Chances are, you’re either visiting Athens while coupling it with seeing some of the islands, or you’re really interested in history. Either way, it’s a great place to spend some time in Greece. There are so many interesting things to see, some cute neighbourhoods to explore and some incredible food. We’ve put together a little list of affordable things to do while visiting Athens. We hope this gives you some great ideas for your trip!

Cost: Between €2-€20 depending on the season and the archaeological site.

Obviously one of the top things to do in Athens is visit all the amazing archaeological sites. Athens has something for everyone whether you’re super into Greek history or just like seeing some cool ruins like us. There are 7 main sites to visit in Athens which are:

• The Acropolis & its surrounding slopes
• Ancient Agora
• Roman Agora
• Hadrian’s Library
• Kerameikos
• Aristotle’s School (Lyceum)
• The Temple of Olympian

You can pay for these individually either online or in person at each site. However we really recommend getting the combined ticket if you want to see more than one or two sites, especially in summer. The combined ticket gives you skip the line access at all 7 sites for €30 and is valid for 5 days from purchase.

All of the sites are different and are worth a visit, but the Roman Agora and Temple of Olympian are fairly small. If you only pick a couple, we would recommend the Acropolis, Aristotle’s school and the Ancient Agora.

There are also a couple of days a year that all the sites are free and those dates can be found here. And while you’re wandering around, keep an eye out for wild tortoises and friendly cats who roam the sites!

This is a fabulous museum just at the bottom of the Acropolis hill and has a wonderful view back to it. It houses over 4000 artefacts found from the site of the Acropolis and its surrounding slopes. It will take a couple of hours to visit, depending on how much you read everything, but is definitely well worth a visit. Even better is what is underneath the museum. Lying below the main building is part of an ancient neighbourhood and it is fascinating to look around. A visit to this is included in the museum entry and it’ll take around 30 minutes to look around.

Tickets can be bought at the museum or on their website here. Tickets cost €15 per adult during the summer season (Start of April to end of October). During the winter season (Start of November to end of March) they’re €10. There are also a couple of days a year that the museum has free entry and those dates can be found here.

This museum holds a lot of Greek antiques from the Neolithic and Classical eras, and the Ptolemaic era from Egypt. The museum has art, pottery, sculptures and jewellery, and gives you a really fascinating insight into Greece’s history and art.

Tickets are €12 in the summer season, €6 in the winter season and can be bought on their website here. You can also buy a special ticket for €15 that also grants you entry to the Epigraphic Museum, Numismatic Museum and Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens.

This museum is dedicated to art from the Greek islands of the Cyclades, which would be extra special if you’re planning on visiting the islands as well. In the museum are lots of beautiful marble figures found on the islands as well as clay pots and bronze tools.

Tickets are €18 in the summer season, €15 in the winter season and can be bought on their website here.

Housed in a former royal residence, this museum has a huge variety of Athens related artefacts. It houses everything from a stamp collection, to antique furniture, to old musical instruments to paintings.

Tickets are €5 per adult and can be bought on their website here. It’s open 9-4 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and 10-3 on the weekends.

Cost: Free

This is a hill right next to the Acropolis and has a wonderful view of it, and the sprawling city below. The walk up to the viewpoint doesn’t take more than 30-45 minutes so is an easy hike. There are many paths up and around the hill, but for the viewpoint we walked towards the Philopappos Monument.

To get to the start of the walk, head West along Dionysiou Areopagitou past the Acropolis museum and the entrance to the Acropolis. Soon you’ll find a path leading off up to the hill, very close to the Prison of Socrates, which is also worth a visit.

Cost: Free

If you’ve read any of our other travel guides you know we LOVE a park, specifically a free park. We still talk about the National Garden in Athens because of something that’s in the park. The National Gardens is situated nicely next to the Plaka neighbourhood and beside the Syntagma subway station.

It’s a beautiful green space to spend some time and escape the busy city, especially important if its a hot day. The garden reasonably sized and has a central lake, some ancient ruins, a children’s library and a little free zoo. It’s right next to Zappeion Hall which is an impressive looking building, and has some nice gardens too. Across from Zappeion Garden is the Temple of Olympian so it’s easy to all do on the same day.

