5 Insider Tips For Your Best Vacation To Athens, Greece

31.10.2023 - 11:55 / forbes.com

Ever since travel roared back from pandemic lockdowns, Greece has been one of the hottest destinations in the world. While some visitors go for the gorgeous beaches the Greek islands are famous for, Athens is its most visited spot, with more airlift, great hotels, great restaurants and the number one historic attraction in a country legendary for historic attractions, the Acropolis.

Athens is a charming city, and there are lot of good reasons to visit, but one biggie is the fact that despite its recent popularity, it’s still one of the most affordable of the major European capitals, especially in off season, when it also enjoys better weather than just about all of its rivals. I was just there, and was constantly impressed by how far my money went, especially with the dollar currently strong against the Euro. Greece has excellent food and surprisingly good wine, and these are both among the top values you can enjoy every day of a vacation. One standout example was when we popped into a convenience store for water and purchased a 1.5-liter bottle for 27 cents. Not many places where you can do that, let alone in the tourist heart of big cities.

But like any place else, you can enjoy it more and get more bang for both your buck and your time if you plan ahead and take advantage of some expert knowledge. I was with top local guides, and true experts in history and Greek cuisine while doing research on my most recent visits, and these were the top takeaways.

Don’t Pre-Book Your Acropolis Visit: If you are visiting Athens for the first time you are going to the Acropolis, home to Parthenon, one of the world’s most famous monuments. It is the city’s marquee touristic sight, and deservedly so. As a result, it is very popular and often very crowded, so they sell tickets online in advance for half hour time slots, with the morning being most popular. You can buy tickets to just the Acropolis for €20, or a much better deal, the Athens Combined Ticket, for €30. This adds the other most desirable archeological sites the city has to offer, including the Ancient Agora, the Roman Agora, the Temple of Zeus (the city’s largest temple), the Lyceum, Hadrian’s Library and the Ancient Cemetery of Keramikos. The combo ticket price is about half what you would pay to visit them a la carte, and you get to do it at your leisure over up to 5 days.

However, if you go to buy the combo ticket online you will find several websites claiming to be an “official online vendor,” but you probably won’t find the actual official online vendor, the Culture Ministry’s site, Hellenic Heritage. But even if you do get to it and try to buy the combo ticket, it will require you to select a tour entry time for the Acropolis, which gives you a