For too long, Athens museum cafés were an afterthought: a poky room next to the WCs where, if you were lucky, you could get a tired cup of filter coffee or tepid bottle of water. Those days are past; now, museum cafés are a delicious place to grab a bite or a drink. The Acropolis Museum was a game-changer, offering eclectic Greek eats, wines by the glass, reasonable prices, and that intoxicating view. Other museums soon stepped up. The city’s ‘Museum Mile’ is now dotted with little oases to enjoy delicious light meals or expertly-prepared iced coffees while resting exhibit-weary legs. The Cycladic Museum Café has had a discreetly extravagant facelift of its premises and menu, and the Numismatic Museum boasts live jazz evenings with drinks and finger food. Meanwhile, in northern Kifissia, a celebrity chef designs the fare served at the old-world Natural History Museum. Have we whetted your appetite? Read on for more.
Acropolis Museum Restaurant
The Acropolis Museum itself is, of course, magnificent. Years in development, Bernard Tschumi’s concrete and glass colossus rose between Koukaki apartment buildings to emerge on a level with the Acropolis, the top-floor gallery of Parthenon statues lined up with where they once stood. Whether or not you have time to do the full museum tour, don’t miss the restaurant/café. Get a restaurant ticket at the foyer (no charge), zoom up in the lift, walk through the somewhat corporate canteen-style interior, and emerge onto the verandah face-to-face with the Parthenon. Gleaming cool alabaster by day, it’s ethereal after dark (on Fridays the café is open till midnight). Even without that million-dollar view, there would still be reason to visit the Acropolis museum restaurant. It serves creative dishes that highlight regional produce and add a spin to overworked classics, accompanied by an inspiring wine list, at prices that are modest given the location. Compared to the frankly dispiriting mass-produced and microwaved fare prevalent around Plaka, the museum restaurant comes near top of any best-restaurant list in the area. Think Cycladic cherry tomato salad with capers and pickled artichokes, smoked trout from Epirus with taramosalata (fish roe dip) and rocket, or Cretan butter risotto with cured lamb, accompanied by a glass of aromatic Moschofilero wine. There’s a children’s menu too, and a variety of soft drinks and coffees if you just wish to sit and sip while feasting your eyes on the vista.
The Acropolis Museum Restaurant at night.
Courtesy: The Acropolis Museum. Photo by Giorgos Vitsaropoulos.
Outside at the Ilisia Café.
Photo: Georgios Makkas
Byzantine & Christian Museum: Ilisia Café
Walk through the arched entrance on Vasilissis Sofias and suddenly you are a world away from the traffic streaming down Athens’ main thoroughfare. A vast courtyard opens up, flanked by low-lying buildings and, behind a towering cypress tree, the palace of the Duchess of Plaisance. To your right is Ilisia Café, with a few tables on the courtyard and a more extensive seating area at the back, where acres of landscaped Mediterranean gardens stretch away towards the Athens Conservatory and the posh penthouses of Rigillis Street. Sit in the courtyard for the slightly surreal view of a biplane suspended above the wall (on display in the neighbouring War Museum), while the gentle curve of Mount Ymittos looms in the distance. The café menu ranges from finger food and salads to traditional Greek dishes like stuffed vine leaves and grilled meat. But the serene setting lends itself more to a quiet cold drink with a guidebook or app to plan your next steps.
Museum of Cycladic Art Café
The Museum of Cycladic Art engaged the services of prominent architect Stelios Kois and his team to revamp their café space—and they’ve made the absolute most of it. Without the obvious advantages of a balcony or courtyard with a view, this nook between the neoclassical heart of the museum and its more modern annex enjoys an outdoor feel (with comfortable weather conditions all year round) thanks to a cleverly concertina-shaded glass roof and walls of plants. It’s super-stylish, minimalist and light, with a menu to match. Come for a delicious brunch, with dishes like smashed avocado on toast dressed with chili flakes and coriander and topped off with an organic egg, or enjoy a slice of savoury pie or freshly baked cake with a pot of tea or coffee.
This minimalist café practically glows.
Courtesy: Cycladic Museum
A cute coffee in a lovely café.
Courtesy: Benaki Museum
Benaki Museum Café-Restaurant
Cool and classy, this verandah looking towards the treetops of the National Garden and the Kallimarmaro stadium beyond was once the preserve of French-speaking Kolonaki ladies and their upper-crust circle. It still has perhaps more gravitas than others on this list, in both atmosphere and clientele, but that doesn’t take away from its excellent setting and good food. The compact menu is designed by a respected Athenian catering company, with tasty, unfussy salads, quiches, and mains like grilled mastelo cheese or fish, and various Greek wines by the glass. Just the ticket for a light lunch break from sightseeing.
