The Hotel Athens Plaza is a very fine hotel, one building away from the Grande Bretagne and also right on Syntagma Square. Highly recommended if you have the money or your company is paying the bill. If the GB is Old World Elegance then the Plaza is the modern world. Yes, I actually stayed here too, incognito, courtesy of George at Fantasy Travel so I would have an impression of his idea of elegance. It was pretty nice. The rooms were as comfortable as a human could stand it and the restaurant was great. Good AC, big lobby and great location too.
Low rates too.
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Grande Bretagne. Some of you who have known me over the years may be surprised. I had to throw away most of my clothes before I checked in but I did a little shopping and I actually fit right in with the GB crowd. I know many people will think that the experience will change me but I want to assure you that I am still the same old Matt, despite the experience. OK. The Grande Bretagne, for those of you who don't know is the oldest and most elegant luxury hotel in Athens and one of the finest and most well-known in the world. A room there will cost you a several hundred bucks a night at least but if you have the money it is worth it. I didn't have the money but because the GB has such an amazing history, my friend Mike Constantinou of Greece Accommodations Direct put me up there so I could write an article about it. I don't know if the staff knew who I was or what I do but they sure treated us nice. In fact for the three days we were there I did not want to leave the hotel. And then the day we were supposed to leave we were wait-listed and our flight was full so we had to stay another night. I was very happy. I don't know if Mike was. There are other luxury hotels but they are new, modern and can be miles away from downtown. The Grande Bretagne (and our room) overlooks Syntagma Square and you can watch the changing of the Evzone guards from your balcony. We had a view of the Parthenon, tons of channels on the TV, a fridge full of booze and snacks and a room service menu about 8 pages long. Incredible breakfast buffett in the GB Corner. There is a pool on the roof with a snackbar and at night one of the best hotel bars and restaurants with a terrific view of the Acropolis and Syntagma Square. Great food. The Alexander Bar off the main lobby is a classic European John Le Carre kind of hangout. Check out the tapestry. You never know who will be standing around in the lobby when you come down in the morning. Anyone from the Prime Minister to your favorite movie star. In the basement is another swimming pool and a state-of-the-art health spa which is probably better than the one you belong to. I could go on but I need to save it for the article (don't worry Mike). If you are luxury minded this is the best. I almost forgot... the staff are terrific. Friendly, helpful, happy and personable, from the doorman to the concierge all the way to the maids and busboys and girls.
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The A-Catagory Electra Palace is newly rennovated, double in size and now looks like a smaller version of the Grande Bretagne. There is an indoor pool but by the time you read this there should hopefully be one on the roof just like the old Electra Palace. Big beautiful lobby, comfortable rooms with views of the Acropolis, fully air-conditioned and.... what else am I forgetting? Oh yeah. The best location of just about any hotel on this page, right in the Plaka and just 2 blocks from Syntagma Square and the Metro. The hotel has always been popular with businessmen and the reason they doubled the size is because it was so tough for people to find rooms there. Not any more. Plenty of parking too. I stayed here for a few days during February of 2006 and I loved it. It is a smaller version of the Grande Bretagne. I never used the downstairs swimming pool, sauna or exercise room, but I meant to and I felt healthier just knowing they were there.
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This is a very nice but not very well known hotel in downtown Athens. Formerly the Diomias Hotel it has been totally renovated and is a modern B category. It is on a very small street a couple blocks from Syntagma square and half a block from the pedestrian shopping street of Ermou and quite close to the Plaka and the archaeological sites. I have never stayed here but the reason I know about it is because when Mike Constantinou of Greece Accommodations Direct put us up at the Grande Bretagne to write an article (I'm working on it Mike) we had my mother-in-law with us. For reasons that you can probably imagine we preferred to have her in another hotel somewhere nearby rather then with us. We needed a place where she would not complain too loudly because the quality was not as high as the GB but we did not want to pay $300 a night. Not that she is not worth it. Anyway she loved the hotel. If you are looking for a cheap hotel this is not it. But if you don't mind spending a hundred bucks for a comfortable room, excellent service, AC and a few extras then try the Athens Cypria.
