# Staying in Thiseio & Ano Petralona, Athens: Map & Verdict Verdict: Recommended. Book here without thinking about it. Interactive map: https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens/thiseio-ano-petralona Every Athens district: https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-athens.md 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. Facts: 18 min walk to Monastiraki Square; 50 min to the airport; 45 min to the beach; price €€; best for sights, food, couples, budget; lines M1. Safety: Mixed after dark. Philopappou Hill sits between this district and Koukaki. It is the best free view of the Acropolis by day and Wikivoyage says to stay off it at night. Go round it on Apostolou Pavlou rather than over it. Apostolou Pavlou runs along the west side of the Acropolis, car-free, from Thiseio station to the Acropolis west entrance in about ten minutes. Thiseio is the flat part at the bottom: cafes facing the rock, the Ancient Agora at one end and the Kerameikos cemetery site at the other, and a station on M1, the oldest line in the city. Ano Petralona is the same district climbing the hill behind it. Rooms there cost roughly what Koukaki costs and well under half of Plaka, the tavernas round Plateia Merkouri are neighbourhood places, and the Sunday street market is a real one. The reader's choice between the two is basically money against gradient. The gradient is the con. Ano Petralona is a climb from Petralona or Thiseio station every single time, and Athens in August does not forgive that. Thiseio's own cafes are priced for the promenade crowd. M1 is the line the pickpocket warnings name specifically. And Philopappou Hill, which separates this district from Koukaki, is the one green space in the centre that Wikivoyage says to keep off at night. What works: - Apostolou Pavlou is car-free and reaches the Acropolis entrance in ten minutes - Thiseio and Petralona stations are both on M1 - Ano Petralona's tavernas cost about half what Plaka's do - The Ancient Agora and Kerameikos sites are at either end of the street What does not: - Ano Petralona is a climb from either station, every time - Philopappou Hill, between here and Koukaki, is one to avoid after dark - M1 is the line the pickpocket warnings name specifically - Thiseio's cafes are priced for the people walking the promenade Hotels in Thiseio & Ano Petralona: https://www.stay22.com/allez/booking?aid=stayzones&link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Fsearchresults.html%3Fdest_id%3D17565%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. - [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. - [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.