5 top tips for a long weekend in Athens

One of the bonuses of living in the UK (there has to be one…) is that Europe is only a short flight away making a long weekend getaway a perfect opportunity to explore a new city and get a shot of sunshine. With an early outbound flight and a late inbound flight and only 3.5 hours in the air to get to Athens, you get nearly four whole days to explore and relax with only two days of annual leave. It’s the perfect way to get a taste of a new country.

But it does take some planning if you want to hit the tourist spots, so here are my five top tips for planning a long weekend in Athens:

Get the Acropolis and 6 site skip the line ticket

Sarah wrote a full article on how we used this ticket and whether it’s worth it - spoiler: a firm yes from us! You can read the full article right here, and check out Get Your Guide where we scored our tickets for around £30 each.

Visit the Acropolis as soon as it opens

We got to the gate just after it opened at 8am and it was already busy, but there was plenty of room to stop, take photos, have a breather, and not completely die from the intensity of the sun. When we began the climb down at around 9:30 the crowds were intense. There was no room to breathe or stop or not be in someone’s way at all times as the cruise tours came pouring in.

Book a day tour that includes multiple sites

Sarah and I don’t travel for rest and relaxation. We want to see as much as physically possible in the time that we have available, and one of the best ways to achieve this when we want to travel out from our base to visit something or somewhere in particular is to look at tours.

When in Athens we really wanted to see the ancient ruins of Mycenae (where King Agamemnon launches the Trojan War) because Sarah has a thing for Agamemnon and the theatre at Epidaurus. As each site is over an hour from the city in different directions, a tour that included both sites, plus a trip to the beautiful seaside town of Napoli and the Corinth Canal gave us even more sightseeing for our time.

More details on the best day trips from Athens right here.

Skip the checked luggage

The bonus of early and late flights is a quiet, speedy airport experience and maximising your time. Checked luggage? It cancels out everything time saving and stress-free about the airport experience.

Use packing cubes, roll your pants, buy your toiletries at the airport and get everything into your backpack. It’s worth the effort.

Choose the right base location

Having the right base is the biggest help when it comes to maximising your time and efficiency, and the best spot to stay in also depends on other musts for you. Do you want a hotel or an apartment, to be somewhere quieter, somewhere with restaurants all around, somewhere a short walk from the tourist sites, close to the airport? There are so many things to consider and you need to do your research and figure out what’s important to you.

We love to be somewhere with easy, accessible transport links and preferably be able to walk to as many sites and places as possible. We chose to stay in the Acropolis neighbourhood, and the roof terrace of our Air BnB apartment block even had a clear view of the Acropolis itself. It was absolutely perfect.

I hope this helped you to plan your trip to Athens!

Written by Sophie