Athens Travel Guide

The Acropolis crowns a limestone hill at Athens' centre, the symbol of Western civilisation, built in the 5th century BC under Pericles with Ictinus, Callicrates and Phidias. The Parthenon atop dazzles with perfect Doric columns and golden proportion; below, the Acropolis Museum, Erechtheion and Temple of Athena Nike tell of classical Greek faith and order. From the summit you overlook modern Athens and the Aegean light — every traveller's first pilgrimage.

Parthenon is the greatest legacy of ancient Greek civilization. Built 447-432 BC for Athena Parthenos, it features perfect Doric proportions, exquisite reliefs and ~2,500 years of history — the Acropolis's most magnificent building and a symbol of Western civilization. Designed by Iktinos and Kallikrates; supervised by Phidias. 46 Doric columns. Acropolis combo ticket. Visit morning or evening to avoid crowds.

The Acropolis Museum is a modern hall treasuring the gems of the Acropolis—a museum at the foot of the Acropolis with a modern, transparent design, collecting and displaying precious sculptures and artifacts excavated from the Acropolis, an excellent window into the Acropolis and ancient Greek art. The Acropolis Museum sits at the southern foot of the Athens Acropolis, a modern museum completed in recent years—built with transparent glass and simple modern design, echoing the ancient Acropolis on the hill in a dialogue of old and new, the building itself ingenious (the museum is even built atop an ancient site, with glass floors revealing the antiquities beneath your feet). The museum specially collects and displays the precious artifacts and sculptural gems excavated from and preserved at the Athens Acropolis—the exquisite marble sculptures that once adorned the Parthenon, the Erechtheion and other Acropolis buildings (such as temple reliefs, pediment sculptures, and the original Caryatids of the Erechtheion), now carefully displayed and protected, letting visitors appreciate these masterpieces of ancient Greek sculpture up close and feel the solemn, harmonious and vivid eternal beauty of classical art. On the top floor is the Parthenon Gallery, designed to display the Parthenon frieze (the entablature band)—arranged at the temple's original size and orientation, through a huge glass curtain wall you can directly view the Parthenon on the hill, making the artifacts echo the temple itself, stunning (some sculptures originally from the Parthenon are now overseas, with their ownership an international discussion). Entering this modern hall, appreciating the Acropolis's sculptural gems up close and deepening understanding of ancient Greek art and civilization. Visiting Athens, entering the Acropolis Museum and admiring the gems of ancient Greek art is a must-see sight in Athens.

The Ancient Agora of Athens spreads across the open ground northwest of the Acropolis — for over two millennia the civic heart of the city: market, lawcourts, council chambers, libraries and temples. Socrates taught and argued in its stoas, with Plato and Xenophon listening; ostracism votes were counted here. On the north side stands the Temple of Hephaestus, built in the 5th century BC — the best-preserved Doric temple in Greece, outshining even the Parthenon for completeness. The rebuilt Stoa of Attalos on the east hosts the Agora Museum, home to the concrete evidence of Athenian democracy: the inscribed ostraka of ostracism. Democracy, in the most literal sense, takes shape among the ruins.

Syntagma Square is Athens's urban center and political heart—a grand square in front of the Greek Parliament, famous for the solemn Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the guard-changing ceremony in traditional dress, Athens's most important public square. Syntagma Square (Greek for 'constitution') is the most important, central square of downtown Athens—named after the event of promulgating the constitution in modern Greek history, it is the city's center and political heart. On one side stands the solemn, majestic Hellenic Parliament building (originally a royal palace, now the seat of the Greek Parliament), imposing and dignified. The square's most famous, tourist-drawing feature is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Parliament—before this monument, the Greek Presidential Guard (Evzones, in distinctive traditional dress: white pleated skirts and shoes with pom-poms) stand guard day and night, a unique outfit. These guards stand watch and hold a solemn, distinctive changing-of-the-guard ceremony at set times—marching with slow, exaggerated, uniform steps, solemn and unique, a famous Athens spectacle (especially grand ceremonies on Sundays). The square itself is where Athens citizens and visitors gather and rest, surrounded by busy streets, hotels and shops, also a key transport hub. Strolling this city-center square, watching the unique guard-changing ceremony, feeling Athens's urban air. Visiting Athens, pausing at Syntagma Square and watching the guard-changing ceremony is a unique sight in Athens.

Plaka is the historic heart of Athens, its cobbled lanes spilling down the northern slopes of the Acropolis in a tangle of neoclassical houses, craft shops and vine-shaded tavernas. A short walk away, Syntagma Square fronts the Hellenic Parliament, where the famously slow-motion Evzones guard change takes place every hour in traditional costume, with a grander ceremony on Sunday mornings. Tucked deeper into the old town, the tiny white-washed quarter of Anafiotika feels like a Cycladic island transplanted into the city. Half a day here delivers surprises at every turn.