25 min
45 min
45 min
M3
15.5 / km²
8
2
612
+20% vs city
Counted from OpenStreetMap and Inside Airbnb (CC BY 4.0)
Staying in Kolonaki
Kolonaki covers the south and south-east slopes of Lycabettus, north of Vasilissis Sofias. It is where the in-town money lives, which shows up as embassies, fashion boutiques and cafes around Plateia Kolonakiou where a coffee costs what a meal costs in Koukaki.
For a visitor the case is transport and museums. Evangelismos on M3 runs to the airport with no change at all, which is worth more than a nearer station. The Benaki Museum and the Museum of Cycladic Art are both inside the district, the Byzantine Museum is on its edge, and the Lycabettus funicular starts at the top of Ploutarchou. It is also quiet after midnight, which nowhere near Ermou is.
The cost is the walk and the bill. Monastiraki is twenty-five minutes away and the return is a climb. Vasilissis Sofias is six lanes of traffic and cuts the district off from Syntagma. And on a Sunday, when the boutiques shut, there is very little happening on the streets.
What works
- Evangelismos on M3 goes to the airport with no change
- Benaki Museum and the Museum of Cycladic Art are both in the district
- The Lycabettus funicular starts at the top of the district
- Quiet after midnight, which nowhere near Ermou is
What does not
- The most expensive rooms in central Athens
- Twenty-five minutes to Monastiraki, and the way back is uphill
- Cafes and restaurants are priced for local money, not for visitors
- Vasilissis Sofias is six lanes and cuts the district off from Syntagma
Kolonaki Square (Plateia Kolonaki; its official name is Plateia Filikis Etaireias, but no one ever uses it) is bordered with cafes whose customers tend to be mature Athenian movers and shakers for whom the area is the traditional in-town home. Most of these cafes serve desserts, light meals and drinks, and most of them are expensive.