ATHENS · GREECE
Old marble, bright sea, the oracle roads.
The Acropolis and the great museums, day trips to Delphi, Meteora and Cape Sounion, the Saronic islands and the Riviera coast. Every good day in Athens, and every road out of it.
Only here
Three things you only do in Greece.
Museum visits and food tours fill every European city break. Standing under the Parthenon, reading the Oracle’s mountain at Delphi and climbing to the monasteries of Meteora do not.
The sacred rock
The Acropolis
It has crowned the city for two and a half thousand years, and standing beneath the Parthenon’s marble columns is still the reason most people come to Athens. Go at opening or late afternoon, when the sun turns the stone honey-gold and the crowds thin. No photograph prepares you for the scale of it.
- 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 navel of the world
Delphi & the Oracle
High on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, the ancient Greeks believed Delphi marked the centre of the earth. Pilgrims once climbed here to put their questions to the Oracle. The Temple of Apollo, the theatre and the stadium still stand above a valley of olive groves that runs all the way down to the sea.
- 1 Athens: Mythology of Delphi, Museum and Arachova Guided Tour
- 2 From Athens: Delphi Full Day V.R. Audio Guided Tour
- 3 From Athens: Small-Group Delphi, Museum & Arachova Day Trip
Monasteries in the sky
The Monasteries of Meteora
Further north, Orthodox monks built their monasteries on top of sheer sandstone pillars that rise hundreds of metres straight off the plain. Six are still lived in, reached now by steps cut into the rock. Few places on earth pair the sacred and the vertiginous quite like this.
- 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 on the rock
Begin where the city begins.
More Athens trips open on the Acropolis than anywhere else. Here is the one almost everyone books first.
Where most people start
Athens's Most Popular Tours
The Acropolis and its museum, Cape Sounion at sunset and the day trip to Delphi. The days most travellers come to Athens for.
Where to begin
The days an Athens trip is built around.
The Acropolis and the museums, Delphi and Meteora, Cape Sounion at sunset, the Saronic islands and the Greek table. The handful of days most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
The one thing everyone climbs
How to do the Acropolis.
It is the single must-see, and the queues and the midday sun make the how matter as much as the if. Three ways up the sacred rock, depending on your time and the crowds.
The Greek table
Dinner is a taverna and a long evening.
Athens eats late and outdoors. Souvlaki off the grill in Monastiraki, meze passed around under a vine, the spice piles and olive barrels of the Varvakios central market, a cold glass of assyrtiko with the bill in no hurry to arrive. The best meals in the city stretch for hours.
Read the guide: the best food tours in Athens →After the sun drops
Athens comes alive after dark.
The city does its best living once the sun is off the marble. The Acropolis floodlit above the rooftops, the tavernas of the Plaka and Psyrri filling up, a rooftop terrace with the Parthenon glowing across the skyline, and sunset food walks through the old streets.
See the evening experiences →The sunset trip
Watch the sun set behind Poseidon’s temple.
Seventy kilometres down the Attic coast, the white marble columns of the Temple of Poseidon stand on a headland high above the Aegean. Travellers have come to watch the sun go down here since antiquity, and Byron carved his name into the stone. The drive along the coast road is half the trip.
The Cape Sounion sunset trips →Meteora day trip
Monasteries balanced on the rocks.
Four and a half hours north, six Orthodox monasteries sit atop sheer pillars of stone that rise straight off the Thessalian plain. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the most astonishing sights in Greece. Trips run by coach or by train to Kalambaka at the foot of the rocks, and many fold in a stop at the Thermopylae battlefield on the way.
- 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
Plan by distance
Pick how far you want to go today.
Athens is a base. Spend a day inside the ancient city, drop down to the coast for an afternoon, or commit a full day to the oracle at Delphi and the monasteries of Meteora.
In the city
Stay in Athens.The Acropolis at opening, the Acropolis Museum, the Ancient Agora and a long evening in the Plaka. Days you never leave the centre.
Half a day out
Down to the coast.Cape Sounion and Poseidon’s temple at sunset, the beaches of the Athens Riviera, or a fast boat to a Saronic island. Out after lunch, back for dinner.
A full day there and back
Into the mountains.Delphi’s oracle, the monasteries of Meteora, or ancient Corinth and Mycenae in the Peloponnese. The big days that need an early start.
By boat
Three islands in a single day.
An hour from Piraeus, the Saronic Gulf scatters its islands within easy reach. The classic day cruise calls at Hydra, where no cars are allowed and mules still work the harbour, then Poros and Aegina with its pistachio groves and the Temple of Aphaia. Lunch and the open deck come with it.
See all 16 island cruises →By place
The city, and the roads out of it.
Athens for the Acropolis and the old town. Delphi for the oracle. Meteora for the monasteries. Cape Sounion for the sunset. The Saronic islands and the Peloponnese for the days beyond.
By activity
Pick what kind of day you want.
Marble and mythology if you came for the ancient city. A boat if you want the islands. A food tour if you want the tavernas. A bike or a walk if you want to cover ground on your own.
Plan it
Three days that cover the essentials.
First time in Athens? Here is how three days plays out without a wasted hour.
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