Looking for budget accommodation in Athens—but don’t want your holiday tainted by rock hard pillows and leaky bathrooms? Athens has plenty of comfortable, charismatic and reasonably priced hotels to choose from. From hip hostels and cool crash-pads with romantic rooftops, to cosy boltholes with the Acropolis on your doorstep, these affordable hotels are all under 100 euros a night (in low season). Spend less on your room tab, and more on soaking up the sights and tastes of Athens.
Home & Poetry
Check in: You’ll love coming home to this pretty neoclassical mansion that’s smack bang in the ancient playground of Plaka. Museums and monuments, restaurants and shops—they’re all at your fingertips. There are 16 light and airy rooms, decked out with faux antiques and all named after Greek poets. Expect some outside noise in the evenings; a few of the rooms face a lively square. But who wants to go to bed early in Athens anyway?
Check-out: Lucky you; guests get to breakfast right beneath the Acropolis on a swoony roof terrace to the tune of old Greek ballads cranked out by gramophone. Poetic indeed. Wind up your day with a cocktail up there too.
A poetic base in the middle of Plaka.
Courtesy: Psachos Photography
Cool bars and restaurants are on every side at stylish Noma.
Courtesy: Noma
Noma
Check in: For an effortlessly cool boutique hotel that feels like an insider’s secret. With its slim stone entrance, you could easily slip right past this sophisticated newcomer on Athinaidos Street, flanked by happening bars and restaurants. The striking 1843 building once housed a girl’s orphanage. Now it’s been refashioned into 14 spacious rooms with lofty ceilings, original wooden beams and a monastic aesthetic. Rooms have crafty features to optimise space, like velour room dividers and unexpected hallways fronting sleek contemporary bathrooms. The charming top-floor suite resembles a little house with sloping beams and an open-air hot tub where you can peep at the Parthenon.
Check out: The cavernous lobby, lined with illuminated stone walls and arches, feels like you’ve entered a Roman catacomb. Enjoy tasty breakfasts of bacon and eggs, homemade cookies and traditional rice pudding at Noma’s adjoining restaurant (after breakfast, it turns into a Thai restaurant).
City Circus Athens
Check in: If you believe that budget shouldn’t mean boring, this “boutique hostel” in Psirri will be just your style. Inside this four-storey neoclassical townhouse, you’ll be surrounded by belle epoque lights, reclaimed vintage furniture, and bright murals referencing the feisty local street art scene. Take your pick of 25 rooms, from cheery doubles with en suites and balconies to stylish dormitories with wooden bunk beds. Hang out in the chatty communal living room, or ascend to the tiny roof garden to enjoy the Parthenon on a plate.
Check-out: Take an old-school selfie in the fancy-dress photo booth. Drop in on the jazzy Sunday brunch next door at Zampano—this Fellini-inspired bistro is part of the Circus package (and they do great Greek wines by the glass).
A hostel with a difference.
Courtesy: City Circus
A tranquil repose with an arty past.
Courtesy: Athens Green
Athens Green Apartments
Check-in: For serene lodgings where Greek poets and film directors once rested their heads. This elegant 1930s residence, owned by a local furniture designer, is just like Athens: an enticing mash-up of old and new. Metal butterfly lights, 19th-century Viennese coat racks, vintage easels and matt black bathrooms sit side by side. The 7 light-filled rooms range from double garden studios to first-floor apartments that sleep five. When you get peckish, laidback Pangrati with its authentic tavernas, hip cafes and late-night cocktail bars is right on your doorstep.
Check-out: The new B&E Goulandris museum of modern art is right around the corner. The fashionable museum cafe is almost as much of a reason to go as masterpieces by Picasso, Miro, and Monet.
Live in Athens
Check in: If you want to experience Athens with no filter and live like a local in eligible downtown neighbourhoods. Live in Athens is a dynamic quartet of Athenians who snaps up prime city properties and renovates them into appealing apartments with kitchens for the self-catering crowd. Picture yourself in a sunlit modern suite with private terrace and magazine-worthy rooftop in Plaka; or a stately landmarked building in beautiful Thissio, near the Acropolis Museum. Or perhaps a central base in groovy Psirri, a stone’s throw from old-school tavernas and funky bars, is more your speed. Every Live in Athens room has a different vibe. “We don’t do copy, paste,” says co-founder Varnavas.
Check out: Elevate your holiday cooking with chillies and fresh herbs from the small on-site garden at the main Psirri property; or pop around the corner for the legendary scrambled eggs at Spiti mas, the company’s quirky neighbourhood eaterie.
You'll feel like a native Athenian.
Courtesy: Live in Athens
Fresh and friendly is the mood at Athens4.
Courtesy: Athens4
Athens4
Check-in: The first clue that you’ve entered a smart urban oasis is the highly snappable wallpaper wrapped around the clubby lobby. It’s printed with bright parakeets and chimpanzees perched on tropical palms. Secondly, there’s no reception. Just lots of chic sofas and greenery. The friendly folk at this fresh Monastiraki hotel want you to feel instantly at home. Formerly a textile factory (and then a bank), this 23-room hotel is sister to the slightly more design-led 18 Micon. You’ll find the same affection for detail here. Plush bedheads, geometric tiles, and the classy black and white façade are a modern take on art deco. There are prettier streets in the area, but you’re right near the exciting café and cocktail action of Agia Irini Square.
