Park · Attica
National Garden of Athens
The National Garden is a 19th-century public garden in the centre of Athens, laid out from 1839 as the garden of the royal palace and managed by the Municipality of Athens.
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Greece•City
Athens
Athens is the capital of Greece. Greece's national tourism organisation says it has been inhabited without interruption since the Neolithic era and was declared capital of the modern Greek state in 1834.
Country
Greece
Type
City
Understand the place
Everything worth knowing before you arrive in Athens.
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Start with the parts of Athens that matter most to your trip, then move into the practical details.
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Worth the drive
Places to see near Athens
Distances are straight-line, not driving time — mountain roads in this region are often twice as long as the map suggests.
Museum · Kolonaki, Attica
Benaki Museum
The Benaki Museum of Greek Culture is the Benaki Museum's main building at 1 Koumbari Street in Kolonaki, Athens, presenting Greek history and culture from the prehistoric era to the 20th century.
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Monument · Attica
Hadrian's Arch, Athens
Hadrian's Arch is a Roman-period marble arch on Vasilissis Amalias Avenue in central Athens, built in honour of the emperor Hadrian.
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Museum · Kolonaki, Attica
Museum of Cycladic Art
The Museum of Cycladic Art is a museum at 4 Neophytou Douka Street in the Kolonaki area of Athens, focused on the ancient cultures of the Aegean and especially the Cycladic art of the 3rd millennium BC, with temporary exhibitions in the adjoining Stathatos Mansion.
1 km in a straight line
Archaeological site · Attica
Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens
The Temple of Olympian Zeus is the ruined Corinthian temple completed by the emperor Hadrian, in the Olympieion archaeological site between the Acropolis and Ardittos Hill in central Athens.
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Archaeological site · Attica
Hadrian's Library
Hadrian's Library is the archaeological site of a Roman library complex of about AD 132 on Areos Street in central Athens, next to the Roman Agora.
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Explore deeper
Guides to Athens
12 guides
Useful from Athens
Travel Guide01
Visiting Delphi: the sanctuary, Athena Pronaia and the museum
Delphi is one archaeological site holding two sanctuaries, Apollo's and Athena Pronaia's, on either side of the modern road, with the Archaeological Museum in its own building beside them and the present-day village of Delphi as the place to stay. This guide sets out how the three relate, what the Ministry of Culture and Hellenic Heritage say about the shared ticket and the parts of the site listed as closed, where their pages disagree, and what XTOUR does not know.
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Travel Guide02
What opening at Greek archaeological sites depends on, and where it is announced
Whether a Greek state archaeological site or museum is open on a given day depends on its seasonal schedule, a set of fixed holiday closures and day-of notices for weather, heat, fire risk, works and events. This article explains who publishes each, shows where the official pages disagree, and draws on Hellenic Heritage's own notices from 2026; XTOUR publishes no opening hours.
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Travel Guide03
Acropolis and Athens archaeological sites: how the tickets work
The Acropolis is entered on its own timed ticket, and the Acropolis Museum is a separate ticket from a separate institution. This guide explains who issues site tickets, what the official terms say about time slots and changes, where the Acropolis Museum's own link points, and what is still unclear about a combined ticket for the other ancient sites in Athens.
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Travel Guide04
The Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum: two visits, two tickets
The Acropolis is the rock and its monuments; the Acropolis Museum is a separate institution that holds what has been found there. This guide sets out what each one is, why several original sculptures are in the museum rather than on the hill, and how their tickets relate.
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Travel Guide05
Cycladic figurines explained: what they are and where Athens shows them
Cycladic figurines are the marble human figures made by the Early Cycladic culture of the Aegean islands in the third millennium BC. This article explains the types, what is and is not known about their purpose, the looted Keros Hoard, and the two Athens museums that show them, which are run in different ways and sell separate tickets.
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Travel Guide06
Greece travel guide: choosing mainland and island bases
XTOUR plans Greece around towns and islands rather than regions: Athens, Thessaloniki, Kalambaka, Delphi, Nafplio, Ioannina, Heraklion, Chania, Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes and Corfu Town. This guide says what each base is for, which sites are reached from a base rather than inside it, and which XTOUR guide takes over for each of them.
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Travel Guide07
Greek letters on signs, and why Greek places have several spellings
Greek road and street signs are written in the Greek alphabet, with a Latin-letter line where appropriate, and the official romanization is the Greek standard ELOT 743. This article shows how the letters convert, why one town can appear as Kalambaka, Kalampaka or Kalabaka and one city as Heraklion, Iraklion or Irakleio, and where the official sources disagree.
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Travel Guide08
Greek Orthodox monasteries as visits: communities, monuments and closed areas
A Greek monastery can be a living community that sets its own visiting hours, a Byzantine monument run by the state's archaeological service, a church inside a wider archaeological site, or part of the self-governed monastic area of Mount Athos. This article explains how each kind of visit works, who publishes its rules, and what XTOUR does not know.
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Travel Guide09
Doric, Ionic and Corinthian: the Greek temple orders and where Greece shows them
The Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders are told apart mainly by the capital at the top of the column and the band of decoration above it. This article sets out how each is recognised, what the Roman writer Vitruvius said about their origins, which Greek monuments show each one according to official Greek heritage pages, and where those pages disagree.
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Travel Guide10
Minoan and Mycenaean: Greece's two Bronze Age civilisations
Minoan and Mycenaean are the names for the Bronze Age palace cultures of Crete and of the mainland. This explainer sets out what the official sources say about each, which sites and museums show them, and how much those sources leave unsaid about how the two were connected.
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Travel Guide11
Mycenae, Epidaurus, Olympia and the Peloponnese sites by base
The ancient sites of the Peloponnese covered here are not one cluster. This guide explains what Mycenae, Tiryns, Epidaurus, Olympia and Mystras each are, which of them XTOUR plans from Nafplio, and which have no base among XTOUR's destinations.
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Destination information last verified: October 9, 2026
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