Trying to figure out things to do, where to stay, and places you need to see while visiting Athens can be a lot of work since there are so many historical sites and famous spots in Athens Greece. That is why I wanted to share my 2-day Athens itinerary with you.
After visiting Athens Greece myself and having to do a lot of research I wanted to save all of you the trouble and give you all my tips and tricks for exploring Athens.
This post is a 2-day Athens Greece Itinerary
Everything You Need to Know Before You Visit Athens
How to Travel to Athens
The two common modes of transportation when travelling to Athens Greece are by flying or taking a ferry, but there is also a possibility of taking a train or bus to Athens depending on where you are travelling from. If you are travelling to Greece from outside of Europe you will most likely be flying. I recommend looking for flights on Google Flights. And take advantage of features such as flight price tracking to get the best deals on your flights. If you are travelling from other islands within Greece ferries are the most popular mode of transportation. I recommend visiting Ferryscanner to find the best deals. After doing my own research when booking Greek ferries and comparing tons of websites Ferryscanner is the website I found to have the cheapest ferry tickets. For those of you travelling from other countries within Europe trains or buses might be the best option for travelling to Athens. For train travel, I recommend Omio for the best deals. And for busses, I used Flixbus while travelling around Europe and they have super affordable bus tickets. When travelling to countries within Europe there are multiple modes of transportation but I hope this was helpful for you to find the best way of travelling for your situation.Where to stay in Athens
When I visited Athens I was travelling with a friend so we got an Airbnb very close to Acropolis Hill. We stayed at the Acropolis Cozy Apartment by the host Teo. The Airbnb was in a great location and was a very affordable price since we were splitting the cost between the two of us. If you are travelling with other people I think Airbnbs are a great option. If you are travelling alone, looking to meet others travelling, or just looking for cheap accommodations while visiting Athens, hostels are another great place to stay for an affordable price. I recommend checking out Hostelworld. Hostelworld has stays for as little as $20 CAD so if you want to travel on a budget hostels are the way to go.Some of the best ways to save money in Athens
If you want to visit a lot of the famous sites in Athens I recommend you look into some of the passes including the Athens Pass or the Acropolis & Archaeological Sites: Combo Ticket. Depending on the sites you want to visit getting a pass can save you a lot of money. Personally, I got the Acropolis & Archaeological Sites: Combo Ticket which includes almost all the sites I will mention visiting in this Athens itinerary. The Athens Pass includes:- Skip the line to the Acropolis Site and the Slopes
- Skip the line to Ancient Agora
- Skip the line to Roman Agora
- Skip the line to Hadiran’s Library
- Skip the line to the Olympieion
- Skip the line to Kerameikos
- Skip the line to Aristotle’s School
- Skip the line to the Acropolis Museum
- Athens City Audio Guide App
- 10% discount on other attractions in Athens
- Skip the line to the Acropolis Site and the Slopes
- Skip the line to Ancient Agora
- Skip the line to Roman Agora
- Skip the line to Hadiran’s Library
- Skip the line to the Olympieion
- Skip the line to Kerameikos
- Skip the line to Aristotle’s School
Athens Greece Itinerary
For more details on all the historical monuments I recommend you visit in Athens, check out my blog post “Top 10 Places to Visit in Athens Greece.”First Day in Athens Greece
Day Overview:
- Acropolis (+ Parthenon, Theatre of Dionysus, and more)
- Ancient Agora
- Hadrians Library
- Roman Agora
- Walk around the Plaka neighbourhood
- Philopappos Monument
- Pub crawl
Morning
For the first day in Athens, I recommend you get an early start if you want to see as much as you can today. I recommend you start your morning by visiting the Acropolis and Parthenon. The reason I suggest this in the morning is this is such a popular destination in Athens there are tons of tourists that come to visit it each day so by getting there early the hope is you beat the crowd (but don’t be fooled even if you get their early there will still be lots of people just not as much as midday). To walk around and learn about the history of the Acropolis I recommend you spend between 1-2 hours here.
For the second activity in the morning, I recommend visiting the Ancient Agora. I recommend you plan to walk around the Ancient Agora for about an hour as there are lots of monuments, ruins, and even a museum to explore.
Afternoon
After stopping for something to eat (to save money I usually pack sandwiches to eat in a park). I recommend you visit the Hadrian Library and the Ancient Agora because they are around a 5-minute walk away from each other and only around an 8-minute walk from the Ancient Agora. One of the reasons I loved Athens was how easy it was to walk from site to site so no extra money was spent on transportation.
To spend the rest of the afternoon I recommend walking around Plaka which is a popular neighbourhood with lots of shops. You can walk around and window shop or get some souvenirs to remember your trip.
Evening/Night
If you are not exhausted from walking around all day and are up for one more adventure go see the Philopappos Monument. It is at the top of a hill across from the Acropolis which gives you a nice view of the city. Also if you visit the Philopappos Monument keep an eye out for tortoises because we saw one wandering around at the top of the hill and were shocked! To end off your first night in Athens hit the town! When were were in Athens we were looking into going on a pub crawl, but unfortunately, it didn’t end up working because they didn’t have enough people sign up. But the pub crawl we wanted to go on was called Athens Drunk Tour. This pub crawl included free entrance to the bars and clubs, free drinks, and more for only around 25 euros and it has great reviews. So if you are looking to have a fun time for your first night in Athens I recommend you check it out.Second Day in Athens Greece
Day Overview:
- Hadrians Arch
- Temple of Olympian Zeus
- Panatheniac Stadium
- Aristotle Lyceum
- Monastriraki Flee Market
- Keramikos
Morning
After going out last night today has a little less planned so you are able to sleep in a bit. To start your morning visit Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. I would recommend you plan to visit these two sites for around 30 minutes to an hour.Afternoon
After visiting Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus go for a bit of a walk to Artistotles Lyceum and along the way stop by the Panatheniac Stadium. It is up to you whether you want to go into Panatheniac Stadium as entrance is not included in the Athens passes. But if you decide not to go in it is still cool to see it from the outside and read the sign to learn a bit about the history. After seeing the Panatheniac Stadium you will walk a bit more to Artistoteles Lyceum which is a beautiful historical site. You can walk around and see the ruins and learn about the history but also walk around a take in the beautiful gardens and more. I spent around 1-hour exploring Artistotles Lyceum.
Evening/Night
From Aristotle Lyceum you will go on another walk to Keramikos which is a famous historical cemetery. Along the way, you can stop by the Monastriraki Flee Market to do a bit of shopping. And that will end your second day in Athens Greece!
That is a detailed 2-day Athens Greece itinerary and is the itinerary I followed during my trip to Athens. It is the perfect balance of seeing lots of sites but also not being too rushed. After reading this Athens itinerary I am hoping you feel better knowing how to get to Athens, what to do in Athens, where to stay in Athens, and more. Have the most amazing trip to Athens!
This post was all about a detailed 2-day Athens Greece Itinerary.
