Taste Athens with a Local

A friendly, fun and personalised introduction to central Athens via the topic of food, and a great way to find out all kinds of other local information too!

My son and I met Danai for a food tour on a Saturday morning. Even before we arrived in Athens we received tips from Danai about the restaurants in the neighborhood of our hotel. We went to visit the Central market, and many other venues where we tasted Athens. The sweet treats were delicious. I recommend this tour to anyone who wants to experience Athens the local way.

Thanks to This is Athens for the work you are doing and the ability you give people to meet with locals to discover your great country.

This walk was great and very enjoyable. We strolled from Syntagma Square to Varvakios Agora, the main food market, stopping on the way to look at various buildings and pop into bakeries etc. I learnt lots about Greece and Athens as well as food, and the history of the no longer fashionable frappe - which I have since tried. Traditional biscuits and cakes were pointed out to me and the market and surrounding shops were fun. Yes, you can easily go to the market yourself but it's much more enjoyable to experience it with a local person! We also shared lunch on Adianou Street which was a great thing to do. I definitely recommend this walk.

Fantastic, one of a kind! We had a food walking tour with Danai in October 2023 and it was an incredible experience for us! We got to sample a range of local produce and received great food recommendations.

Fantastic, one of a kind! We had a food walking tour with Danai in October 2023 and it was an incredible experience for us! We got to sample a range of local produce and received great food recommendations.

Fantastic, one of a kind! We had a food walking tour with Danai in October 2023 and it was an incredible experience for us! We got to sample a range of local produce and received great food recommendations.

Fantastic, one of a kind! We had a food walking tour with Danai in October 2023 and it was an incredible experience for us! We got to sample a range of local produce and received great food recommendations.

Fantastic, one of a kind! We had a food walking tour with Danai in October 2023 and it was an incredible experience for us! We got to sample a range of local produce and received great food recommendations.

Fantastic, one of a kind! We had a food walking tour with Danai in October 2023 and it was an incredible experience for us! We got to sample a range of local produce and received great food recommendations.

Fantastic, one of a kind! We had a food walking tour with Danai in October 2023 and it was an incredible experience for us! We got to sample a range of local produce and received great food recommendations.

Fantastic, one of a kind! We had a food walking tour with Danai in October 2023 and it was an incredible experience for us! We got to sample a range of local produce and received great food recommendations.

Fantastic, one of a kind! We had a food walking tour with Danai in October 2023 and it was an incredible experience for us! We got to sample a range of local produce and received great food recommendations.

Fantastic, one of a kind! We had a food walking tour with Danai in October 2023 and it was an incredible experience for us! We got to sample a range of local produce and received great food recommendations.

Fantastic, one of a kind! We had a food walking tour with Danai in October 2023 and it was an incredible experience for us! We got to sample a range of local produce and received great food recommendations.

Fantastic, one of a kind! We had a food walking tour with Danai in October 2023 and it was an incredible experience for us! We got to sample a range of local produce and received great food recommendations.

Fantastic, one of a kind! We had a food walking tour with Danai in October 2023 and it was an incredible experience for us! We got to sample a range of local produce and received great food recommendations.

Giannis did an excellent job of showing us the local foods of Athens, from the famous cheese pies, greek coffee, rooftop bars, and desserts, to fish markets. In between, he offered us information on the neighbourhoods, historical buildings, and the history of Athens. I highly recommend a Foodie Tour with Giannis; it was the best way to start our trip and get acquainted with Greek food and culture.

The walk allowed us to understand better about the variety of food diet in Greece. A walk in the Central market allowed me to make comparison on the cost of living & the types of spices used in my country.

The walk was excellent. It was so interesting to learn more about Greek food and local customs. We enjoyed the taste-testing, the ingredient shopping and the amazing food that we had on this walk! My parents are enthusiastic to try out Greek food back at home, so learning so much about Greek food and spices made them really happy. The walk absolutely surpassed our expectations in every way. Danai's stories and her interactions with the locals at shops and at the central market felt like something very special for us to experience, as tourists and outsiders. We would absolutely recommend this tour to our friends and family who come to Athens.

