.
5 – 6 pm – NAP TIME! (Late in the day, yes, but this allowed us to have the coolest experience for dinner. Keep reading!)
Take In City Views + Enjoy A Remarkable Dinner
7 – 8 pm – Watch the sunset + eat dinner on Mount Lycabettus. I honestly can’t recommend this enough. You can either climb to the top, or you can take a cable car, which was our preferred route because our feet were hurting after walking around all day. Either way, the view from the top is simply amazing, especially at sunset! (Try to arrive a little early, because the crowds get intense as the sun goes down.)
8 – 10 pm – After the sun set, swing by a restaurant at the top of the hill called Orizontes Lycabettus. The stars aligned and we somehow got a table on the deck, which overlooks Athens and the Acropolis at night. Seeing this sight from above at night, with all the lights lit up, is so beautiful. It was truly the most romantic dinner we’ve ever had!
10 pm – BED TIME!
..And there you have it! Everything we did and saw during our quick 24 hours in Athens Greece.
Next up: Sharing all that we did on our favorite Greek island: Paros! I’ll also have an in-depth post all about our experience on Santorini. Look for these posts in the coming weeks!
While I feel that we absolutely took in so much that Athens has to offer, I know I only scratched the surface! Have you been to this amazing city, and do you have other recommendations on things to see and do? Would love to hear in the comments below!
PS – Top Places To Travel In Greece: A Roundup of YOUR Suggestions! + Things To Do In Savannah, Georgia
