From street-art in Exarchea to fine-art galleries in Kolonaki, here I have gathered neighborhoods of Athens in pictures.
I think the touristic sights aren’t the ones that make you visit twice. It is a city vibe that makes you come back. At this point, I would like to introduce to you the neighborhoods of Athens. They are very distinct, each with its own atmosphere. They are the ones that make me wanna come back.
In this post, I have gathered more than 50 high-quality images. As usual, I try to tell the story with pictures. Don’t expect much of the text. I won’t be able to write any better than existing resources (links in the end). So, let’s dive in.
Table of Contents
Plaka
We start with the nice, obvious one. Plaka is built over ancient Athens, it is right next to the main sights, and it is usually the first place a tourist goes to. It is filled with restaurants and souvenir shops.
In Plaka, there is no traffic, and at first, it felt lovely to be lost in these streets. But after some time, things felt kinda repetitive. Most of the souvenir shops sell similar items, and there is no end to them.
But the restaurants, despite being touristy, are still pretty good. Many cities that suffer from overtourism have bad food along tourist routes (more tourists would come anyway – they think). But it doesn’t seem to be true for Athens. At least based on our random selection. And it is easy to find a spot with a view onto Acropolis. Most of the restaurants serve traditional Greek food, which I really love. Many of the places have live music.
Anafiotika
One of my favorite spots in Athens was the Anafiotika district. It is within Plaka but it is extremely different from the rest of the area. Unlike most of mainland Greece, It has the architecture of the Greek islands. There are only residential buildings and you won’t find the same crowds as in the rest of Plaka.
I made full-scale photo story about Anafiotika!
Psyri
Music from every corner, crowds of people. I loved this party district. And it isn’t really touristic, mostly there are locals.
At first sight, it didn’t look very inviting. In the past, Psyri was an industrial area and place of the working class. But it starts to feel home-like after we were greeted by friendly cafeteria owners. Unlike Plaka, each place there has a unique design.
In addition to that, Psyri has some very old shops, that are somewhat lost in the huge amount of bars. For instance, you can find a family-run bakery, that makes traditional Greek sweets. Or a craftsman that makes sandals for more than a hundred years.
Monastiraki
Monastiraki is all about the “flea market”, which isn’t actually a real flea market. Souvenirs, clothes, CDs, same as Plaka, most of the shops seem to sell basic, mass-produced stuff. I am sure there are some interesting, unusual spots among those as well. But in my opinion, it is a bit too crowded to search for them.
PS: We found a really good, 2 floors flea market outside of Plaka. The place is called Varvakios Agora.
Exarcheia
If Psyri and Monastiraki at night didn’t feel underground enough – Exarcheia is the way to go. It has a bit of a reputation. Some people would tell that there is no law, and the streets are full of anarchists. I guess it has to do with true… they must have taken the videos of people clashing with police from somewhere… But I think, as it is usual with news, they show only dramatic events, which are a tiny part of what’s actually going on.
To me, Exarcheia felt pretty laid-back. It smells weed from every corner and streets are full of graffiti. From time to time, you see some outstanding pieces of street art.
Exarcheia isn’t for everyone I suppose. I guess, families with kids should stick to Plaka or Monastiraki or (described next) Kolonaki. But if you, for instance, enjoy the underground culture of Berlin – you will feel a lot like home.
Kolonaki
This one is absolutely the opposite of Exarcheia.
Kolonaki is a rather expensive area. There are some lovely high-end shops and restaurants. But what I loved the most are the galleries. Some shops are so well decorated, that it is hard to figure out if it’s a shop or a gallery.
From another gallery
Most of the shops are quite original and a pleasure to look at
Architecture-vise, there are probably a few interesting things, but I guess nothing exceptional.
Keramikos
Where is everyone?! Maybe Greek innovate at night?
And innovate at night they do! During the day, the metro station is quite empty. But as it comes to the evening, more and more people are arriving. At night there are crowds.
Besides Technopolis, Keramikos is known for two things: the archeological site, tonnes of nightclubs, and cafeterias. Let’s take a look at everything in order.
How is it different from Psyri? Well, it seems that Psyri holds a lot of smaller cozy places. In Keramikos you will find large nightclubs and bars. In Psyri we saw more of traditional or pop music, but in Keramikos it is more modern. And there are places for every budget.
Further reading
First of all, I would like to thank Anna for showing me around. You can follow her on Instagram for stories about Finland and Greece.
If you liked the format, check out my other post: non-postcard Rome
When I traveled, I got a lot of information from the Athensguide.com website. I especially liked their articles about Exarchia and Plaka
If you are interested in the more touristic side – take a look at my post about viewpoints of Athens, where I gathered the best places to see Acropolis.
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