We asked for a food tour and that’s what we got! We tasted Greek cheese pies, pastries, cheese, mastic-flavored candy, liqueurs, and delicious desserts. We also had a very interesting tour of the local meat market and vegetable market. Our last stop with our guide Danai was for Greek orange cake-I’ve already located a recipe so I can recreate it at home and relive a special day in a great city with a wonderful woman!

Without a doubt this walk was amazing! Such an interesting and alternative way to experience Athens, especially for our first time here! Highly recommend this to anyone wanting to do this walk & we will be recommending this to all our friends!

My family absolutely loved this walk. It was such a great way to get to know the city, the food, the culture, the people, and Danai our local guide. We tried such a variety of foods like honey from a fourth generation bee keeper, pistachios, olives, cheese, yogurt, candies, beer, wine, chickpeas, Greek salad, zucchini balls, chicken and more. We were able to see the meat market where they butchered the veal, pigs, rabbits, and more and yet it did not smell and was super clean. We saw the fish market where they filleted fish and saw squid and octopus and sardines for sale. We saw the other markets full of fresh fruit, vegetables, breads, spices, and more for sale and bought so many wonderful Greek foods to snack on along our walk and bring home for souvenirs. I highly recommend this walk on a first or second day of your stay in Athens because it is a great introduction to the city and a great way to stock up on food and snacks for your stay and make a bucket list of restaurants and foods and desserts to try while in Athens. Thank you to Danai for sharing all her recommendations and love of Athens with us. This was the single best tour we had on our two week trip across Europe.

My mom and I are foodies so this walk was perfect for us! Danai took us to many spots around Athens city centre which we wouldn't even know existed. She took us also through the shops in the Central Market and it was lovely to hear stories and history about Greek food. We also got many different recommendations for foods to try. A truly amazing experience and I cannot recommend it enough!

I really enjoyed the walk because I have seen places I wouldn't have had the opportunity to visit by myself, I really enjoyed the walk around the local market in Exarchia area!, it is a neighborhood full of history and street art, there are a lot of great places hidden there!.

Danai, our guide, was fantastic!!! We met at Syntagma Square & visited all kinds of delightful spots. From a coffee bar to a tea shop, chocolates, cheese, two bakeries (oh, the pies & donuts!), the meat market & the fish market, and then veggies, spices, fruit & olives at the market.
Throughout, Danai shared her knowledge of the area & some great tips on how to prepare some Greek favourites. She was even kind enough to share a recipe for the ingredients we purchased, which we then went home and made for dinner!
We finished at a restaurant enjoyed by locals - a sure sign it’s authentic & delicious.
The entire experience was fantastic!!
Thank you, Danai, for such a wonderful day in Athens.

We did this walk as soon as we arrived in Athens as we thought it'd be a good way to find out about good places to eat, and it didn't disappoint.

I booked the walk quite late before arriving in Athens and did not know if it would be easy to organise at such late notice.
Vivi replied within 24 hours and knew where I was staying so organised the tour closest to me.
I love going off the beaten track and discovering a city behind the scenes and Vivi created a food tour that did just that.
She showed me places that I wouldn't have thought to go and only where a local would. Hidden restaurants behind closed doors that were buzzing with locals enjoying a warm spring Friday evening.
Tasting the real Athens, fresh, aromatic and full of life
For me this was one of my highlights and I would thoroughly recommend thinking about it.
Vivi has a great knowledge base, we chatted, laughed and we tasted Athens just like a local!

Very interesting and nice to have someone lead the way. A great way to learn more about Athens and discover things you wouldn’t on your own

The walk was funny, informative and allows us to discover things and places we wouldn't have seen and appreciated enough walking around by ourselves

Anastasios was an AMAZING tour guide - what a wealth of information! We joined forces with another group of 2 from the same country (Canada!) and combined the eating tour with another themed tour. It was so nice to make new friends, be introduced to local favourite eats as well as to see the city from the eyes of a local.

