5 min
45 min
45 min
M1 · M2 · M3
44.1 / km²
20
1
882
+53% vs city
Counted from OpenStreetMap and Inside Airbnb (CC BY 4.0)
Staying in Plaka & Monastiraki
Plaka runs from the Ancient Agora east to the Temple of Olympian Zeus, wrapped round the bottom of the Acropolis rock; Monastiraki is the square and market at its western end. The distances are the point. The Acropolis west entrance is ten minutes up Mnisikleous, the Agora is five, the Roman Agora is three, and Syntagma is eight along Ermou.
What you are paying for is that you can put the map away. Above Adrianou the streets are residential and stepped, and Anafiotika - the whitewashed lane built by Cycladic masons under the rock - is inside the district. Monastiraki station is the M1 and M3 interchange, so the airport is one train and Piraeus is one train.
The catch is the two streets everyone walks. Adrianou and Pandrossou are souvenir shops end to end, with waiters working the tables, and the prices on them are set for people who will be here once. Monastiraki Square is loud until 02:00 on Friday and Saturday. Wikivoyage lists Plaka among the places pickpockets work, along with the metro. And the ground is marble and steps, so a wheeled case is a bad idea for the last two hundred metres.
What works
- Acropolis, Ancient Agora and Roman Agora are all inside ten minutes on foot
- Monastiraki station is the M1/M3 interchange: airport and Piraeus without a change
- The lanes above Adrianou are pedestrian, so no traffic noise
- Anafiotika, the Cycladic lane under the rock, is inside the district
What does not
- Adrianou and Pandrossou are souvenir shops and touts, end to end
- You pay well over Koukaki for the same standard of room
- Monastiraki Square is loud until 02:00 on Friday and Saturday
- Marble lanes and steps: the last stretch with luggage is unpleasant
- Wikivoyage names Plaka among the areas pickpockets work
Gentrified during the 1990s and now very popular with tourists, Plaka is a charming historic district at the foot of the Acropolis, with its restored 19th-century neoclassical homes, pedestrianized streets, shops and restaurants, and picturesque ruins from the city's Roman era.There are pickpockets on the Metro (especially at the interchanges with the line from the Airport), buses and in other crowded areas, including Plaka.