# Staying in Syntagma & the Commercial Triangle: Map & Verdict Verdict: Recommended. Book here without thinking about it. Interactive map: https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/syntagma Every Athens district: https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens.md 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. Facts: 8 min walk to Monastiraki Square; 40 min to the airport; 40 min to the beach; price €€€; best for first-timers, sights, business trips, couples; lines M1, M2, M3, T4, T5. Safety: 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. 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 Hotels in Syntagma & the Commercial Triangle: https://www.stay22.com/allez/booking?aid=stayzones&link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Fsearchresults.html%3Fdest_id%3D1976%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. - [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. - [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.