Top places to stay in Athens, Greece.
Athens developed its modern hotel industry through the emergence of an independent Greek capital whose classical monuments, political institutions, and Mediterranean connections attracted successive generations of international travelers. The city's ancient hospitality customs included xenia, the obligation of generosity toward guests, which occupied an important place in Greek social and religious life. Following centuries under Byzantine, Frankish, and Ottoman rule, Athens became the capital of the newly established Greek kingdom in 1834. King Otto's government initiated an ambitious program of urban planning, attracting European architects, diplomats, scholars, and merchants to a city undergoing rapid reconstruction. Early hotels appeared around the royal palace and the principal streets of the expanding capital, serving travelers drawn by archaeology and the institutions of the new state. The Hotel Grande Bretagne began operating in 1874 in a former mansion overlooking Syntagma Square, becoming the capital's defining grand hotel. Its proximity to the royal residence and government offices made it a gathering place for political leaders, foreign dignitaries, and affluent visitors. The revival of the Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 strengthened the city's international profile and encouraged improvements to visitor accommodation. During the early twentieth century, expanding steamship connections through Piraeus brought travelers from across Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. The King George Hotel opened on Syntagma Square in 1930, adding another prestigious address to the capital's ceremonial center. The Second World War and subsequent Greek Civil War disrupted tourism and damaged the country's economy. Recovery accelerated during the 1950s and 1960s as international aviation, archaeological tourism, and expanding leisure travel brought growing numbers of visitors to Greece. The Athens Hilton opened in 1963, its modernist design by architects Emmanuel Vourekas, Prokopis Vasileiadis, and Spyros Staikos introducing a striking architectural statement to the capital. Greece's accession to the European Economic Community in 1981 supported further commercial integration and international travel. The 2004 Summer Olympics brought major transportation improvements, urban renewal, and hotel investment. Subsequent decades introduced restored neoclassical boutique properties, contemporary luxury hotels, and sophisticated rooftop hospitality. Athens now combines the ceremonial grandeur of its nineteenth-century capital with the architectural experimentation and cosmopolitan energy of a modern Mediterranean metropolis.
Athens occupies a broad basin enclosed by mountains and opening southwest toward the Saronic Gulf, with hotels distributed among archaeological districts, commercial avenues, residential hillsides, and coastal communities. Syntagma forms the principal luxury hotel address, centered on the square facing the Hellenic Parliament and the surrounding streets of the historic capital. Prestigious properties occupy substantial neoclassical buildings and contemporary urban structures, with elevated terraces offering views toward the Acropolis and Lycabettus Hill. Southward, Plaka extends beneath the northeastern slopes of the Acropolis through narrow pedestrian lanes, traditional houses, and intimate courtyards. Boutique hotels occupy restored residences and small historic buildings, creating a particularly atmospheric setting near archaeological landmarks and neighborhood tavernas. The adjoining Anafiotika quarter introduces an unusual island-like environment through whitewashed houses and stepped pathways climbing the rocky hillside. Westward, Monastiraki presents a livelier commercial landscape around its central square, where historic markets, Byzantine churches, and Ottoman-era structures stand among restaurants and small hotels. Rooftop accommodation provides expansive perspectives across the ancient city. Northwest, Psyrri offers a more contemporary creative atmosphere through former workshops, converted commercial buildings, and lively streets filled with cafés and restaurants. Design-oriented boutique hotels occupy adapted industrial properties, often incorporating exposed masonry and contemporary interiors. East of the historic center, Kolonaki provides an elegant residential and shopping environment along the lower slopes of Lycabettus Hill. Sophisticated hotels and serviced residences stand near luxury boutiques, galleries, and substantial apartment buildings, offering a quieter setting within reach of the central districts. Farther northeast, the avenues surrounding the Megaro Mousikis concert hall contain modern business hotels and upscale residential accommodation amid broad streets and established cultural institutions. Southward, Koukaki occupies a distinctive position beneath the Acropolis Museum, combining traditional apartment buildings, pedestrian streets, and independent restaurants. Smaller hotels provide convenient access to the archaeological center and the landscaped routes surrounding Philopappos Hill. Beyond the central basin, the Athens Riviera introduces an entirely different hospitality landscape along the Saronic Gulf. Glyfada combines contemporary beachfront hotels, upscale shopping streets, and lively coastal restaurants within a sophisticated southern suburb. Farther southeast, Vouliagmeni occupies a prestigious peninsula of pine-covered slopes, sheltered coves, and substantial seaside properties. Luxury resorts feature landscaped gardens, private beach facilities, and terraces overlooking the water. The neighboring Kavouri coastline offers additional secluded accommodation near rocky headlands and sandy inlets. Across Athens, lodging ranges from landmark urban hotels and intimate neoclassical residences to contemporary design properties and exclusive coastal resorts, reflecting the city's exceptional combination of ancient topography, metropolitan life, and Mediterranean shoreline. Foresyte may earn a commission when you book.
