Visiting Athens doesn’t have to break the bank. The Greek capital has been welcoming travellers for centuries, and it’s easy to see why: remarkably well‑preserved ancient ruins, mouthwatering food, sunny weather, and easy access to the islands. But what makes Athens especially appealing is its affordability.
Compared to many other European capitals, Athens is a budget‑friendly destination where you can enjoy world‑class experiences without overspending. In this post, I’ll share my best money‑saving travel hacks, insider tips, and practical tricks to help you explore Athens on a budget while still making the most of your trip.
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Visit Athens During the Shoulder Season
When you visit Athens can have a major impact on how much you spend on accommodation and activities. The best time to visit is during the winter months or shoulder seasons (April to May and September to October).
I visited in March and found it to be the perfect balance of comfort and affordability. Daytime temperatures were mild enough for T‑shirts, while evenings called for a hoodie or light jacket. The seasonal discounts on entrance tickets to major archaeological sites meant I paid half the summer price, and the city felt pleasantly uncrowded. I never had to queue for a table at a restaurant or wait for a seat at a bar, which made the whole experience more relaxed.
Visiting during this time also helps to save on excursions. Tour prices are often lower outside the peak summer months, and with fewer visitors, they’re less likely to sell out. If you’re planning day trips beyond Athens, consider joining a group tour rather than hiring a private driver, as this can significantly cut costs. Alternatively, check whether your destination is reachable by public transport.
Search for Affordable Accommodation in Athens
Accommodation is usually the priciest part of any holiday, but fortunately Athens has plenty of wallet-friendly options including low-priced hotels, Airbnbs, hostels and guesthouses. Budget hotels and guesthouses in Athens start around €30–€50 per night. You can weigh up if you’d like to stay in the city centre within walking distance of all the sights (so you don’t need to pay for public transport) or find cheaper accommodation outside of the heart of the city and use the metro and buses to get around.
Most neighbourhoods are perfectly safe to stay in, such as Plaka, Koukaki and Pangrati, but locals suggest staying away from Omonoia, Victoria, and Attica metro stations. I stayed in two Airbnbs in Athens – I paid €44 per night for this apartment and €40 for this apartment, and was very satisfied with them both.
Save Money by Using Public Transportation
If you’re looking for a budget-friendly alternative to taxis, take advantage of Athens’ inexpensive, reliable and efficient metro system. The bargains start the moment you arrive in Athens. The international airport is 33 kilometres from the centre, and there’s a fixed taxi fare of €40 during the day (€55 at night).
Unless you’re travelling with a lot of luggage, I suggest walking past the line of taxi drivers waiting for passengers and find the train station or bus stop. You can buy a €9 ticket on the underground metro (Line 3) or a €5.50 ticket by bus (X-95) to the city centre. The bus drops you at Syntagma station).
You will be able to reach almost anywhere you need to go in Athens via public transport and a single 90-minute journey only costs €1.20. There are also different deals available such as:
- 24-hour pass: €4.10
- 5-day pass: €8.20
- 3-day tourist pass (includes airport return): €20
The city also has an extensive bus system, overground train line and trams, which costs the same as the metro and uses the same tickets.
Explore Athens on Foot to Cut Costs
Although public transport is very affordable in Athens, you may not need to use it often! The city centre is very compact with many of the main attractions within walking distance of each other. In fact it only takes around twenty minutes to walk from one side of the city centre to the other. If you are going to use taxis, be aware that most of them only accept cash (unless you use the FreeNow app) and drivers increase their rates at night or during peak hours.
When it comes to exploring the city centre, I recommend starting with the charming Plaka and Anafiotika neighbourhoods. Plaka is one of the oldest parts of the city – a maze of tiny cobblestone streets full of boutiques, art galleries, souvenir shops and traditional restaurants. Nearby you’ll find the dreamy Anafiotika neighbourhood, clinging to the side of the Acropolis hill. It is full of whitewashed cottages that will make you think you’ve been whisked away to a Greek island.
