Athens hotel and a few other questions...

We are departing from Athens and plan to stay for one night pre-cruise. In what location should we look for a hotel (we've never been there before)? Any recommendations?

What are our options for airport - hotel and hotel - port transportation?

Taxi is usually your best option for transport.

My wife and I are doing the same thing. After quite a bit of research, we went with the Central Hotel in Athens. It's in the Plaka district. So, you can easily walk the area as well as to the Acropolis. There are several hotels in the area, but the Central has good reviews on Tripadvisor and great views of the Acropolis.

It is only a seven-mile drive from central Athens to the cruise port, about 20 minutes by taxi at non-rush hour, so neither a long nor expensive ride.

So stay wherever you want and have your hotel call a taxi for you.

Pick a hotel in the vicinity of either Acropolis Museum, or in Plaka or at Monastiraki Sq.

To make things more simple use taxi to commute. Transportation system is very good, still on a lot of luggage it is not an easy task.

Pick wisely location; i 'd focus to stay as close to the sites as possible. Here: http://g.co/maps/2vym7 I am talking about the areas colored green in the map, or maybe yellow. As close to the Acropolis pedestrian network would be what i would be after.

I looked at the Central Hotel online - it does look good with good TA reviews. The Hotel Plaka is also a possibility.

Both are good options. Not Acropolis side entrance side, but, anyway, you have to walk a bit to reach Acropolis entrance from any point in the city.

Both have simply equipped rooftop areas to relax and enjoy the views to Acropolis Rock so this is a big + for me, even if you spend up there 20 - 30 minutes relaxing at the end of the day.

One is 10 minutes walking dstance from each other; Central is a bit more close to Syndagma Sq., Hotel Plaka is close to Monastiraki Sq.

I 'd tend to book Hotel Plaka ( this is not a personal suggestion but an evaluation of each location and amenities ) since it has slightly bigger rooms and is closer to Monastiraki Sq. offering very short walking distance to lots of food shops, cafeterias and so on. Central Hotel is also close to this point, perhaps 10 minutes walking distance downhill, so srsly, not a huge difference.

Both are good. I 'd tend to consider them good 3 1/2* or 4* hotels, clean and in good locations. Nothing extremely spectacular, or glitzy but srsly, clean, good friendly service and good locations. I don't think you 'll have time for more than a quick freshen up and a good nightsleep; most people try to spend all the time around exploring and this is what most people lack when they visit Athens: ample time to absorb a bit more from this city:)

Is this a quick overnight or will you have some time to see a bit more? Acropolis visit? Arriving jetlagged? One way or another, keep it simple, get a taxi to from the hotel. Both are facing car streets and can be acessed by car.

thanks nick - very helpful

We will be arriving jet-lagged, but find that if we just drop our luggage, freshen up a bit and keep moving, we are ready for sleep in the evening and on schedule the next day.

Location is important, because we only have that day and a bit of the next and want to be close the main sights.

We stayed at the Athens Gate Hotel. Our stay included breakfast. They had a nice rooftop bar/restaurant where we were able to go online to check email, post on Facebook, and call the airline using scype. There were computers and printers off the lobby for airline check in, and whe we wanted directions to a restaurant.

Athens Gate Hotel has a very good roof top and a very good location, near to Acropolis Museum and nearer walking distance to the sites.

If someone is planning to use a taxi from the airport and to the port, then it is a very good choice. Not a 5* but a very good 4*, maybe 4 1/2*. I 'd get it for someone having a quick night over, trying to squeeze some sites in too + the views from the roof top are truly memorable. A very central Red line metro station is near too, so public transportation options are good too.

Nick, what do you mean "not Acropolis side entrance"? Are there hotels located there that you can mention?

Athens Gate Hotel has a very good roof top and a very good location, near to Acropolis Museum and nearer walking distance to the sites.

 

If someone is planning to use a taxi from the airport and to the port, then it is a very good choice. Not a 5* but a very good 4*, maybe 4 1/2*. I 'd get it for someone having a quick night over, trying to squeeze some sites in too + the views from the roof top are truly memorable. A very central Red line metro station is near too, so public transportation options are good too.

Thanks for the info - we are staying here next month!! Any advice on taxi from airport to hotel - I have read that you need to be careful not to be overcharged.

Acropolis is a hill in the middle of Athens.

The main gate is towards the SW.

There is no direct way to go up the hill. So, practically we walk around the hill, on a spiral walk to reach the gate.

There is nothing right in front of the Acropolis main gate. Except trees.

All around you have the city and forest. All central hotels are more or less in the same distance, meaning that on a straight line it's the same. But from some areas it's a closer walk, since they are closer the side of the entrance.

Imagine this as a doughnut with a coin somewhere in. Some pieces are closer to the side where the coin is. Right in the middles it's the Hill. You have to walk around though.

Thission, Acropolis Museum areas are closer to the entrance.

Monastiraki, Plaka, Syndagma are at the opposite side of the Hill.

That's not a very big deal, cause we are talking about 10 minutes walking time added. Still, the areas of Thission and Acropolis Museum are in the closest distance to the gates.

Here: Athens areas Google Map and here: Ascend to Acropolis

Thanks Nick - great info.

Larainerenee, I have done the same, stayed in Athens one night pre-cruise and I chose to stay central, close to Plaka. The hotel I stayed is a small, central, very clean hotel, called Athos (http://www.athoshotel.gr). It's close to the metro, so I took the train from the airport to the hotel (librarylady19 is right, taxi drivers overcharge from the airport). They have a roof garden with view of Parthenon. You can walk to Monastiraki, Thisio, Plaka, everything is so close. Next day we asked the receptionist (they all were very helpfull) to call a taxi to take us to the port (much closer than the airport).