Hestia Kolokotroni 23

You’ll be delighted that there’s a modern Mexican restaurant on 3 Kolokotroni Street, barely a minute from your apartment. Superb nachos, mouthwatering quesadillas, and bursting burritos set the stage for a great Mexican meal, along with Argentinian beef dishes and burgers for the more carnivorous guests. Open for lunch and dinner, this restaurant will also woo you with its fine desserts and excellent cocktails.

The delicious and authentic taste of Greek cuisine can be found at Feedel Urban Gastronomy, with classics like moussaka, souvlaki, and spanakopita, along with more original fare like the grilled octopus with fava puree, the lamb shank with orzo, or the vegan burger with beetroot sauce. The portions are generous, and the prices are reasonable, so you will leave feeling satisfied and happy.

This cozy and authentic place boasts delicious Greek cuisine. It is a family-run business that offers a variety of dishes made with fresh and local ingredients. Try the grilled octopus, feta cheese wrapped in filo pastry, boiled greens for a health boost, or the homemade tzatziki and hand-cut fries. For the main course, choose from a range of meat, fish, and vegetarian options – for example, lamb chops, pork chops, grilled sea bass, giant beans in tomato sauce, and stuffed peppers.

Souvlaki meets kebab at this Greek eatery with an Anatolian twist. You’ll find your meat served often with creamy yogurt and a side of onion, bringing out the robust eastern flavors of the region. Great for meat lovers, this place also has hearty salads topped with feta that work sublimely with the food on offer. It’s so close that you’re better off walking around downtown to digest before heading back to Kolokotroni St.

If you happen to like more robust tastes and ethnic street fare based on authenticity, walk a few steps to Curry Express and you’ll be rewarded with an explosion of flavors. This is one of our favorite Indian places, and our vegan friends were very happy with the choices there too. Everything is illustrated on a side wall, which you can’t miss if you walk about down the road from our apartments. Great too for taking out and back to your apartment or our common roof terrace.

There are many Greek restaurants in Downtown Athens, but only a handful stand out. This chef-driven restaurant is one of them, thanks to the tireless travails of well-known chef Nina Ismirnoglou who prizes the highest quality ingredients and introduces more novel Mediterranean touches to the kitchen. Traditional salads, savory pies, and grilled meats can all be enjoyed here, but also rarer delights such as turkey meatballs, shrimp dumplings, and braised pork with caramelized quince.

Would you like a fancy coffee or tea on the go, along with some sweet bites to go with it? This quality place with its knowledgeable baristas will delight every coffee or tea connoisseur, all for very reasonable prices. Perfect for grabbing something and walking around the pedestrian streets of Downtown Athens.

This “secret” café might be situated in Syntagma Square, the country’s most popular and most important square, but most people don’t even know it’s there! That’s because it’s on a rooftop, right above the ‘Public store’. Head into the store and take the elevator to the last floor, and you’ll be surprised by both the vibe and the views. Oh, and there’s food too!

Even the name of this concept street bar is intriguing, but so are the cocktails, food, and DJ music! The place’s own description is pretty accurate: “Urban fine drinking cocktail street bar in the center of Athens with a menu that changes daily.” It’s barely a couple of minutes from our property and a great outdoor city-street choice that lets you feel the Athens vibe at its best.

Are you a beer person? Then this place is for you. It boasts craft beers, draft beers, local beers, international beers, alcoholic drinks, bar food and so much more. Clients are impressed with the variety, while the place itself boasts a funky industrial design and a huge display. Every beer lover is singing this joint’s praises online for the most part, and the staff is ready to give insights and tips on the different beers served.

Here’s another traditional bakery in Downtown Athens, and this one has a variety of bread to choose from, apart from the salty pies or pitas. Also worth trying is the Koulouri, a kind of Greek sesame bagel baked to perfection (wholewheat variety available too). Sample the famed Greek pies, take a specialty bread home with you, and get a dozen cookies. You might find that the basic Greek cookies are harder than you’d like, but they’re a great accompaniment for coffee and tea back at the hotel.

Yes, you can have your cake and eat it! And your ice cream too. This robust variety of desserts is sugar-free and vegan, so go ahead and enjoy. You’ll find an eye-opening variety of ice cream flavors that appeal to everyone, including those on a dairy-free or plant-based diet. The same applies to those must-try guiltless desserts such as pistachio cheesecake, banoffee cheesecake, brownies, and cinnamon buns.

Probably the closest to Kolokotroni 23, this pharmacy is barely two minutes away by foot and offers a good range of beauty and personal care products, apart from all standard medication. You’ll find that the pharmacists generally speak good English and will be able to advise you on minor medical issues and on items offered. A majority of foreign travelers who have visited the pharmacy were quite satisfied, according to online reviews! Opens every day from 9 am to 9 pm, closed on Sundays.

Vassilopoulos represents Greece’s more high-end supermarket chain, which beyond all the standard items, will fill in the blanks with more specialty stuff, from vegan pesto and firm tofu to organic produce and plant-based milks. It’s a short walk away, yet ideal if you’re a picky shopper or a gourmet diner. Drinks and wines abound as well, while the historic downtown building that houses the supermarket is itself an attraction.

It’s all about the money at the Numismatic Museum, except that the money literally dates from some 2000 or 3000 years ago! Whether you’re a coin collector or just curious about the history of money, you should visit this museum, one of the oldest and most important in Greece, with a collection of over 600,000 coins from ancient to modern times. You can see how coins were made, used, and circulated in different periods and regions, and learn about the cultural, political and economic aspects of each era. The museum is housed in a beautiful neoclassical building that was once the home of Heinrich Schliemann, the famous archaeologist who discovered Troy. Enjoy a coffee or a snack in the museum’s garden, which is a peaceful oasis in the busy city center.

Greece’s famous Benaki Museum has many fascinating branches in the city of Athens, and this one as well astound you with its collection, especially if you love history and art. The museum showcases the rich and diverse heritage of Greece from ancient times to the present day. Admire stunning exhibits of pottery, sculpture, jewelry, paintings, costumes, and more. Learn about the social and political events that shaped the Greek identity and culture. The Benaki Museum of Greek Culture is both enjoyable and insightful for anyone who wants to explore the beauty and complexity of Greece.

Athens’ main shopping street, known as Ermou or Hermou (named after the Olympian god Hermes) lies very conveniently two roads parallel to Kolokotroni St., where our apartments lie. Ermou is a pedestrian circus of a shopping street where all major brands are available, along with many Greek ones. Clothing, shoe stores, bags, beauty stores, and so much more grace this busily attractive street, where you’ll also run across the charming Kapnikaria Church (over 1000 years old) in its midst. Around there, you’ll find cafes, restaurants, ice cream parlors, and interesting shops to explore.

Greece’s Parliament with the iconic change of the guards, the historic Grande Bretagne Hotel, and the Royal Gardens – now a lush public park behind the parliament – are just some of the attractions around Syntagma Square, just steps away from our property. Under the square lies the central metro station where two of the three metro lines meet underground, and where archeological remains from Ancient Greece, found at this very spot, can be seen on display.

Guess what, you’re just a few minutes away by foot from one of Athens’ most charming old neighborhoods, complete with small clothing boutiques, tourist shops, eateries, archeological sites, and charming old villas all mixed up in one cozy neighborhood. Mostly pedestrianized, Plaka is a joy to walk in and see Athenian life unfold, where tourists and locals mix and mingle like there’s no tomorrow. The upper Plaka area, or Anafiotika, looks like a neighborhood from a Cycladic Island, so it’s worth visiting as well!