Take Advantage of Discounted Tickets & Free Entry Days
Athens is an absolute dream for lovers of art, history and architecture, and admission prices to museums are quite reasonable compared to most European cities. I visited Athens in March, when museum tickets were at the reduced winter rate. During my visit, the Acropolis costs €15 between November-March (€30 between April and October). The Ancient Agora of Athens costs €10 in the winter months, and €20 from April to October. Half the price for the same fantastic experience!
Students and people over 65 years old can benefit from discounts or free admission at Athens’ main historical sites and museums – remember to bring photo ID or your student card to show at the ticket office. Additionally, on the first Sunday of each month from November until March, all government-run archaeological sites and museums offer free entry.
The Acropolis has some additional free days:
- 6 March – Melina Mercouri Day
- 18 April – International Monuments Day
- 18 May – International Museums Day
- 28 October – Ohi Day
Free resources can enrich your visit just as much. For example, Rick Steves offers an excellent free audio guide of the Acropolis, which I found both informative and engaging. He also has a free audio guide for the National Archaeological Museum – where admission is €20 – that helped me get far more value out of the ticket price. Using these guides meant I could explore at my own pace, learn interesting details I might have missed, and save money at the same time.
The Acropolis Museum (€10 admission) is one of the best museums I have visited, and has an excellent free audio guide that you can stream directly on your phone once inside. Just remember to bring your own headphones or earbuds, both for the Acropolis itself and for the museum.
Some of Athens’ other museums are free to enter, depending on the day of the week or the month. The Benaki Museum (free entry every Thursday from 6pm until midnight) has a fantastic collection of Greek costumes, paintings, jewellery, crockery and religious art dating from the neolithic to the 20th century. The National Historical Museum is free to enter on the second Sunday of the month (from November to February) and has a series of permanent and temporary exhibitions, mostly focused on the Greek War of Independence.
Discover Athens’ Best Free Attractions
One of the most popular free attractions is watching the Change of the Guards in front of the Parliament building on top of Syntagma Square. Every hour on the hour, you can watch the Evzones (Presidential Guards) performing a carefully choreographed ritual. If you’re there on a Sunday, aim to arrive around 10.30am to find a spot to watch the 11am ceremony. The Sunday Changing of the Guards is quite the spectacle; the guards dressed in traditional attire, performing graceful, careful manoeuvres and goose-stepping in time to live music from the brass band.
There are several hilltops you can walk up for panoramic views of the city but the best views can be found at Mount Lycabettus. Rising 300m above the city, you can hike up and down Mount Lycabettus (there’s a well-maintained wooden trail) or take the funicular in the Kolonaki neighbourhood to the top (€8 one-way or €10 return). I took the funicular up and walked back down, which worked out perfectly. It’s a particularly popular spot to admire Athens’ gorgeous sunsets!
If you need a break from the hustle and bustle of the city, retreat to the National Garden next to the Parliament building. It’s a beautiful park full of plants and flowers (and some parrots flying from tree to tree); the perfect spot to recharge and rest. I also enjoyed visiting the First Cemetery of Athens which is a really calm, peaceful place. A lot of famous Greek people are buried here, including actress and politician Melina Mercouri, archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, and former prime minister Andreas Papandreou. You can wander past the various tombstones and mausoleums, which are surrounded by orange trees which fill the air with their sweet, citrus scent.
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre offers a wide range of free events including outdoor movie screenings, exhibitions, and classes in yoga, tai chi, Pilates or aerobics. You can find all the free and ticketed events here. Another popular cultural landmark is the Technopolis, which often has free concerts and workshops throughout the week and weekend. You can check out the events line-up here.
Take Advantage of Free Audio Guides and Walking Tours
As already mentioned, I am a huge fan of Rick Steves’ free audio guides. He also has an Athens city walk which includes the most significant places in the city centre, as well as an interesting overview of Greek history and culture.
