How to Spend 6 Days in Athens: Itinerary and Budget Breakdown
Athens is one of the most gorgeous and historical locations on the planet, and I really wanted to come here. It’s also kind of a strange city when it comes to budgeting. Food, travel and shopping here are all pretty affordable, depending on where you are in the city. But some of the attractions here…not so much.
So, let’s talk about how much it actually costs to spend time here. I’ll share what I spent over my six days in Athens, give you my itinerary, tell you how I saved money…and tell you about some more stuff I could have done to save money. Let’s get into it!
Welcome to Greece
I arrived in Athens pretty late at night, so I arranged to have a car service pick me up from the airport and take me out to my rental property, which was several blocks north of the Acroplis at the center of the city.
Now, this was actually necessary. Athens does have a public transportation system and the subway arm of this city is highly reliable and extremely affordable, but ti doesn't cover the entire city. Getting to and from the airport is something you definitely want to plan for and budget for, because the service was not cheap. Riding the subway all the way from the airport is going to take a very long time and only one subway line runs all night in Athens, which happens only on Saturday, so it may not be an option for you depending on when you arrive.
Late Night
Trying to get food late at night in Athens on a Monday is also not cheap. A lot of places were closed by the time I arrived in the city and I didn't have a vehicle once I got dropped off, so I had to DoorDash it. Well actually, they don't have Door Dash in Athens, so I used an app called eFood that is very widely used throughout Europe.
I do recommend this app because it's good to have just in case and because you can't always find companies like DoorDash in locations you visit. Some cities have a lot of strict regulations about that to cut down on the number of vehicles on the road. The meal cost a lot, just over $40, and I ended up spending $47.72 on the day after traveling from London to Gatwick airport, then on to Athens. My airport transfer was pre-paid when I booked my room. My budget for the day was $43, so I was just a little over.
Day 1
For my first full day in Athens, I got a metro card. That's their subway and I can't recommend this card enough. It cost me $9.37 for a five-day ticket and I used this one card all week long to take subways everywhere in the city. I intentionally picked a rental accommodation less than 10 minutes by foot from the subway and rode it all over. As long as you're within the main areas of the city, you should have no trouble getting around by subway.
I had breakfast in Syntagma Square, which is an attraction in the city. It's the site of the Parliament building, which is the former royal palace. This is where you can find the tomb of the unknown soldier and you are very likely to see guards stationed here.
They do a changing of the guard every hour, but they only do the full ceremony in full costume on Sunday. It's a totally free thing to watch, and I talked about it in a video so you can learn more.
I had breakfast at the Public Cafe because they offer an American breakfast, which is something you want to look out for if you hope to have a nice, big meal. You'll want to wtch my Athens Food Guide for more about that. Breakfast cost me just over $15 and then, I was off on a day of sightseeing.
I went to the Ancient Agora and the museum of the Ancient Agora first, which I highly recommend and which I've already mentioned in more than one of my Athens videos. I also went to the Roman Forum, where the incredible Tower of Wind is located. These are paid attractions, and they cost me just under $23 for the Agora and almost $12 for the Roman Forum.
I was able to walk to these locations from the square, because many attractions in Athens are pretty centrally located near the Acropolis, and went to the beautiful Agia Irini Square for lunch. This is where you will find the famous Lukumades donut shop, which I talk about at length in my Athens food videos. I spent a very reasonable $12 on lunch and just over $8 on various snacks and drinks throughout the day, including the donuts at the famous Lukumades.
So...here's where things got weird. My plan was to take a quick taxi to the National Archaeological Museum, which is a little too far to walk from the square and which is not located on a subway line. That line was under construction when I was in Athens.
To be fair, excavating for a subway line in Athens is an incredibly slow process because they have to make sure they aren't actually destroying some whole entire ancient temple or battle site or some other super important thing and sometimes, they start digging and they discover something, so it's kind of a whole thing.
