Best hotels in Athens 2023: Where to stay for culture, beaches and poolside luxury

David Tip

The city where democracy was invented back in 508BC is currently having a mega makeover, with once grubby districts such as Piraeus and Psyrri buzzing with innovative art galleries, cool new hotels, and gourmet food venues that are putting a spin on Greece’s age-old cuisine.

Hardly any wonder then that this Parthenon-topped town has been described by Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte – co-founder of Beirut’s contemporary design gallery – as ‘the new Berlin’.

Athens certainly is an exciting place to be right now, which is why we’ve rounded up the best places to stay. Whether you want to be in walking distance to ancient ruins or would prefer a more modern, contemporary look on Greek life, we’re sure we’ve found a hotel for everyone.

The best hotels in Athens are:

• Best for Acropolis views: Asomaton
• Best for romance: St George Lycabettus
• Best for luxury: Hotel Grande Bretagne
• Best boutique hotel: The Foundry Suites
• Best for foodies: Xenodocheio Milos

Best hotel for Acropolis views: Asomaton

Neighbourhood: Thissio

Once a repair shop, Asomaton is a slice of luxury in Thissio (Asomaton)

Asomaton might translate as ‘incorporeal’, but creature comforts are plentiful in this adults-only hotel, housed in a lovingly restored (listed) 19th century building, which was once a repair shop for horse-drawn carriages.

Looking out over Thissio’s hilly streets – lined with neoclassical houses, hip cafes and wine bars – the 19 cosy suites and lofts are decorated with dot-pop artwork and have bijou balconies. There’s also a (spectacularly pretty) courtyard pool, perfect for chilling after a long day’s sightseeing. You’ll also find a rooftop restaurant where breakfast and dinner are dished up with stunning Acropolis views.

Best urban beach pad: Divani Apollon Palace & Thalasso

Neighbourhood: Athenian Riviera

Fancy taking in this view every morning? (Booking.com)

If kicking back on a silk-sand beach after a long, hot day strolling storied streets appeals, this sumptuous spa hotel on Athens’s swanky Riviera delivers in spades.

Just a two-minute taxi ride from the city centre (or an hour’s leisurely dawdle on an air-conditioned bus), this luxury hotel is decked out in classical style (think chandeliers, gleaming marble floors and solid-wood furnishings), has 280 rooms (most with sea views) and a state-of-the art thalassotherapy spa with large, jetted pool. The icing on the cake? There are several excellent restaurants serving everything from steaks and (delicious) seafood burgers to healthy detox menus.

Best hotel for romance: St George Lycabettus

Neighbourhood: Lycabettus

No retreat is complete without an egg chair (Booking.com)

With its leafy streets lined with hip designer stores, trendy bars and gourmet restaurants, Athens’s Kolonaki district delivers a mega dose of romance.

At the wildly beating heart of this elegant district – and just around the corner from the funicular that will whisk you on a scenic trip to the top of Mt Lycabettus’s wooded slopes – is St George Lycabettus. The hotel’s 16 stylish rooms and suites are decked out with plump Coco-Mat beds, blonde-wood furniture and funky artwork. Other loved-up accoutrements include a bijou cinema showing Hollywood classics, and a rooftop pool perfect for sunset sipping whilst dipping.

Dyed-in-the-wool romantics should book the Panoramic Acropolis View Suite – a vast white-on-white haven with breath-taking views.

Best hotel for luxury: Hotel Grande Bretagne

Neighbourhood: Syntagma

Overlook the Houses of Parliament at The Grande (Booking.com)

Set in a neoclassical building overlooking The Houses of Parliament – and the pom-pom-wearing Presidential guards on Syntagma square – this ultra-luxurious hotel is loved by rockstar royalty and foreign dignitaries alike. Celebrating its 180^th birthday this year, this grand dame has aged exceedingly well. All of its 320 rooms and suites combine elegant style (antique furnishings, dramatic velvet drapes and gleaming wooden floors) with lashings of very modern comforts, such as plump king-size beds and vast marble bathrooms.

Elegant extras include the rooftop pool with uninterrupted views of Lycabettus’s forested slopes, a rooftop restaurant with Acropolis views, and an award-winning destination spa, complete with a mud chamber and thermal steam room. Pick a room on the sixth or seventh floors and you’ll even get 24-hour butler service.

