Psyri (or Psyrri) is a graffiti-covered quarter in central Athens that blends gritty artisan charm with urban modernity, a little bit like London’s Shoreditch but with fewer fashion students. Most visitors to Athens tend to stay in Plaka, the historic centre, but with new hotels like the fantastic design-forward Monument Hotel Athens, and far fewer tourist groups following flags from musuem to musuem, we think Psyri is the best neighborhood for a few days spent exploring Athens’ main sights, such as the Acropolis and Monastiraki, which are a short view-laden walk away.
Why Use Psyri as Your Base in Athens?
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Central location: You’re within a 10-minute walk of the Acropolis, Plaka, and Monastiraki, but there are far fewer crowds.
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Atmosphere: Psyri offers a more local, creative, and bohemian vibe than Plaka. There are plenty of bars and cafes, many with outdoor terraces, others hidden behind nondescript doorways and there area, while somewhat run down, is striking, with string lights illuminating backstreets and squares and a convivial atmosphere in the evenings.
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Access: Two metro stations (Monastiraki and Thisseio) link you to the airport and Piraeus port. You can also get around the city quite easily on foot, and taxis from Psyri are quick and cheap (we used Uber).
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Dining & nightlife: The neighbourhood benefits from a massive variety of restaurants, rooftop bars, and plenty of cafes with street-side seating, many filled with locals.
The Main Sights Near Psyri
The Acropolis & Parthenon (10–12 min walk)
Look up from almost anywhere in Athens and you’ll see the Parthenon, sitting in the sunlight atop Acropolis Hill. If it were not for the wonderful Erechtheion, I might recommend that you avoid the crowds and always look at it this way — from afar, but the Erechtheion (pictured), along with the Temple of Athena, makes it a bit of a must-see. But it is essential to book your ticket online for a very early time slot like 8:00 am, because by 9:30, the crowds begin to pile up and by 10:00, the cruise ship groups have already completely taken over and the Acropolis begins to take on the appearance of a ruin overran by a vast human centipede.
Afterwards, the Acropolis Museum is just 12 12-minute walk away and not too busy by this point. It offers some good context for the ruins, and has a bit of a hidden gem beneath it in the form of an excavated archaeological site of the remains of an ancient Athenian neighborhood.
The Ancient Agora (5–7 min walk)
The Agora was the civic and political hub of ancient Athens, today a parkland of sorts. Visit early, as with all of the central Athens sights, to avoid the crowds, but more so to enjoy the serenity offered here. Walk the park and you’ll find the iconic Temple of Hephaestus perched atop the Agoraios Kolonos hill (pictured), but also a recreation of the Stoa of Attalos that today houses a museum with remnants and ruins that were part of the Agora during the Hellenistic period. On the upper floor, there are sculptures from the Ancient Agora, and some good vantage points of the park.
Another standout is the Church of the Holy Apostles, an 11th c. Byzantine church with an ornate eight-sided dome. Outdid
Not too far away from the Ancient Agora is the Roman Agora with the striking Tower of the Winds (the last horologium or clock tower surviving from classical antiquity), behind Monastiraki Square, the Kerameikos Archaeological Site, and Hadrian’s Library.
Plaka District (10 min walk)
Plaka’s streets are extremely charming, with delightful lanes, neoclassical mansions, tavernas heavy with the scents of grilled meat, beautiful little churches like the Holy Church of the Virgin Mary (pictured) and shops filled, for the most part, with tourist tat, which is better ignored. In between, you will find the occasional boutique, but other than that, this district is where you find the hordes and collections of restaurants selling almost identical menus, and roof terraces with Acropolis views paired with vastly inflated prices. That said, there are some good restaurants in the area, and a few decent bars, including Clumsies, a former top 50 in the world’s best bars. However, the Line bar over by the Petralona metro station is a much better option if you’re looking for cocktails with a more up-to-date menu and a stunning interior that feels somewhere between an industrial-chic warehouse club and a pop-up gallery.
Anafiotika District (15 min walk)
Officially a part of Plaka, this delightful little district is hidden a little further up the slopes of Acropolis Hill from the main streets and feels like old Greece, with its whitewashed houses and colour-popping bougainvillea crawling along the walls.
Exploring Anafiotik is a delight, and, perhaps owing to the steep incline or the tight warren of passageways, it’s one of the few places in central Athens where you can leave the crowds behind.
