34 Best things to see & do in Athens

World-class performing arts festival staged in spectacular venues, from ancient amphitheatres to converted factories.

From simple ouzerias and street food trucks to Michelin-starred restaurants, Athens showcases the very best of traditional and contemporary Greek cuisine.

The closest Athens has to an oriental bazaar; from 10am each day the streets heave with every kind of stall – from antiques to clothes and bric-a-brac – then from 10pm the bars take over, making this the epicentre of Monastiraki’s nightlife.

The best collection of Islamic Art outside the Muslim world, exhibiting a vast range of artefacts from intricately decorated prayer books to the reconstruction of a Cairo mansion reception room.

One of the best places in the city to experience a proper Turkish hammam, with the baths housed in an elegant neoclassical mansion opposite the Islamic Museum.

Housed in the restored Stoa (covered walkway) of Attalos, this is probably the second most interesting museum after the Archaeological one; the most intriguing displays are the clay voting tablets with carved names, a reminder of Athenian democracy.

As you walk around Monastiraki, pass by Plateia Eirinis and join the queue outside Kostas, the most famous hole-in-the-wall souvlaki-seller in Athens, with its secret-recipe tomato sauce.

Built by Emperor Augustus between 19 and 11 BC, the Forum was Athens’ trade centre, evolving into the city’s administrative hub by 3 BC. The two highlights are the Western Gate and the Tower of Winds, a 39-foot-high clocktower-cum-weathervane with a frieze depicting eight wind deities, thought to be the world’s first meteorological station.

Athens’ Agora and the adjacent Roman Agora were the centre of the ancient city. The many monuments here include the massive Stoa of Attalos and housing a museum.

One of the best-preserved temples in Greece, mainly because it was converted to a Christian church early in its history, it was erected in the 5th century as a temple to the god Hephaestus.