10 hour Athens stopover | Greece - Lonely Planet Forum

ONLINE

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 07:54:55 +0000

Hi,

At the end of the year I have a flight from Cairo to Tel Aviv via Athens (Aegean). I arrive in Athens athens at 6:10AM and depart to Tel Aviv at 4:30PM so if I account for 2hr check-in time and 1hr each way to and from the airport (just to be safe) that leaves me with 6 hours in Athens itself.

Is it realistic to see the Acropolis, Plaka neighbourhood, the Greek parliament and Mount Lycabettus (incl the church on top)?

My plan is to take public transport into the city and walk between these sights as they look close together on a map.

Do you have any tips for these sights?

Are there any other sights you would recommend?

And what is the best way to get to the city from the airport and back using public transport?

Thanks for any help you can give!

ONLINE

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 10:47:09 +0000

A somewhat decent visit of Acropolis and Acropolis Museum will take a few hrs. You may add the Roman Agora and Plaka and the 6 hrs will be over.
Take metro line 3 from the airport to Syntagma and change there to line 2 for Acropolis Museum/Acropolis. Return from Monastiraki (line 3)

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ONLINE

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 17:25:00 +0000

Agree with meckerdv ... skip Lycabettus. From Acropolis, you have panoramic view of city. you can see the Parliament building and Lycabettus from there..

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ONLINE

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 17:52:10 +0000

Meckerdv's route is certainly the best to follow. First stop acropolis, down from acropolis through agora gets you to Monastiriki .. wander Plaka if there's time. I'd also skip the Parliament (??).

If someone wanted a view, then the Pnyx hill across the road from Acropolis would be much better than Lycabettus anyway. Parthenon is more photogenic from there, with entire acropolis in view and Lycabettus hill in background .. classic postcard stuff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pnyx

Matter of taste, I suppose ... I don't like rushing. If I had 6 hours (excluding transit times) then I'd pick one main activity/attraction, see it to my satisfaction. Then I'd check the time and move on to the next priority. I wouldn't rush like mad to see everything on the list just for the sake of hitting everything.

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ONLINE

Sat, 29 Apr 2017 11:02:36 +0000

Thanks everyone for your help. I think my original plan was too ambitious. Will stick to the Acropolis, the museum and the Roman Agora. Hopefully some time in the future I will be able to return and do Athens properly!

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ONLINE

Sat, 29 Apr 2017 13:01:04 +0000

Do you mean the Roman Agora, or the Ancient (Greek) Agora?? The latter is directly below the Acropolis, and has a great deal of interest... the RS book (and I believe, the free audio download on his website) gives you step-by-step guidance thru the Ancient Agora ... the impressive authentic reconstruction of the Stoa of Attalos (based on ancient illustrations)contains the wealth of artifacts found when the site was finally excavated beginning in the 1930s then resumed in 1950s (it was covered with more than 400 buildings, J.D. Rockefeller paid to compensate owners & have structures removed).

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ONLINE

Thu, 04 May 2017 09:54:59 +0000

Sorry meant the Greek agora below the acropolis. Thanks for the added info.

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ONLINE

Sun, 07 May 2017 17:02:36 +0000

Definitely check out Acropolis, I had 24 hours in Athens http://brittsboardingpass.com/travel/greece/athens/ and heres what I did. Even though you have 6 hours I think you'll be able to check it out

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Tue, 08 May 2018 01:00:25 +0000

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