Where to Stay in Athens: Monument Hotel Athens
Nestled on Kalamida street in a stunning 19th-century mansion, Monument Hotel is a calm, luxury boutique hotel, a haven amongst the gigantic murals on the typical Psyri backstreet that it calls home.
I’ve stayed in two rooms at Monument Hotel, the first is the most basic Sepia room, and while a pretty enough room with a continuation of the same stately design that makes the public areas of the hotel so endearing, I found it quite small, and lacking privacy as there are 3 other rooms sharing the same landing entrance. But the room boasts a huge mirror, which is in fact the walls of the box that the toilet is concealed inside (the shower is in a separate room), and there are two bottles of local ‘alcoholic beverages’ along with a small collection of ornate glassware, right outside the door for guests’ use. Other than that, Sepia is servicable and pretty, but I wouldn’t suggest it when the better suites at Monument are not much more expensive.
The second room, and by far so much more beautiful, is Monument’s incredible signature room: Room 9, the Nidus suite. The Nidus Suite is accessed by a private narrow staircase from the landing of the 2nd floor that takes you into the attic, where you enter directly onto an envy-inducing private terrace tucked amongst the roofs of Athens’ Psyri district. But even better is the remarkable view of the Athens skyline. From here, Athens appears as all church spires, terracotta roofs, and the heavy punctuation that is the Acropolis, sitting atop the Sacred Rock, beautifully illuminated like some ancient giant candles once the sun sets.
Read our full review of Athens’ Monument Hotel here. Or to check rates and to book, please take a look here (booking via this link may earn us a small commission at no cost to you).
9 Athens
A Plaka Boutique Hotel?
If you’re looking for a modern boutique hotel in Plaka, you won’t find many. But the relatively new Nine Athens is a good option, and a locally owned one too, a rarity amongst the somewhat sterile international brands that populate the area. There are only a handful of rooms, each overlooking the old streets of Plaka and Mitropoleos Square. The rooms are modern, while a little basic, with clean designs taking the centre stage. Ours had a huge bathroom with perhaps a little too much space, considering it was almost the same size as the bedroom, but that’s a minor quibble.
A standout feature at Nine Athens is the breakfasts, served under a canopy in the square, freshly cooked to order, with a good selection of both Greek dishes and international. Everything we had was sublime, including the Greek-style iced coffees.
To check rates and to book a room at Nine Athens, please take a look here (booking via this link may earn us a small commission at no cost to you).
Where To Eat and Drink In Athens and Psyri
Karamanlidika
While Psyri does have a lot of good cafes and restaurants, the one I’d recommend over them all is Karamanlidika. Walk in the front door and you soon realise it’s actually a deli with tables. The front of the restaurant is spread around its meat and cheese counter, while the back is a glorious little passageway with a retractable roof, beautiful in the late afternoon, when the sun is lower.
The food is exceptional and a little bit different in places. Standout dishes included the Greek-style pelmeni served in a sauce so moreish we dipped every bit of bread we could lay our hands on to help finish it off. Add to that Greek fried cheeses and impeccably cooked meat dishes and you have a brilliant dining destination for lunch or dinner.
Line Bar
A constant in the World’s Best Bars, this wonderful Athens cocktail bar is over near the main train station, so it is a taxi ride away from Psyrri or a Metro journey to nearby Petralona station. But the cocktails at Line Bar make the journey more than worthwhile. Expect daring concoctions finished with the bar’s own fermented wines, created in huge steel tanks at the back of the bar. The building is quite the venue too, all huge spaces and high industrial ceilings. White washed walls, club-like spaces to share a cocktail, and a convivial garden.
Taverna Oikonomou
Taverna Oikonomou is probably my current favourite restaurant in Athens. It isn’t just the food that makes it special, though; it’s also the location in Ano Petralona. The space is typical of those old-fashioned family-run restaurants, and always busy come 9 pm. But the building is wrapped with a good few tables set beneath olive trees on a street that’s mostly residential and disarmingly quiet. Book to ensure you get an outside spot! Service is friendly and responsive, and the food is deceptively simple and rustic, yet exceptionally tasty. The menu is mostly recognizable to anyone with any understanding of Greek food (heavenly fried saganaki, anyone?), but it’s also exquisitely authentic and reasonably priced.
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