Book nowBook the 08:00 Acropolis slot for Friday now, children included: free and reduced tickets also need a timed slot, and May mornings sell out.
Hours, prices and coordinates are from general knowledge; children's ticket rules in Greece change often, so re-check them on the official sites before you book.
A month of free concerts, performances and open-air events around the city, held only in May.
🔗 official page thisisathens.org
Dates from general knowledge — check the official site
Three days: the museum's stories after landing, the Acropolis at opening, the Olympic stadium before the evening flight.
Land at 11:00, the metro to Akropoli and the bags into storage until the 15:00 check-in. After a rest, the Acropolis Museum in the evening and dinner in Plaka.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →about €9 each, children less50 min
Line 3 (blue) to Syntagma, change to line 2 (red) for two stops to Akropoli. Adults can tap a contactless card at the gate; buy the children's reduced tickets at the machine.
€5–7 a bagbook online
Bounce and Radical Storage have shops and cafés around the metro exit on Makrygianni Street; book for 12:00–15:00.
€12–20 each
A short pedestrian street of tavernas and cafés with tables outside, no cars, so the children can move about. Plain neighbourhood places: grilled meat, Greek salad, chips that children eat.
Collect the bags on the way, five minutes. Sleep off the flight until five.
The museum of everything found on the Acropolis, built over an excavated ancient neighbourhood you see through the glass floor.
about €20 adultsday's highlightopen to 20:00
Five minutes from the flat. Open until 20:00 on Thursdays; buy online to skip the ticket desk. Ask at the desk for the family backpacks, with games about the gods and the statues.
Start on the first floor with the five Caryatids, the women who hold up a temple roof; then the top floor, laid out the size of the Parthenon, with its frieze in order. Tomorrow on the rock the children will look for the copies. Allow ninety minutes.
€18–30 each
Ten minutes up through the lanes. Kydathineon Street has family tavernas with tables under the trees; the ones with waiters calling from the door charge for the bread and the view. At 19:45 you will have the choice of tables: Athenians eat after nine.
The Acropolis at 08:00 opening, before the heat and the cruise groups, then the Ancient Agora. Rest at the flat, the guards at Syntagma and the National Garden at five.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →The rock above Athens with the Parthenon, the temple of Athena built 2,400 years ago, and the Erechtheion with its Caryatids.
€30 adultstimed slotday's highlightno shade
Ten minutes from the flat to the south-slope gate on Dionysiou Areopagitou, quieter than the main west gate. Book the 08:00 slot for all four; children's free or reduced tickets need a slot too, and passports at the gate.
The marble paths are polished and slippery; trainers, hats and a full bottle each. Show the children the Caryatids on the Erechtheion: the ones from the museum last night stand here as copies. Allow two hours; by 10:30 the rock is hot and full.
The marketplace of ancient Athens, where Socrates taught; its Temple of Hephaestus still has its roof.
about €20 adultsshade under trees
Fifteen minutes down the path round the north side of the rock to the gate on Adrianou Street. Climb to the temple first, then the rebuilt Stoa of Attalos, a covered colonnade with a small museum and shade. An hour and a half.
€8–12 each
The souvlaki shops on Mitropoleos Street, at the corner of Monastiraki Square, are fast, cheap and full of Athenians: pitta wraps or plates of grilled skewers. Metal tables, quick turnover.
Metro from Monastiraki to Akropoli, one change at Syntagma, 15 minutes; or a taxi, about €7.
The presidential guards, the evzones, in kilts and shoes with pompoms, changing every hour at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
freeon the hour
Metro to Syntagma, 5 minutes. Be at the tomb below the parliament by 16:50 to stand at the front; the change takes ten minutes, slow and silent.
The former royal garden behind the parliament, the biggest patch of shade in the centre.
free
Through the gate on Amalias Avenue. A duck pond with turtles, a small enclosure with goats and peacocks, and a playground near the Zappeion side. Closes at sunset.
