Solo Female Travel in Athens

Solo travel experience

I did Athens solo. I loved the restaurant and bar on the top floor of the Electra Metropolis Hotel. I took a great free walking tour that did neighborhoods and markets. I found it in trip advisor and it was one of my favorite things. So many cute neighborhoods and restaurants.

Solo travel experience

I loved Athens. I could spend a month there easily. I only had about 6-7 days there. So much to see and experience. I loved the whole feel of it, the people, the culture, the history, the food, the bars, the markets. All so wonderful.

Local experience

There are many places to visit in Athens or around Athens (suburbs, Greek Riviera, Sounio etc). Also many museums! Of course visit the Acropolis (also the museum), the national gallery, Stavros Niarchos foundation and many other. You must taste mousaka, pastitisio, fried zucchini and eggplant, gyros, souvlaki, pies, loukoumades, galaktompoureko and many more. Ask a local where to eat! Don't go to the fully touristic area if you want to eat really good food. Visit the islands nearby like Spetses, Hydra, Aegina.

Things to do: acropolis museum, the acropolis, the plaka, sounion, Delphi, take a ferry from rafina to the closest Greek island and spend the day there. Food: Eat a meal at a taverna, drink ouzo, retsina. Overall: I meet wonderful people and ate wonderful food.

Itinerary: I've spent 4 days in Athens Things to do: I visited Acropolis, Parthenon, Plaka, Mount Lycabettus, Psiri, Panathenaic Stadium, Herod Atticus Odean, Anafiotika and Central Market. Food: Food was delicious and locals were friendly. Safety: I felt very safe, even at night when I got lost. Recommendations: I would highly recommend Athens for those who love architecture and history. The traffic here is horrendous so metro or walking is a great idea.

Things to do: Places I have visited and recommend: - Plaka, the old town of Athens - The Acropolis of Athens - Little Kook street - Lake Vouliagmeni - Kalamaki Beach - Lycabettus hill Safety: Athens is very safe, except pickpocketing. Recommendations: If you visit Athens, don’t miss the Anafiotika neighborhood between Plaka and the Acropolis. The winding streets and stone houses are historic, beautiful and full of life. It’s one of the most scenic areas in all of Athens and well worth an afternoon of exploring. Just wear good shoes, the ancient stone walkways are very slippery.

I did an internship in Athens a few summers ago and can recommend some things. First, the easiest way to travel around the city is by metro and their metro system is super easy to navigate without knowing how to speak/read Greek. Going along with this, you can take the metro to the ferry station to go island hopping. Something that isn’t super popular to do is walking around the 2004 Olympic village/stadiums but I recommend it. My and a friend would go down there and run most mornings. It is crazy to see how deserted and run down the entire area is despite the fact the 2004 wasn’t super long ago. In Athens city center, there are a ton of rooftop bars that have great sunset views of the acropolis so I def recommend doing that one night!

Things to do: Visited Lycabettus, Akropolis, Akropolis museum, Agora, Plaka & Monastiraki Safety: I felt safe all the time. Budget: Greece is an on budget country! You get falafel for 2€. Mykonos and Santorini is expressive! Recommendations: - Go to the Acropolis first thing in the morning. It gets very crowded even by 9 am. - Metro lines are the best way of moving around - Have a coffee at a rooftop bistro with views of the Acropolis

Things to do: We went to the plaka, which is the old city. I also went with my mom to a thermal spa in vouliagmeni. This city is full of culture, archeological sites, and tasty food. The traditional food is one of the best! Don't miss it if you are going there. Food: The local cuisine have some stuff in common with my country's food ☺️ plus, the make yummy seafood, gyros, and souvlaki, and other food that you can taste in local markets Recommendations: I went there solo, and had a lots of fun. You can do it too, or you can join a group.

Things to do: - Visited the Acropolis - Walked around the old town Plaka - Explored the the bohemian neighbourhood of Psiri - Visited the National library of Greece Safety: I felt completely safe in Greece during my entire stay. Just be safe, don’t walk around with valuables out in the open and be aware of your surroundings. Budget: I travelled on a budget and my budget was 35-45€ per day including accommodation. Recommendations: Don’t accept any bracelets, flowers, etc. from street “vendors”. It’s a scam.

Group travel experience

We had a great time doing the free walking tour. First look on many of the touristic spots with a good explanation about them, and also some general tips about the city. If you do the walking tour you’ll get to see the Panathenaic Stadium from the outside but make sure to go back and get a ticket to go inside (costs 5€), the perspective feels completely different (and much more amusing) once you’re inside. Go up to the Acropolis either very early in the morning (get there before they open) to get a few minutes of peace and quiet at the top before the crowds come, or at around 18h to beat the heat, there will be lots of people but also the sunset light makes it look magical! Plakas neighbourhood is a must and also something you’ll briefly see if you do the walking tour, Monastiraki neighbourhood is good for shopping. Public transport works very well and it’s quite cheap (9€ for a 5 day ticket, to get to the city center from the airport the ticket costs 10€ and the train comes every 30min, for the flight back we booked a taxi online for 40€). For food try to get away from the center to get some very good and cheap greek food. Try Dakos (a greek version of what a bruschetta would be), allll the greek pies, Dolma (leaves stuffed with rice and a yogurt sauce on the side), Souvlaki, Boureki, Tsigaristo, of course the Greek Salad, Bougatsa for breakfast… try it all! Enjoy the very delicious olive oil and the creamy delicious feta cheese as much as possible too, it’s absolutely delicious!

Solo travel experience

Be careful in central Athens at night I stayed solo about 10 minutes from the acropolis in September for 5 nights - people get very drunk and openly do drugs on the street. I did love Athens but if you are travelling solo just be aware/careful. I was surprised how bad it was. By day I felt safe by night I didn’t .