So, quick history moment before I explained what happened on this day, my first full day in Athens, when everything got kind of weird and super scammy. It's relevant, I swear. Athens, as you may know, is where the entire concept of Democracy itself was born. The idea that the people of a place get to have a voice and a vote, that was brand-new in Athens around the 400s B.C.E. and you may have noticed that the system stuck and spread. After several centuries where things got a little hairy in Athens and in all of Greece, the city is a democracy again.
And they are super proud of it, y'all. I spent six days in Athens and if you or anyone spends six days in Athens, there's a better than average chance that you will see at least one protest. Protesting is part of the landscape here, part of the culture, and the workers of Athens exercise their democratic rights. Which, to be very clear, I very much approve of. I believe strongly in the power of collective bargaining and I support all workers who want to be treated fairly.
But it was not super ideal that all of the cab drivers in the city went on strike on this particular day when I needed to get to the museum. I also did not know until much, much later that night that this had happened, so I was just confused when I could not find a cab after doing all this research into public transportation in Athens. I even downloaded this app, which is called Freenow and which I cannot in good conscience recommend to anyone, and not just because of this particular day. I used it in London and Athens, well correction, I tried to use it in London and Athens and it's super hit or miss.
You can spend a whole lot of time standing around trying to make this app work and waste a bunch of time finding out that it simply is not going to work.
The point is, I got gouged on a cab. I paid $25 to get to the museum. My budget for this cab ride was $6, because that's how much it should have cost.
Meanwhile, and this I still can't explain, I spent a truly shocking $35 on admission to the museum. Which should have only cost $14. I didn't receive anything extra, like a personal guide through the museum or a souvenir or you know, one of the artifcats to take home or anything. I'm not sure why it cost this much and I didn't know it had cost this much until I saw the credit card statement, because I had done the research and I KNOW how much it's supposed to cost. So all I can say about that is, watch your money like a hawk, pay attention to what you're being charged and if there's a problem, good luck with that language barrier.
A lot of YouTubers will tell you that it's no problem being in Athens because so many people speak English. That's not altogether true. I found a ton of people who were either wholly unable or unwilling to speak to me in English and there were language barriers pretty much every day, so I do not know which part of Athens those YouTubers were in but that is not where I was, so language is going to be a problem and that's the actual truth about it.
So, I was super sick on this day. I got sick in London before I ever got to Athens and on this day, it was really hitting me very hard. I do not remember what or where I ate this day, but I know dinner cost me a little over $17 because that's what's in my notes.
Before leaving for Athens, while still in Louisville, I tried to pre-schedule a taxi for this night because I needed to get out to the Port of Piraeus to get on a boat. That didn't work. Do not use the service called Radio Taxi because that doesn't work. I don't know how I ultimately found a taxi or even what it cost. What I mostly remember is trying to get out to the boat, getting lost, being unable to talk to anyone, and running across the entire port area trying to drag my suitcase when I truly just wanted to die because I was so sick and miserable.
I did make it to the ferry, though in some ways I really wish I hadn't, and you can hear more about this odyssey in my Getting Around Athens video.
Anyway, the point of the ferry was to go to the island of Crete. It's the largest Greek island, it's incredibly beautiful and it's full of incredible things to do, so I can recommend Crete but I recommend, extremely strongly, that you take a plane. Okay, take a plane. Take a plane, take a plane, take a plane.
I spent a little extra on the ferry to A) have a cabin. Tickets are cheaper if you choose to sleep on the floor. I'm sorry, on a ship it's a deck. Tickets are cheaper if you sleep on the deck. There are a lot of kids and dogs and people everywhere and again, I strongly suggest that you not do this. I also spent extra to B) have a bathroom in my cabin. Otherwise, you can use the public bathrooms and if you need me to tell you not to do this, I just don't even know.
On the day, I ended up spending $157.63, well over my $92 budget.
Day 2
My ferry ticket for an overnight trip to Crete and an overnight trip back was just a shade under $400 ($391.36). I spent $12.52 on a taxi to a cafe that was open in the very early momrning, because the ferry docked at like 6 am, and spent almost $10 on breakfast.
I then spent extra money on medicine at a pharmacy because I was still very ill, and I headed to two really amazing museums on the island: the Historical Museum of Crete and the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. I suggest you see both and I suggest you see them both in that order. Otherwise, the Historical Museum of Crete might feel a little underwhelming but it's actually very nice and the price is right. The Heraklion Archological Museum is just quite a bit more flashy.
