8 min
40 min
40 min
M1 · M2 · M3 · T4 · T5
75.9 / km²
7
1
1,214
+13% vs city
Counted from OpenStreetMap and Inside Airbnb (CC BY 4.0)
Mixed after dark
Syntagma and the Ermou end are busy and fine until late. The northern tip at Omonia Square has open drug use and should be walked through, not lingered in; avoid demonstrations at Syntagma, where police use tear gas.
Staying in Syntagma & the Commercial Triangle
The triangle between Ermou, Panepistimiou and Athinas is the centre of modern Athens. At its eastern corner is Syntagma Square with the Parliament and the big hotels; at its southern edge Ermou, the city's main shopping street, runs down to Monastiraki; at its northern tip is Omonia Square. In between are the Central Market on Athinas, government buildings and the bar streets around Agia Irini and Kolokotroni.
For a first visit it is the most convenient base in the city. Syntagma has M2 and M3, direct to the airport, and the trams to the coast; Monastiraki is ten minutes down Ermou and the Acropolis entrance twenty. The hotel stock is the largest in the centre, from the Grande Bretagne down.
It costs above the median, and it is not a quiet place to sleep. Ermou is crowded all day, the bars around Agia Irini run late, and Syntagma Square is where Athens demonstrates, sometimes with tear gas. The Omonia end is the scruffy one: book towards Syntagma or Ermou, not north of Evripidou.
What works
- Syntagma: M2 and M3, direct to the airport, and trams to the coast
- Ten minutes down Ermou to Monastiraki, twenty to the Acropolis entrance
- The largest choice of hotels in the centre
- Central Market and the Agia Irini bars on the doorstep
What does not
- Priced above the median district
- Syntagma is where demonstrations happen, and the police use tear gas
- Ermou is shoulder to shoulder by day, and the Agia Irini bars run late
- The Omonia end, north of Evripidou, is scruffy after dark
Keep abreast of news of demonstrations, and avoid them if you don't want to risk being arrested or tear-gassed, which often happens near Syntagma.