Basil and Elise Goulandris Restaurant Café
Ever since the opening of the Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation in 2019, visitors with artistic appetites and curious palettes have a place to call home—or work. Digital nomads, Pangrati dwellers and clued-up travellers know to drift to the B&E Goulandris Café-Restaurant for inventive takes on locavore comfort food. “We always opt for Greek products, but if it can’t be found in Greece, we will import instead of settling for the fill-in. It’s all about quality in the end,” says Dimitris Daglis, creative chef of IT company—the hot brand behind Kolonaki’s stylish IT restaurant and SNFCC’s Canal Café (read below.) Classic Greek ingredients such as skioufictha (Cretan pasta), mastic cheese from Andros, peppers from Florina, vine leaves and quince, all play star roles in the restaurant’s minimal menu. You’ll never guess how much a side dip of pea hummus can compliment their already exquisite fresh tuna poke bowl. Going for less meat? Ask the waiter for tips on how you can veg up your dish. Less work more play? Pair your crispy beef tartare with an exemplary Greek rosé, then finish off with a dreamy tiramisu, silkier than the Billie Holiday tracks that regularly play in the background.
Veal tartare, fresh tuna bowl and pumpkin burrata for an extraordinary lunch on any ordinary day.
Photo: Thomas Gravanis
View of the museum from the café.
Courtesy: Numismatic Museum.
Numismatic Museum Café
Tucked behind Ernst Ziller’s neoclassical pearl that houses the Numismatic Museum, and bounded on the other three sides by high-rise blocks from the 1960s, you’ll find this quintessential central Athens hideaway. Between the flowerbeds thick with Mediterranean flora, including some rare species, plus not so rare fauna in the form of a few lounging cats, a small hut housing a bar/kitchen serves simple fare like sandwiches, salads, platters of cold cuts or cheese, sweet and savoury pies, as well as hot and cold drinks. Its location right in the city’s commercial heart, combined with its laid-back, time-stands-still vibe, makes this café one of the city’s best hidden oases. If you’re a jazz fan, don’t miss the live music on Thursday nights, when the drumbeats reverberate off the office blocks and the sax cries over the hooting traffic for an Athenian take on surround-sound.
Canal Café at the SNFCC
Recharge your inner solar panel at this light-flooded café at the edge of the SNFCC canal. You’re in the perfect spot to admire Renzo Piano’s cutting-edge temple of sustainability and contemporary architecture that’s probably the closest thing Athens has to a modern-day Parthenon. Canal Café is also operated by the IT restaurant crew (see our B&E Goulandris café entry above) and shares their taste for “comfort food with clean flavours” and an allegiance to vegetarian, low gluten and vegan options. Open from early in the morning to 1am, the menu lends itself more to grabbing a casual bite between partaking of the SNFCC’s dizzying array of activities (think pre-prepped salads, bruschettas and wraps; pizzas, waffles and shakes). Except for those lazy summer evenings when you can settle in with a Cucumber Martini or Aegean Spritz at their new pop-up Cocktail Lab and watch the dancing fountains light up the canal.
There's a lot to take in at the SNFCC. Like the view from the Canal Café.
Courtesy: Canal Café
This café is a little-known favourite that you absolutely shouldn't miss.
Courtesy: Benaki Museum of Islamic Art
Benaki Museum of Islamic Art Café
A well-guarded secret among in-the-know locals, this small cafe has one of the finest views in downtown Athens. Located on the top floor of the fascinating, curiously under-the-radar Benaki Museum of Islamic Art, the rooftop terrace overlooks the ancient cemetery of Keramikos, with the Acropolis shimmering overhead. Inside, the walls are decorated by a joyful, colourful mural by British artist Navine Khan-Dossos, Imagine a Palm Tree. Peaceful and rarely crowded, this museum cafe is a lovely spot for a coffee break with a good book. The menu is basic (coffee, toasted sandwiches, fresh orange juice), but it’s all about the location. Closed Monday through Wednesday, the cafe stays open until 11 pm on Saturdays from early June to late September.
- 22 Agion Asomaton & 12 Dipilou, Psirri, 105 53
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Wheelchair Accessible
- +30 210 367 1000
- Website
Goulandris Natural History Museum Café
If you’re staying towards the north of Athens, or you have time for a day-trip to explore the breezy, leafy suburb of Kifissia, do add this museum and its eatery to your agenda. Children will love the triceratops on display within, while the garden offers plenty of shady nooks between mature trees, a lily-covered pond, and flowerbeds of aromatic herbs. The dishes served at this al fresco café/restaurant are created by Greek celebrity chef Dimitris Skarmoutsos to showcase characteristic ingredients gathered from various regions of Greece, as well as quality meat cuts from around the world. A salad of yellow beetroot, asparagus, radish, sunflower seeds and watermelon dressing, topped with manouri cheese; a peinirli (oval Greek pizza) with smoked metsovone cheese, truffle and poached egg; or wagyu beef striploin served with mashed potato, summer vegetables and truffle béarnaise sauce. It’s on the pricey side, but a tranquil and atmospheric place to enjoy the glories of the natural world, all around you and on your plate.
The museum's restaurant.
Courtesy: The Goulandris Museum of Natural History.
