Aigli Zappeiou.
A garden pavilion with a summer cinema under the trees.
Edited by Aki Sumawaki
National Garden
Since 1904
Esé Studio & Neiheiser Argyros
~6 min walk to Panathenaic Stadium
~14 min to the Acropolis
Restored and reopened in 2023 as an all-day bar-restaurant, an open-air cinema and three event spaces, between Vasilissis Olgas and the Zappeion. Chef Chrysanthos Karamolegkos cooks seasonal Greek plates for sharing at Aigli Zappa.
Aigli Zappeiou returned in 2023 to the neoclassical pavilion it has occupied in the National Garden since 1904 — restored, reopened, and now running as an all-day bar-restaurant, an open-air cinema, and three event spaces. Chef Chrysanthos Karamolegkos runs the kitchen at Aigli Zappa, the bar-restaurant arm, drawing from Greek seasonal produce and leaning toward shareable plates.
The cinema screens in summer under the garden’s trees — one of the oldest outdoor cinemas in Athens, part of the same restoration. The building sits between Vasilissis Olgas and the Zappeion mansion, accessed from the south end of the garden at a remove from the traffic of Syntagma. The pace slows in the garden.
The complex has hosted Athenian cultural life continuously across twelve decades — exhibitions, concerts, diplomatic events, ordinary evenings out. That continuity gives the place a weight that newer venues cannot manufacture. The bar is a good reason to visit; the garden is the real destination.
Why we picked it
A historic garden pavilion given a second life that suits it. Dinner, a film and the National Garden around you make for one of the most Athenian evenings there is.
Best forA summer evening in the centre, under the trees
