Athens

[rchua]

hey guys! i need some advice on a trip that i've been planning. my friends and i wanted to go to athens for about 4-5 days. what sites should we see and the cost? also, do you have any good suggestions for places to stay (hostels, hotels, rental apartments) ? there will be five people in my group. thanks for the help!

[Eagle]

rchua,

For accommodations in Athens, you might check www.hihostels.com/dba/country-GR.en.htm#hostelling for Hostel listings. For information on Hotels and sightseeing ideas in Athens, have a look at www.greecetravel.com/ (the website has LOTS of information on Greece).

Hope that helps.

Happy travels!

[madamtrashheap]

For Athens, 4-5 full days would allow you time to really explore the city: visit the Acropolis and surrounds (Parthanon, Propylaia, the museum, and the Erechtheion), the Plaka area, Syntagma Square, the Panathenic stadium (Panathinaiko - home to the Panathenaic Games in honour of Athena and to the revived Olympic Games in 1870 - the 1859 games were held in the city centre), the changing of the guard around the corner at the Parliament in the National Gardens, the Agora and even Lycabettus Hill if you're up to it. For more on history and archaeology, try Benaki Museum and the National Archaeology Museum. If the weather is good, the beach area of Glyfada (pron. Glue-fartha) is a great place to spend a day. The website Eagle suggested will link you to the individual sites for each of the above sights and give entrance costs, if applicable.

The Athens Metro system is really good now - it's airconditioned! Plus some of the stations are mini-museums showing the artefacts uncovered during digging of the stations and lines. There is also a hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus put on by the public bus company that would be good as a starting overview of the city. At night, try the Psiri area for great tavernas/cafes and bars as an alternative to Plaka.

You could even plan a day trip from Athens to somewhere on the mainland (Corinth, Kalamata, Sparta, etc) if you find you have a spare day.

What time of year are you planning to travel?

[Mikul]

I stayed at Athenstyle when I was there in August. I thought the area was very nice, right next to the Plaka metro station. The hostel has a roof top bar, which offered reasonably priced drinks and had a great view of the Acropolis. The hostel offered a free walking tour, but was worth about what I paid for it. The only good thing was being able to walk around and meet some other travelers and have someone help take pictures of yourself.

I started my trip to Athens at the Acropolis and visited all the sights that came with the admission to Acropolis.

One day I took a day trip to Delphi. If you decide to do this, know that you need to take a public bus to the main bus station and take a 2 hour bus ride out to the ruins.

See some of my own pictures of Delphi at: www.blog.blogmike.com/?p=1518

[michael949]

I went last summer to athens stayed 10 days I would suggest staying at athens backpackers . Its right next to the akropoli metro station stop .Its realy clean realy cool staff Bar on the roof at night that stays open till round 9:30 then the bar tender takes u out on the town bonzi i belive he is named. But id suggest when u first get to athens go to the docks and hit a island if u do it correctly u can spend one day on one island then catch the last boat out and sleep on another island and check it out that day then come back to main land that night and look at athens for the remainder of the trip .