We actually signed up for a paid, guided walking tour for Acropolis as well as Old Athens City Tour with another operator just a few before, and Anastasios was still able to introduce us to new establishments and parts of town that the paid tour didn't even touch on. Very well done - I'd book again if I came back to visit!

100% recommend booking a free local tour with This Is Athens and with the best tour guide ever - Anastasios!!!! Thank you so much!

We like the walk very much
It was perfect!!!

The tour guide's passion and content were good. However, it seems necessary to adjust the tour title to suit the content. Thank you very much for running such a great tour program as a pure volunteer.

What a lovely way to introduce us to Athens! It was quick and easy to sign up and we received a reply right away. Walking with a local gave us some interesting insight into Athenian culture and also helped us get our bearings. Over our week long stay, we ended up trying some of the foods and activities that were highlighted to us during this walk! Thank you for organizing this free program. It was clear that our guide Anastasios was passionate about his city and genuinely wanted us to share that as well. Well done!

Wonderful walk with Danai through Plaka. She showed us ways to walk the area without traffic, people and gave us insight into the area and Greek people. Also sent us information of places to see traditional folk dances and places to go and visit on our own. She gave me a lovely little gift. My only regret is that I didn’t think of bringing a little gift for her from the States. Thank you Danai!

We loved the walk. What a treat to get a tour that taught us about so many different kinds of food, letting us try as many as we wished (well come back later for more).

This is really an interesting walk. I got a lof of useful information not only food related information but also more about the city and the history. We walk through central market and several famous places. Thank you for organising this tour.

We booked this walk for our first day in Athens which we would highly recommend doing as it gave us an understanding of the city, the people and the culture.
It was a great initiation to Athens.

Nice to see different Athens.

The walk was leisurely, leaving time for pictures and tastings. We saw many things we would not have seen otherwise and went back to places our guide suggested. The whole group enjoyed it!

We went through the market and the supermarket, we learned a lot about Greek food and traditions.

The walking experience far exceeded our expectations thanks to our local host. We learnt much about the Greek history from a gastronomical traditions' perspective from ancient times to modern, and managed to sample a few of examples of them too. The walk was not on a fixed route/schedule, but rather tailored to us on the go by our wonderful host, Danai. All in all an excellent experience that must not be missed.

This was a lovely way to explore Athens and learn about food as well as some history and culture. The snacks we tried were very tasty and it was exactly the kind of thing we were looking for.

The walk was a fantastic introduction to the amazing cuisine of Athens. So much fun and so interesting!

It was so amazing to tour Athens with a local. We loved our adventure and loved the opportunity to view Athens with Danai. We got to visit several food shops, that had such yummy goodies, and tour the Central Market. I have been raving to all my friends that if they visit Athens, they must scedule a walk with This is Athens. the communication leading up to our walk was amazing and I was so surprised that we were able to get a tour with only 2 weeks notice.

The walk was fantastic .. Katerina was wonderful and very informative .. I would definitely recommend anyone to experience Athens this way

We didn't walk much - physically - but in thought. Because funnily enough, we had chosen a nice place together and had such great, nice conversation that we got stuck there. But we got lots of "ammunition" and tips. A lot of inspiration. We explored the similarities of Athens and Berlin, laughed a lot and ate very well. What a great institution and inspiration "This is Athens" provides. Great. Congratulations on the idea and execution. We will definitely do it again next time and propose something similar in Berlin.

I really liked the walk since I discovered streets I haven’t been before. I learned a lot about Athens and the Greek and tried the best bagel of Athens

I enjoyed my tour with George. It was interesting to learn how gastronomy developed in Athens and find out where to sample different foods.

Very interesting places

The walk was lovely. I got to see places in central Athens I wouldn't have visited otherwise, like the area with Chinese supermarkets and a hidden espresso cafe. I'll definitely be bringing people to the gyros joint.

The walk was beautiful. From the hills near the Acropolis to the squares, it provided a historical timeline of Athens.