# Is Exarcheia a Good Area to Stay in Athens? Map & Verdict Verdict: Mixed. Fine for some travellers, wrong for others. Interactive map: https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/exarcheia Every Athens district: https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens.md The polytechnic district: rock bars, second-hand bookshops, political graffiti and no metro station. Cheap, twenty minutes from the Acropolis, and not a soft landing. Facts: 20 min walk to Monastiraki Square; 55 min to the airport; 55 min to the beach; price €€; best for budget, solo travellers, nightlife; lines M1, M2. Safety: Mixed after dark. Walking through is not the problem: violent crime against visitors is rare here. Clashes between anarchist groups and riot police around Plateia Exarcheion are, along with the tear gas that goes with them. Do not park a car in the district overnight. Exarcheia sits north of Panepistimio, between the polytechnic and Strefi Hill. It is a student and political district and has been for fifty years, which is why the rooms are cheap for the distance: Monastiraki is twenty minutes on foot and the National Archaeological Museum is on the north-west edge. What is good here is specific. The bars and tavernas around Plateia Exarcheion and along Themistokleous open late and are priced for students, the bookshops are real bookshops, and the live music at the foot of Strefi Hill is rock rather than bouzouki-for-visitors. Nobody is selling you anything. What is not: there is no metro station in the district, so Panepistimio or Omonia is a ten-minute walk each way. Clashes between anarchist groups and riot police happen around the square, with tear gas, and Wikivoyage warns that cars parked here overnight get damaged. The graffiti and shuttered shopfronts are permanent, not a phase, and they are the first thing you will see arriving at 22:00 with a suitcase. What works: - Cheaper than anywhere else within twenty minutes of the Acropolis - The National Archaeological Museum is on the north-west edge - Bars around Plateia Exarcheion open late and are not aimed at visitors - Themistokleous street has tavernas at student prices What does not: - No metro station in the district; Panepistimio is a ten-minute walk - Clashes with riot police happen around the square, and tear gas with them - Heavy graffiti and a lot of shuttered shopfronts, permanently - Wikivoyage warns that cars left here overnight get damaged Hotels in Exarcheia: https://www.stay22.com/allez/booking?aid=stayzones&link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Fsearchresults.html%3Fss%3DExarchia%252C%2520Athens%26latitude%3D37.98645535071427%26longitude%3D23.73728726178572%26nflt%3Ddistance%253D1000%26group_adults%3D2%26no_rooms%3D1 ## Other districts in Athens - [Plaka & Monastiraki](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/plaka-monastiraki): Recommended. The lanes under the north face of the Acropolis, and the flea-market square below them. Every ancient site in Athens is a walk from here, and the rates say so. - [Psyri](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/psyri): Mixed. Old workshop streets turned bar district, five minutes north of Monastiraki. The liveliest nights in the centre, and the noise that comes with them. - [Omonia & Vathis Square](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/omonia): Mixed. The hotel blocks north-west of Omonia Square: the cheapest central beds in Athens, both main metro lines, and the streets Athenians tell you to stay out of after dark. - [Syntagma & the Commercial Triangle](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/syntagma): Recommended. The old commercial centre between Syntagma, Monastiraki and Omonia: Parliament, Ermou and the grand hotels. Everything is walkable and three metro lines meet here, at a price. - [Victoria & Attiki](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/victoria): Avoid. The dense residential blocks around Victoria and Attiki squares, north of Omonia. Cheap hotels two metro stops from the centre, and every evening walk home runs through Omonia. - [Kypseli](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/kypseli): Mixed. 1930s apartment blocks around Fokionos Negri, above Pedion tou Areos. The neighbourhood Athenians moved back to, and the cheapest flats in this guide, with no metro yet. - [Makrygianni](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/makrygianni): Recommended. The few streets behind the Acropolis Museum, on the south slope. Akropoli station is at one corner and the pedestrian promenade to the Acropolis entrance starts at the other. - [Koukaki](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/koukaki): Recommended. A residential grid ten minutes below the Acropolis Museum. The cheapest rooms that are still inside walking distance, plus Syngrou-Fix on M2 and the tram to the coast. - [Kolonaki](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/kolonaki): Recommended. The expensive quarter on the slope of Lycabettus, above Syntagma. Embassies, boutiques and the cafes Athenians go to be seen in. Nothing ancient is within ten minutes. - [Pagkrati](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/pagkrati): Recommended. The residential district behind the Panathenaic Stadium that Athenians moved to and visitors are still catching up with. Half an hour's walk from the Acropolis. - [Mets](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/mets): Recommended. A few quiet streets on the hill between the Panathenaic Stadium and the First Cemetery. The calmest place you can sleep this close to the Acropolis. - [Thiseio & Ano Petralona](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/thiseio-ano-petralona): Recommended. West of the Acropolis, along the pedestrian street with the best view of it. Thiseio for the cafes and the sites, Ano Petralona above it for rooms at half the price. - [Gazi & Rouf](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/gazi-rouf): Mixed. The old gasworks turned club district, and the industrial blocks behind it. Loud on Friday, dead on Tuesday, and half of it closes when the nightlife moves to the coast in summer. - [Neos Kosmos & Syngrou](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/neos-kosmos): Avoid. The chain hotels on the road to the coast. Modern rooms, a pool, an M2 station and a tram - and a thirty-minute commute to everything you came to Athens for.