Monument Hotel, Athens
Walking along Kalamida street, where one finds the stunning 19th-century mansion that houses Monument Hotel, you could be forgiven for thinking you’d taken a wrong turn, as it’s a typical Psyri backstreet, with gigantic murals, messy tags, a tipsy brick road, and a queue snaking into oncoming roadtraffic from a unremarkable door hiding a restaurants at the end of the street. But as you’ll soon learn, that’s because Athens’ Psyri is a bit like London’s Hoxton or Brick Lane: it’s messy with personality and kept alive by young businesses that dabble in everything from food to piercings, antiques to bakeries, and it suits this little boutique hotel perfectly.
Arrive at the ornate door, and you’ll be let into a prim reception by one of the small team, who immediately help with bags and show guests around. Behind the desk, there’s the stunning wooden staircase twisting out of the lobby and into the first and second floors. This is important, as there’s no lift in Monument. It’s a protected building, and for the 9 rooms available, it would likely make little sense to take away from the real estate. For anyone staying in the Nidus Suite, as we did, there’s a second, private staircase too (more on that below).
Off the lobby, there’s a common area, which is essentially a living room stuffed with an art deco-esque drinks trolley, Gubi chairs, and pendant lights that hang from the ceiling like huge summer hats plucked from a Jacquemus catwalk. This leads to a convivial breakfast room.
Staying in the Nidus suite at the Monument Hotel in Athens
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.
The terrace is huge (itself bigger than the Sepia room), with various seating, some under an iron canopy with young vines beginning to grow around it, and others perfectly placed to take in the view. Additionally, there’s a black iron spiral staircase, stuffed full with flowers and plants, leading to an unused terrace. Next to this is an all black hot tub, which, thankfully, is shaded from the harsh daytime sunshine but excellently placed to take advantage of the evening sun setting over the Peloponnese, and yes, you can see the Acropolis from in the water. A thoughtful touch is the two black plastic wine glasses in the room for taking into the hot tub.
The bedroom of the Nidus Suite feels a 3rd larger than the Sepia room and a bit smaller than the two veranda suites, but you’re on the roof, so the slant of the ceiling takes some of the headroom away where the headboard is, but we didn’t find this problematic.
The design of the Nidus suite is chic, with dried flowers behind the headboard, ambiently lit in the evenings, and there’s a table and chairs, which were missing from the smaller Sepia room. Again, the bathroom is larger with a spacious walk-in shower, and the entire room benefits from windows looking over the private terrace, including a small window in the bathroom.
The terrace in the Nidus Suite is the highlight of the already exceptional Monument Hotel, especially in a city that charges a premium for eating in 3rd rate restaurants to enjoy similar. If the Nidus suite isn’t available on your dates, I suggest going with either the Muse or Epos suites, which, in place of the terrace, have a veranda and a larger bedroom. The Epos suite is on the second floor, so it benefits from Acropolis views.
Breakfast, service & Cocktails at Monument
The breakfasts at the Monument Hotel are made to order, but there’s a little trolley filled with treats like rice pudding, cream-stuffed Lichnarakia pies, and teas. If you’re missing the traditional European breakfast of meats and cheeses, you can order this too, along with whatever you want for a cooked breakfast. We tried various dishes during our visit, including local breakfasts like Kayianias, but a highlight was an open sandwich with pleurotus mushrooms (oyster mushrooms), avocado, and marinated tofu spiced with chillies.
Monument Hotel doesn’t have a restaurant, but in a city like Athens, there’s little need, and the area is packed with choices. We ordered cocktails in the room: a Select spritz and an Aperol spritz, both of which were excellent and well mixed and delivered to our suite entirely intact, just in time for us to watch the sunset, glass in hand, from the Nidus Suite’s exceptional private terrace.
The Monument’s service is friendly and convivial. We upgraded our room during our stay with no issues, and the doormen were able to lug our luggage around the various staircases with minimal fuss. We didn’t use the spa on this occasion, but it has a complimentary sauna and steam room, which is for private use only, which I’m a big fan of, and will use on our next visit.
The Monument Hotel Location in Athens
The Monument Hotel is on the intersection of 2 backstreets in Psyri, a neighbourhood once filled with leather and metal workers, but has gone through something of a gentrification, leaving it with a bohemian aesthetic that fuses tourism with a gritty layer of lived-in Athens (something missing from much of the historic centre). It’s filled with restaurants, but we’d only recommend a handful (the excellent old-school deli cum restaurant Karamanlidika is nearby), bars, as well as charming antique stores and galleries.
To get to the Acropolis, you’ll walk a scenic 20 minutes through Plaka, the old town.
Take a look at more of our hotel reviews here, and to browse more Athens hotels, take a look here.