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Though not for everybody, the family-run Adams hotel is about as close as you will get to a B&B in Athens. Before the Olympics this hotel was hit or miss. Some rooms had been rennovated and others were not. But the owners took the money they made from the Olympics and completely rennovated the Adams and now all rooms have A/C, television, private bathrooms and many have balconies including those on the top floor which have terraces large enough so that you could throw a cocktail party if you wanted. But the best thing about the Adams is its location on a quiet street in the Plaka just one block from Kydatheneon Street. If you are looking for fancy digs you won't find it here.
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Attalos Hotel rooftop garden-cafe-bar with a view of the AcropolisI can think of several reasons to stay at the Hotel Attalos. OK, so it's not in the Plaka. (It's a five minute walk). It is next to the Monastiraki Flea Market and Metro Station (for getting to the boats to the islands). It is a five minute walk to the Acropolis and it is a block from Psiri, the hippest part of Athens with great cafes, ouzeries and restaurants at night. It has a rooftop cafe with a view of the Parthenon, air-conditioning, breakfast, family owned and what else......oh yes. It is a bargain recommended by travelers and professionals! Probably the thing that will impress you most about the Attalos is the level of professionalism in the staff. In my opinion, Kostas Zissis and his staff, particularly Sakis, Kostas, Adonis and Maria, and the most elegant night manager in Athens: Mister John Lee, could run the Hilton hotel, the Grande Bretagne or any of the expensive luxury hotels in Athens. But here they are at the little old Attalos. Take advantage of quality service at a very low price and the best rooftop bar view in Athens! This is where I stay when I come to Athens unless it is full (which it often is, even in winter, so book early). If you need even more reasons to stay here they have free broadband internet from a computer in the lounge and a wire-free zone so you can use your laptop to get your e-mail.
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Hotel Cecil in Athens, GreeceHotels in Athens come in several categories with 5-star being the most luxurious. 4-star corresponds to A-Category, 3-star to B-Category and so on. But the difference in categories does not always have to mean that a hotel is better than another. That is because there are different degrees within a category. Not officially but this is how it works. A travel agency will describe a hotel as a high C-Category or B-superior. That is because you can have a C-Category that is a better quality than a B. (In some of the Greek islands you can find C-Category hotels that are as good or better than A). So what are the categories for? I don't know. I think it has to do with a number of variables such as size of the lobby, breakfast room, maybe room size too. Of course the price depends on the category but you can find B hotels that are cheaper than the most expensive C hotel. All this does not matter really because what you are looking for is something clean, friendly, centrally located and with AC should you need it, and you want the best hotel for the price. The hotels on this page are the ones that I have stayed at that I think are the best. You can book on this page or by following the links to the hotel or booking through one of the travel agents. I recommend the agency because you are not going to get any better deal booking directly with the hotel and chances are you are going to need to at least speak with an agency at some point, if not rely on one for hotels on the islands and ferry schedules. But if you are a backpacker on a budget and winging it then book directly with one of the C-category hotels I list. I strongly suggest booking your Athens hotel even if you are not planning to book any hotels until you get to Greece. Why not book in advance and stay in a pretty decent economy hotel rather then arrive in Athens, wander around for a couple hours and end up in a dump or at the mercy of a taxi driver who takes you from the airport to a hotel where he gets a commission?
Anyway if you are like me, the older you get, the less you feel like wandering around looking for a hotel after you have just gotten off a 10 hour flight. When I get off the plane I want to know that there is a bed somewhere with my name on it. Also I have info from reliable sources (the hotels and travel agents), that hotels fill up fast in Athens. Even now the Adonis, Attalos and the Electra Palace are booked full many nights during periods you might not expect because there are times when people from the islands and villages or other cities in Greece, come to Athens to do business, see relatives or have a holiday themselves. So if you are planning on getting off the plane and wandering around until you find something you may want to reconsider, especially if you are going in July, August and September.
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