Tickets for the historical museum were $9.10, and the Heraklion mueum was $14.70. I got a taxi out to the historical palace of Knossos next, which is a truly amazing place. This was the seat of the Minoan Empire, a mysterious people who built the first empire in Europe.
They thrived during the Bronze Age and may be the literal inspiration behind the legend of Atlantis. Check out my video about Crete to learn more about them and more about this trip.
Admission to the site was $22.76 and I had lunch in the cafe there for about $10. My memories and my notes are just a little fuzzy at this point but I'm actually going to talk more about Crete and what I did and didn't do there in my upcoming post about the things I missed while I was in Athens, so make sure to check that out.
I got back to the ferry early, had something to eat, and basically crashed out on my way back to Athens. I spent $12.52 on taxis through the day and $21.45 on dinner and snacks. Then, I docked in Athens very early the next morning to spend a day at the markets.
The total cost for my day in Crete was $114.88, which went way over my $87 budget.
Day 3
I began the day at a cafe called Cupz for an extremely reasonable $5.70 and stopped at the Varvakios Central Municipal Market to see the olive vendors, which was cool. Next, I headed to Mam, which is a very famous spot to eat in Athens and which totally and completely lived up to the hype. I had an amazing cheese pie here for $4.40 and walked over to the University to see the Academy of Athens and the National Bank of Greece, which are very pretty buildings.
I also wanted to shop at Masoutis, which is a local grocery store, to get my red eggs for Easter. That's a whole thing in Athens, Easter, and I did an entire video about it. It's really quite a scene, so you should check that out.
After I droopped off my luggage and got cleaned up at my rental, which I took the subway to get to, I headed to the famous Monastraki Square to shop and look around. This is one of the best shopping areas of Athens and there's plenty of amazing food here, too, including the traditional soufflaki at Kostas.
I had an incredible lunch here that I talked a lot about in my Athens food video, and spent $23.40 that was absolutely worth every penny. Or, Euro. They use Euros. I have no idea how many pennies that is.
I walked along Ermou Street, where you can find all the high end and designer shops, and popped into the Hard Rock Cafe on my way to Karameikos. This is a more off the cut attraction that's definitely not as well known as the other six archaeological sites in Athens, but it was one of my favorites and the museum here was just stunning.
I did make a quick stop along the way at the utterly incredible Fairy Tale Athens just to get a fancy drink, which cost me about $2.50. In Athens, that's on the pricey side of things. And that's why I did not get lunch here.
Admission to Karameikos was an incredibly reasonable $11.41.
Which, by the way, I'm on foot this whole time. After riding the subway to Monastraki Square, this is all me walking and walking is free. The theme of the day was Eat, Drink and Be Shopping and you may have already picked up on the fact that I did eat a lot. But I justified it by walking all day so I guess it balances out?
I don't know, but when in Greece. I didn't get to enjoy food in London so I did go hog wild in Athens and the food is stellar, so I say eat up.
I walked from Karameikos to Psirri, where you can see a lot of the cool street art of the city, and went to the Psirri Square shopping area. I also got some ice cream for about $4.55 and walked over to Plaka, which is unquestably the most popular shopping area of the city. It's incredibly beautiful and a little more expensive than the other shopping areas. But it's made for strolling and taking in the city, and you definitely do not want to miss this area.
There are lots of cool places to see here and it's close to the Filamousis Etieres Square and about 10 minutes from Hadrian's Library and the Roman Basilica, which are popular tourist stops. I walked past them to get a look on my way to the Thissio Flea Market area, which is close to the Ancient Agora and which is absolutely gorgeous. I go into a lot of detail about it and show you the market in my video about Athens markets, so if you want to know more you can find out a lot more.
I had an incredible dinner at a restaraunt in this area for $21.40 and had a gorgeous pink dessert in a pretty pink cafe for $9.30. Totally worth it.
