Places worth the detour.
Shops, markets, and the corners of Athens that don't fit a category — and are better for it.
10AM Apotheke
A shop-cum-showroom in the basement of the 10AM Lofts on Konstantinoupoleos, founded by Eva Papadaki. Mount Athos beeswax candles, Cretan malotira tea, Messolonghi fleur de sel — Greece, distilled.
Ten Twentyclub
A racquet-sports and wellness club on the Voula beachfront. Padel, tennis, pickleball, ice bath, sauna, sea access. The country club reimagined as a Riviera concept. Members and visitors.
Near Here.
Hotels positioned for the neighbourhoods worth walking in.
Olive Era
Cine Oasis
Cine Oasis opened around 1950 as a shadow theatre on Pratinou Street in Pangrati. Bought by filmmaker Vangelis Melissinos, who converted it to cinema. Since the 1980s run by sisters Dia and Maria, dedicated exclusively to cinephile programming. Featured in Le Monde, The Times of London, and American publications. One of Athens' most characterful outdoor screens.
Ninetto Gallery
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Sea Turtle Rescue Center
The only sea turtle rescue centre in Greece, run by ARCHELON from old railway wagons at the 3rd Marina of Glyfada. Since 1994, roughly 70 injured turtles a year — hooked, entangled, injured by boats — come here, recover, and return to the Aegean. Tours by appointment: 45 minutes, groups of eight.
Melissinos Art
The son of Stavros Melissinos — Athens’ Poet Sandalmaker — now runs this tiny workshop on Tzireon in Makrygianni. Sandals made to order in twenty minutes, by hand, from classical Greek patterns unchanged since the 1950s.
Eat Here.
Restaurants in the same postcodes as the places worth finding.
The Naxos Apothecary
Half Note Jazz Club
Half Note is Athens' most celebrated jazz club — an intimate room in the Mets neighbourhood where international and Greek jazz artists have performed since 1978. From bebop to contemporary jazz, it remains the city's most enduring address for live improvised music.
Cine Paris
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Polis Hammam
An authentic Ottoman-style hammam in the heart of Psyrri, architecture by Makridis Associates. The Roman bath, the Pasha ritual, the marble bench, the foam massage. A two-hour escape from the city, two streets from Ermou.
Mofu Vintage Design
The vintage and contemporary design shop that helped put Sarri Street on the map. Furniture and objects sourced from the US and Europe — 1950s through to 1970s, with the occasional contemporary piece that knows its company. The edit is tight. The finds are real.
FROM THE JOURNALAthens Doesn't Pretend.
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Lotte Café Bistrot
ERE Athens
ERE Athens is a concept store and café in Koukaki where homeware, accessories, apothecary and locally made artisan goods sit alongside freshly made pastries and specialty coffee. Founded by a designer and a pastry chef, it is curated for those who let curiosity lead.
Omsom Coffee
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Phāon
Niche fragrances, bespoke objects and flower arrangements at 29 Likavittou Street, Kolonaki. Opened 2024 by art director Alexandros Kalogiros and set designer Dimitra Louana Marlanti, both returned from Italy. The selection didn’t exist in Athens before they opened.
Benaki Museum - Ghika Gallery
The former home and studio of Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika, Greece's most significant 20th-century painter. A 1932 interwar apartment block in Kolonaki — preserved exactly as Ghika left it, studio on the sixth floor, four floors of Greek modernist culture below.
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The Journal
Athens, in long form.
Architecture
Dig Anywhere. Find Everything.
Athens is trying to build a metro. The problem is Athens keeps finding itself in the way.
4 min read
Culture
The Woman Cooling the City
Athens created a job that didn't exist anywhere in the world and hired an anthropologist to do it. The brief: stop the city from cooking itself.
5 min read
Culture
The Years Greece Woke Up
Seferis won the Nobel. Theodorakis was banned. Mercouri was at Cannes. Greece in the 1960s discovered it was extraordinary — and then the Colonels arrived to remind it who was in charge.
8 min read