Check-out: The two upbeat family rooms stocked with games, double bunks and a sliding partition for when you need a little quiet time. In romantic Room 23, both of you can soak in a square black tub underneath a picture window framing beautiful Agia Irini church, or toast each other with a sundowner on your private terrace.
Heloni Apartments
Check-in: for a fresh concept—the deconstructed hotel. This hive of 14 like-minded stays is scattered across Athens, but still offers traditional hotel services like airport transfers, breakfast goodies, toiletries, and in-room cleaning on request. The Heloni angle—it means tortoise—is to provide safe bases for urban safaris in smart, homey spaces, equipped with kitchens and laundry appliances. Bunker down in freshly-renovated 2 and 3 bedroom apartments, named after Greek Gods and Goddesses, in secure residential buildings, alongside regular Athenians (their bicycles in the entry will make you feel right at home). Décor is more friendly than fancy (picture stripy sofa throws and “Things to Do”chalkboards), making Heloni a savvy choice for families and pal groups. Stay in the thick of Plaka; choose cool Athenian neighbourhoods like Pangrati and Koukaki; or park yourself in Piraeus. “Every neighbourhood in Athens has its own soul,” says Heloni’s Konstantina Vogiatzidou.
Check-out: Handy “mates’ rates” at local shops and restaurants who’ve buddied up with Heloni; Apollo’s smashing roof terrace where you can dine or sunbathe with the Acropolis for company; Hadrian's unbeatable location, slap bang on Plaka’s Adrianou Street; and delightful Kleio with her plush dressing room and vintage rockers.
Keep tabs on the Acropolis at Apollo.
Courtesy: Heloni Apartments
All that's missing is the sea...
Courtesy: Ederlezi Living
Ederlezi Living
Check-in: Stay at this chilled and classy new bohemian repose in trendy Psirri and you may spy your fellow guests barefoot on the summery roof garden; or strolling through the reception in their pyjamas. It’s that kind of place. The eight suites – with flighty names like Luna, Jasmine and Allegra - work a dress code that’s “earthy and energized”, built around natural elements of wood, stone, straw and marble (think hand-hewn breakfast bars, tactile bed throws and floating chestnut clothes rails). Every room is skillfully space-optimised; even the smaller rooms have generous showers (and handy Marshall Bluetooth speakers). Whisk your complimentary bottle of Santorini white up to the island-vibes roof terrace to enjoy among the olive trees and rosemary bushes, or take an afternoon doze on a crocheted hammock.
Check-out: For a novel stay, book the best-selling Olivia with double bunk beds (pitched at families or cosy foursomes!); look out for wine tastings and Greek barbecues hosted up on the roof. Ederlezi also has chic self-catered apartments sprinkled across the city centre for privacy-seekers.
Athens Studios & Apartments
Check in: If you’re a solo traveller or someone who likes to make new friends on holiday. By day, you’re just around the corner from the Acropolis Museum and the majestic promenade of Dionysiou Areopagitou. By night, you can tap into the international social whirl at the on-site Athens Sports Bar or gourmet burger bar (there’s also a rocking rooftop bar in warmer months). Choose from 16 accommodation options in three adjacent buildings: there are dorm singles and private couple rooms, family studios and a three-room penthouse suite, with a private roof terrace overlooking, you guessed it, the Parthenon. Apartments are airy and open-plan with functional decor and kitchens.
Check-out: Encounter some of Athens’ greatest hits on one of the hotel’s daily walking tours (you’ll pay just €7). Run out of clean clothes? There’s an on-site laundromat that never closes.
A handy base full of friendly faces.
Courtesy: Athens Studio & Apartments
Modern love: Pi Athens is great for young couples.
Courtesy: Pi Athens Suites
Pi Athens Suites
Check-in: This relaxed micro-hotel has a modern, industrial mood that will appeal to younger couples seeking an affordably cool base that’s close—but not too close—to all the main museums and monuments. Tucked away on a residential side-street in sought-after Pangrati, you can choose from six spacious suites, some on their own floors. You’ll feel like a VIP in the top-floor family suite with its own private lift and glam Acropolis vistas. Shy types might blush using the open-plan bathrooms (the free-standing tubs are curtain-free). A small roof terrace faces the Parthenon, while free valet parking is a bonus at this price.
Check-out: The hotel’s lobby and facade are carved from the same marble as the world-famous Panathenaic Stadium, just a couple of blocks away. Go for an early morning jog around the stadium.
Selina Theatrou
Check-in: South American “nomadic lifestyle” brand Selina has touched down in Theatrou Square, in eclectic Omonia, to provide the happy feels that 2020 so needs. Pitched at adventurous souls of all stripes, think of it as a ground-up eco-system: from a colour-drenched lobby (with a vast circular table for sociable solos), to a groovy co-working space, yoga studio, library, retro-cool cinema, and “home away from home” roof hangout with stonking Acropolis views. There are 296 beds across 101 bright new rooms (pick from communal or private bunk dorms and micro rooms with no bathroom, right up to exclusive private suites).
Check-out: Raid the nearby Athens Food Market to cook up a storm in the state-of-the art communal kitchen; embark on a quirky culture trip such as a Vintage Bike or Athens Drunk tour; take advantage of great rates for longer stays.
Newcomer Selina Theatrou breathes life and colour into Theatrou Square.
Courtesy: Selina Theatrou