Getting back into Athens from the ferry and getting back to my rental for the night later was $49.61 in taxis because it was super late and I didn't trust myself to find the subway and then find my way back to the rental without some kind of incident, so I took a cab and there you have it.
I ate all day, rode in taxis, visited a historical site and had a truly amazing time in Athens on this day for a total of $121.34. My budget was $145, so that's a win.
Day 4
Friday in Athens was the day I went to the Parthenon, so I started with an American brunch for $19.11, which was kind of high. The restaurant was very close to the Acropolis, so that's part of why it cost so much.
I spent the day on the Acropolis and at the Acropolis Museum, a package which cost me $22.82 because it was April 18th and certain historical sites in Athens were free. I was under the understanding they were all free and I was quite surprised to have been charged anything at all, so actually I was not thrilled but these are the three most expensive attractions in Athens, so I scheduled my entire trip around this day so I could take advantage of that.
I had a truly wonderful dinner for $15 and I ate everything, so it was absolutely worth it. I had a great meal at a place called Lolos and I highly recommend it. They're known for seafood.
I got a little dessert at a bakery for about $2.60 and ended up spending about $79 on the day, because I did take a taxi to get back to my rental that night. My budget was $55, so not a great job there.
Day 5
On Saturday, I left Athens again to visit the historical site of Mycenae, which I did a full video about. I stopped for breakfast at a bakery right near the metro station near my rental to start the day, which was $5 and change, and rode the subway to the meeting point for my day trip, which was pre-paid and which cost me $61.
I ate lunch in Nafplio, which I also did an entire video about, for $14.82 and went to the Central Bakery for goodies later that day, which cost $6.27. Once I got back to Athens that night, I nibbled on street food for $18.67. My taxi ride back to the rental was $12.31.
I spent $57.20 on the day, which was right on my budget of $57. The day trip package itself cost $61 and I saw four different areas of Greece, so it was really amazing and I really enjoyed it. I highly recommend doing a couple of day trips, whether you stay on the mainland or visit the islands, because there's just so many amazing places to see in Greece.
Day 6
My last day in Greece was super chill and it was also Easter Sunday, so just about everything was totally closed. Athens essentially shuts down for Easter and again, I go into more detail about that in my video about Athens in Easter.
I started the day with a bakery treat for just over $2 and went to Syntagma Square to see the changing of the guard ceremony and have a little picnic breakfast. Then, it was off to a day at the beach.
Again, Athens transportation outside of the city is not awesome, so I had to take a taxi out to the beach and due to the language barrier and general confusion, I had to walk a super far distance as well. Taxi drivers in Athens might ask you for directions, so be prepared. I had a couple of them call someone to get directions while they were driving. So there's that.
The beach was free but everything there was closed and at a certain point, I got super hungry, so I did order food and have it delivered to me at the beach for $18.04.
I took another taxi to get back to the city to visit the National Garden, which is a free attraction and which is absolutely spectacular. I had dinner for a surprising $41 and enjoyed a shot of ouzo to end the night for $2.20. Dinner was high because I also tried some Greek wine and ordered everything. Again, I was unleashing my inner foodie all over Greece, y’all.
This was an expensive day in Athens even though everything was closed. I spent a lot on taxis getting out and back to the beach, over $185.59, for a total of $247 on the day. My budget was $107. I also spent a lot on a taxi back out to the airport the next day, which is included in that total.
All in all, my week in Athens cost me $1,277.13. My budget was actually about half that, so I completely failed there. That price does include the ferry to Crete and my day trip to Mycenae. I ate, drank and made merry in multiple locations all over Greece, however, and I really enjoyed myself. I saw a ton of amazing things and had many incredible experiences, so I can't recommend Athens highly enough.
I took taxis a couple of times I didn't absolutely have to, ordered a little more food and drink than I necessarily needed and got price gouged a couple of times. You can learn more about how to avoid that in the video I did about avoiding scams in Athens.
But I had an incredible time in Greece. I saw ancient history, modern street art, I went all over the city and I explored outside the city, too. It was unforgettable and it was definitely worth the cost. So hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes to save even more money on your own trip to Athens. I hope to see you out there one day!
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