Best boutique hotel: The Foundry Suites

Neighbourhood: Psyrri

The perfect location to soak up some culture (Booking.com)

Home of some of the city’s best street art, gritty effervescent Psirri – where antique stores and souvlaki joints rub shoulders with indy boutiques, art galleries and hip cafes – is the perfect backdrop for this bougie hotel.

Seamlessly combining industrial chic with urban style, 12 spacious high-ceiling apartments have antique fixtures and fittings – from wood-burning stoves and huge factory-like windows, with the original creaking mechanism that opens them – alongside modern extras, including fully equipped kitchens.

The hotel is housed in an ancient foundry, which has an eco-friendly vertical garden façade. There’s also a wonderful echo-filled wine cellar set within an ancient water reservoir, and a gloriously green jungle of rooftop garden with wraparound Acropolis views.

Best hotel for retro style: Brown Acropol

Neighbourhood: Omonia

Perch up in one of the Brown Acropol’s 165 rooms (Brown Acropol)

Austin Powers would blend seamlessly into the décor of this 1960s-themed hotel. In fact, with its geometric brown and honey-coloured beehive print carpets, retro furnishings and spa lit by a revolving disco glitter ball, you almost expect staff to sport afros and smoke pot (they don’t).

The hotel’s 165 rooms come with king-size beds, generous-sized bathrooms, and a good stack of vinyl records to play on vintage turntables. The rooms overlook Omonia, the city’s once-gritty square, which is currently having a major makeover. There’s also a rooftop terrace with hot tubs where you can sip, wallow and watch the sunset over the Acropolis opposite.

Best hotel for foodies: Xenodocheio Milos

Neighbourhood: Downtown

Xenodocheio Milos is known for its fantastic food (Xenodocheio Milos)

Hailed as ‘the man who pioneered the introduction of the Hellenic food scene in North America’, chef Costas Spiliadis’s latest hotel restaurant venture was designed by Divercity, the company responsible for the spectacular new W Algarve.

Housed in a listed neoclassical building dating from 1880 are 43 rooms and suites, all with soaring ceilings, marble fixtures, magnificent hand-crafted wooden furniture and minibars stocked with local goodies. Most guests flock here to dine in the ground-floor restaurant, with its sheer-white walls, elegant tables and open kitchen where Greece’s most talented chefs prepare Spiliadis’s inimitable gourmet take on traditional Greek cuisine.

Best hotel for exploring the city: Athens Flair

Neighbourhood: Kolonaki

Sip a cocktail on this private roof terrace (Booking.com)

Housed in a stunning neoclassical building built in 1906, this boutique beauty boasts original elements such as a Scarlet O’Hara-worthy marble staircase and intricately detailed plasterwork. Athens Flair has six vast suites opulently decked out with period-style furnishings and a delightfully private rooftop terrace with views to Lycabettus’s pine-studded slopes.

Just around the corner from Kolonaki’s high-end designer stores and chic cafes, this stylish hotel is an easy stroll from the city’s mains sights. The Benaki museum and the plant-strewn National Gardens are five minutes’ walk away, whilst half an hour’s stroll will take you to Monastiraki’s famed flea market and the not-to-be-missed Acropolis museum.

Best hotel for hipsters: The Alex

Neighbourhood: Piraeus

The perfect place to drink and eat the night away (The Alex)

Once just the place where you went to catch a ferry to the islands, Piraeus is currently getting a facelift as countless art galleries, including Rodeo (sister to the Rodeo in Istanbul), move into the port’s long-abandoned warehouses. You’ll also find a string of hip hotels, cool bars and funky restaurants opening their doors in Piraeus’s cobbled backstreets.

Overlooking the buzzy port from a tree-shaded hilltop in Piraeus’s Kastella district, The Alex is a design-led boutique hotel, just a five-minute stroll from Michelin-starred restaurant Varoulko in Mikrolimano port. The hotel offers a dozen comfortable rooms with good-sized beds, powerful rain showers and balconies (all tiny but some come with sea views). Best of all is The Alex’s wooden-decked rooftop restaurant, where you can snack on Med-fusion food and watch the ferries pootling across the Saronic Gulf far below.

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