Now onto our favourite part of the National Garden, the turtle pond! Right next to the central lake is a small pond with rocks that heaps of turtles like to like sun themselves on. The reason we still talk about this pond is because the ratio of sunning rocks to turtles is way off. The turtles have to fight each other and push their friends off rocks or climb on top of them so they can get a spot and it’s very entertaining to watch. Highly recommend allowing half an hour to just enjoy the turtle drama.

Cost: Free

Both these neighbourhoods are in central Athens so chances are you’ll probably walk through them while wandering around. But we thought we’d mention them in case you happen to miss them, as they’re definitely worth visiting!

Monastiraki is where a lot of the archaeological sites are such as the Agoras and Hadrian’s library. It’s one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Athens and the main square, Monastiraki square, is a great place to shop and people watch. You can easily access the square from the Monastiraki subway station where two different metro lines stop.

Just off the square is the Monastiraki Flea Market which is open 10am-10pm every single day. It is less of a market then a lot of shops in a tight street, but on Sunday it really comes alive. Even if you’re not there on a weekend, it’s worth spending some time looking through all the great shops and restaurants.

The whole neighbourhood is full of lovely places to shop and is a nice place to spend some time and get some food. This is the same with the next door neighbourhood of Plaka, which sits between the Acropolis and the Temple of Olympian.

Plaka is such a beautiful place to walk and again has lots of shops and restaurants, including quite a few jewellery stores. The streets are bustling with people trying to sell you things, get you into their restaurant, and there are beautiful flowers and trees everywhere.

There are also some some museums in Plaka if you’re interested. The Museum of Greek Children’s Art is open 10-2 Tuesday-Friday and costs €3 per entry. It showcases art made by children aged 4-14 from 1994 onwards and is a wonderful place for kids and adults to visit. The Jewish Museum of Greece helps preserve the culture of the Greek Jews and can easily be visited from Plaka. It is open 9-2:30 Monday to Friday and 10-2 Saturday and costs €10 per adult.

While we’re sure you’ve heard of gyros, we’re just here to remind you to get some while in Athens! We had gyros almost every day! It’s the perfect lunch, not being too expensive, too hot or too big but still being super filling and pretty healthy.

When you go to order, you’ll see either a gyros pita or a souvlaki pita. A gyros pita has shaved meat, and a souvlaki pita has a stick of meat. You can usually choose between chicken, pork or lamb. Both gyros and souvlaki pitas are served in a fresh pita bread, with onion, tomato, hot chips (or fries) and tzatziki. And don’t worry if you’re picky like us, they make it fresh for each customer so you can easily request for them to leave something out.

While there would be lots of good gyros in Athens, we visited “o Gyros Pou Gyrevis” which is just around the corner from the Acropolis. It is delicious, quick and a gyros pita only costs around €3-4 each.

For dessert, you’ve got to get loukoumades, and we have the best recommendation. LUKUMAΔΕΣ (Lukumades in Greek) on Eolou 21, & Aghias Irinis Str, Athina is THE place to go. Loukoumades are a doughnut balls, traditionally smothered in honey and pistachios. However this place sells so many different varieties, from chocolate sauces covered ones to strawberry praline filled ones. The traditional honey ones also come with vanilla icecream and this was our favourite of the 3 flavours we chose.

The more simple flavours start around €3 going up to €6.90 for the extravagant flavours and you get around 10 balls. They also sells delicious lemonade and milkshakes so there really is something for everyone. Do just keep in mind that it does get busy and you may have to wait a while but there’s free Wi-Fi around and a free bathroom downstairs so waiting isn’t too bad.

Whether you’re a fan of ancient archaeology, good museums, wandering cute neighbourhoods or good food, Athens has it all. If you use this guide, let us know what you enjoyed the most. And if you visit LUKUMAΔΕΣ please let us know what you got so we can live vicariously through you!

You can check out everything we got up to and our thoughts on Athens in our vlog:

• How to Have the Best Time in Naxos on a Budget
• A Complete Guide To The Santorini Public Transport System