Foresyte Travel's top five choices.
5. The Dolli at Acropolis
The Dolli at Acropolis occupies a 1925 building on Mitropoleos Street, positioned between Syntagma Square, Monastiraki, and the ancient monuments surrounding the Acropolis. Architect Andreas Kriezis designed the structure in a neoclassical style during the interwar transformation of Central Athens, decades before designing the conversion of the Old Royal Palace into the Hellenic Parliament. Grecotel transformed the former commercial building into The Dolli, opening the hotel in 2023 after an extensive architectural restoration. Its interiors incorporate works and furnishings associated with figures including Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Alexander Calder, and Pierre Augustin Rose, placing modern and contemporary design inside the restored historic shell. The Dolli gives a significant interwar building a new role within the dense architectural chronology of Central Athens.
4. One&Only Aesthesis
One&Only Aesthesis occupies the former Asteria beachfront site in Glyfada, where postwar resort development helped create the modern Athenian Riviera. Asteria became closely associated with the cosmopolitan coastal culture that flourished south of Athens during the 1950s and 1960s, when beaches, nightclubs, hotels, and modernist architecture transformed the shoreline into an international leisure district. Grivalia Hospitality and Kerzner International redeveloped the property, with AUDO and A6A architects drawing on the low-rise forms and geometric clarity of mid-century Greek resort architecture. One&Only opened the resort in 2023 across an extensive coastal landscape of bungalows, gardens, and preserved mature vegetation. Aesthesis revives one of the foundational sites of the Athenian Riviera through architecture rooted in the period that first established Glyfada as a Mediterranean resort center.
3. King George, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Athens
King George opened on Syntagma Square in 1930, occupying one of the most politically consequential addresses in modern Greece directly opposite the Hellenic Parliament. The building entered hotel use during an era when Syntagma had consolidated its role as the ceremonial center of Athens, surrounded by institutions created after the establishment of the modern Greek state. Its history includes periods of wartime and governmental use before the property returned to hospitality and underwent extensive restoration. The hotel later joined the Luxury Collection alongside neighboring Hotel Grande Bretagne, creating a pair of historic properties facing the square from Vasileos Georgiou Avenue. King George places nearly a century of Athenian hospitality within the civic setting where the country's political life repeatedly enters public view.
2. Hotel Grande Bretagne, a Luxury Collection Hotel
Hotel Grande Bretagne opened in 1874 after businessman Efstathios Lampsas and hotelier Savvas Kentros transformed a mansion facing the Royal Palace, the building that later became the Hellenic Parliament. Its position on Syntagma Square placed the hotel at the center of the young Greek capital as Athens developed the institutions, boulevards, and expansive architecture of a modern European state. The building served critical functions during successive periods of political upheaval and war, including German occupation during the Second World War and the violent events surrounding the Greek Civil War. International political figures, monarchs, writers, and performers passed through its public rooms as the property became intertwined with the diplomatic life of the capital. Grande Bretagne binds the development of modern Athens to the political history that unfolded around Syntagma Square for more than 150 years.
1. Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens
Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens occupies the Vouliagmeni peninsula, where the Astir resort complex became a defining project in the creation of the Athenian Riviera during Greece's postwar tourism boom. Astir Palace emerged during the 1960s as the National Bank of Greece developed the pine-covered coastline into an ambitious resort attracting international political figures, entertainers, and affluent travelers. Modernist hotels, beaches, bungalows, and recreational facilities turned the peninsula into a showcase for the new tourism economy developing around Athens. Four Seasons assumed management following an extensive redevelopment and reopened the resort in 2019, preserving the peninsula's hospitality function while substantially transforming its architecture and interiors. Astir Palace connects the optimism of postwar Greek tourism with the renewed international investment reshaping the Athenian Riviera in the twenty-first century.
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