€15–25 each
Twenty minutes' walk along Dionysiou Areopagitou under the Acropolis, or the metro. Pick a taverna on Veikou Street with oven dishes: moussaka, pastitsio, lemon potatoes.
Out of the flat by 10:00 with the bags into storage, then the marble stadium where the children can run a lap. Philopappos Hill in the late afternoon, the metro to the airport at 17:30.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →€5–7 a bagbook online
The same storage shop as on Thursday, booked until 17:15; nobody at the flat keeps bags after 10:00.
The all-marble stadium where the first modern Olympics were held in 1896.
about €12 adults, children lessday's highlight
Twenty-five minutes' walk east past the Temple of Olympian Zeus, or a taxi for €7. Buy at the gate; the audio guide is included. The children can run the track and stand on the winners' podium; the tunnel at the far end has every Olympic torch since 1896. An hour.
The 19th-century exhibition hall in the gardens, built for the first modern Olympics' fencing.
free
Five minutes across the road. The round courtyard is open to walk through; the café at the front has shaded tables and ice cream.
€12–20 each
Ten minutes uphill behind the stadium. A neighbourhood square with a playground, where families eat at the tavernas around it on Saturdays; mezze to share is the way to order for four.
A pine-wooded hill opposite the Acropolis, with the clearest view of the Parthenon in the city.
freeuphill
Taxi back to Koukaki, €8, then fifteen minutes up the stone paths from Dionysiou Areopagitou, about 1,500 steps. The monument at the top faces the Parthenon straight across; the paths are uneven, so hold small hands. Down by 17:00.
A contactless bank card or phone works at the metro gates and on buses since 2025; fares change, so re-check on oasa.gr.
Adults can tap a contactless card or phone at the gate; one tap is one person. The airport costs about €9; a ride in town is cheaper and lasts 90 minutes. Children under 6 travel free; older children pay a reduced fare, which a bank-card tap does not give: buy their tickets at the machines.
Expect 25–28 °C and strong sun with almost no shade at the ancient sites. Hats, sunscreen and a bottle each; there are drinking fountains at the Acropolis entrance and on the paths. Plan nothing outdoors between 14:00 and 17:00.
At the state sites the rules for children from outside the EU have changed more than once; under-18s are often free or half price. Whatever the price, every child needs their own timed ticket on hhticket.gr, and passports are checked at the gate.
Bread and water are often brought and charged; it is normal. Leave 5–10% in cash on the table for good service; round up in cafés.
A flat has nobody to keep the bags before check-in or after check-out. Bounce and Radical Storage keep bags in shops around Akropoli metro, booked online, €5–7 a bag for the day.
For two adults and two children, 3 days and 2 nights in Athens, staying in Koukaki. Covers the flat, the climate fee, transport, bag storage, tickets, every meal and a buffer. Flights are not included.
| Item | Economy | Comfort | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat in Koukaki, 2 nights | €220 | €340 | €110–170 a night for a two-bedroom flat |
| Climate fee | €16 | €16 | €8 a night on short-term rentals from April to October |
| Metro and taxis | €60 | €110 | Comfort takes taxis to and from the airport |
| Bag storage, two days | €40 | €56 | 4 bags × 2 days × €5–7 |
| Acropolis, museum, Agora, stadium | €186 | €186 | Adult prices; children free or reduced |
| Lunches | €145 | €240 | 3 lunches for four |
| Dinners | €145 | €240 | 2 dinners for four |
| Breakfasts, water, ice cream | €75 | €120 | €25–40 a day for four |
| Buffer | €60 | €100 | Souvenirs, an extra taxi |
| Total | €947 | €1,408 |
Realistic figure: About €1,100–1,250 for four, without flights
Cards work in most tavernas and shops, but keep €50–80 in cash for souvlaki shops, kiosks and tips.
All of them: the WayFriend guide library.