If you’d rather have a real, human guide, Athens offers tours to suit every interest. Many of these are advertised as “free walking tours,” but in practice they operate on a tip‑based system, where you pay what you think the tour is worth. Popular tour companies in Athens include Free Tour, Guru Talk and Athens Free Walking Tour. For something more unusual, you could book a History of Rebellion Walking Tour or Street Art Walking Tour by passionate local guides.
Eat & Drink Where Locals Go
One of the best ways to save money in Athens is to eat like a local at traditional tavernas or small family-owned restaurants. Avoid restaurants purely geared towards tourists; you can usually spot them quite easily due to their close proximity to major historic sites, large menus translated into 4+ languages, or staff members hovering by the entrance trying to lure customers inside.
If you choose carefully and check reviews beforehand, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the prices. Most of my dinners cost between €20-30 – my most expensive dinner in Athens was at Mpirmpilo, where I paid €40 for a delicious meal consisting of two starters, a main course and half a litre of wine!
Cheap street food is synonymous with Athens; look for freshly-baked spanakopita (spinach and feta filo pastry pie), warm, flaky tiropita (cheese pie), koulouri (sesame-covered bread ring), souvlaki (marinated meat grilled on a skewer), and gyros (meat grilled on a vertical rotisserie, served in pita bread with chips and tzatziki). You should expect to pay a couple of euros for sweet or savoury goodies from the bakeries, and €3-5 for souvlaki and gyros.
Coffee and juice are also really good value for money – it’s not hard to find a cappuccino or a glass of freshly squeezed orange or pomegranate juice for €2-3. If you’re looking for something stronger, there are plenty of bars and clubs in Athens. I really liked the wine bar Heteroclito and paid €6.50 for two excellent glasses of organic wine. However, I mostly drank local beer – like Mamos (Greece’s most historic beer) – or ordered the house wine with my meals.
To avoid draining your wallet, you may need to skip the gorgeous rooftop cocktail lounges and instead seek out lively hostel bars or local haunts in the popular Psirri, Gazi, and Monastiraki neighbourhoods. You can also pick up an alcoholic beverage from a kiosk (periptero) and enjoy a drink outside in one of Athens’ buzzing squares, soaking up the atmosphere while admiring the view of the Acropolis.
Bring a Reusable Water Bottle
Athens’ tap water is perfectly safe to drink so instead of buying bottled water throughout the day, I simply refilled my own reusable water bottle. Good for the planet and for the wallet! Restaurants are also very accommodating: if you ask, staff will happily bring a free jug of cold tap water to your table or refill your bottle without hesitation.
Find Bargains by Browsing Markets
Shopping may not be a high priority if you’re on a tight budget, but if you are looking for a memento from your time in Athens, there are lots of stalls at Monastiraki Flea Market, selling all sorts, including fridge magnets, souvenirs, jewellery, bags, shoes, T-shirts and Greek goddess-style dresses.
I also suggest visiting Varvakios Central Market to buy dried herbs and spices, olives, nuts, oil and different flavours of honey. I bought some Greek oregano and thyme for €1 per bag, plus a souvlaki spice mix (also €1). I bought a kilo of pistachios and a kilo of almonds for €28 – which weighed down my hand luggage a bit, but was more than worth it!
Save Money on Data with an E-SIM
If you want budget-friendly internet while exploring Athens, I’d definitely suggest grabbing an Airalo E-SIM. They’re super affordable, reliable, easy to set up (even if you’re not techy), and work in over 200 countries. They’ve got flexible data plans for 7, 15, or 30 days, which is perfect whether you’re staying in Greece for a week or a while.
I hope this blog post has shown you that you don’t need to spend a fortune in Athens to have a fantastic time. Despite its popularity, it remains one of Europe’s most affordable capital cities.
While you’re planning your trip to Athens, check out my other blog posts: Ultimate Athens Travel Guide for First-Time Visitors, 4-Day Athens Travel Guide for First-Time Visitors and – for my fellow foodies – What to Eat in Athens: 20 Must-Try Greek Dishes You’ll Love.
Ciao for now
Izzie, the Curious Sparrow
Some top tips!
Thank you!