# Staying in Omonia & Vathis Square, Athens: Map & Verdict Verdict: Mixed. Fine for some travellers, wrong for others. Interactive map: https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/omonia Every Athens district: https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens.md 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. Facts: 15 min walk to Monastiraki Square; 50 min to the airport; 50 min to the beach; price €; best for budget, solo travellers; lines M1, M2. Safety: Poor after dark. Wikivoyage names Vathis Square and the streets between Agiou Konstantinou and Karolou as places locals avoid at night, and drug use in the open happens by day as well. Nothing here is dangerous to walk through at 10:00; after dark, take a taxi to the door. This is the district behind Omonia Square: Agiou Konstantinou, Vathis Square and Agios Pavlos, out towards Larissa station. It was built as the grand approach to the city from the railway and it is still lined with hotels, many of them the cheapest central rooms in Athens, often half what Plaka charges. The practical case is real. Omonia is the M1/M2 interchange, Larissa station and the Metaxourgeio stop are at the edge, and everything that leaves Athens by train or bus is close. Monastiraki is fifteen minutes on foot. It is also the part of the centre locals tell you to avoid at night, and they mean these streets specifically: Vathis Square, and the blocks between Agiou Konstantinou and Karolou. Drug use in the open happens in daylight, sex work around the side streets at night, and there is not a single notable sight in the district to make the walk back worth it. It is a cheap bed for a night before a train, not a base for a week. What works: - The cheapest central rooms in Athens, often half the Plaka rate - Omonia is the M1/M2 interchange, so anywhere in the city is one change - Close to Larissa station for trains north - Fifteen minutes on foot to Monastiraki What does not: - The streets locals tell you to avoid after dark, by name - Open drug use by day, not only at night - No notable sight anywhere in the district - The walk home from Plaka ends in the worst blocks of the centre Hotels in Omonia & Vathis Square: https://www.stay22.com/allez/booking?aid=stayzones&link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Fsearchresults.html%3Fdest_id%3D17245%26dest_type%3Ddistrict%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. - [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. - [Exarcheia](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/exarcheia): Mixed. 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. - [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.