Athens before the heat, and the museum when it arrives
Market at dawn, ruins in the cool, an air-conditioned museum through the worst of the afternoon, and the highest hill in the city at sunset.
In Athens the enemy is the sun, not the distance - everything here is walkable. So the order is thermal: be outdoors early, be indoors at two, be on a hill at seven.
Where to start: As early as you can stand. In summer the Acropolis is unkind after ten.
The walk, in order
- 1 Athens Central Market
The Varvakios: fish, meat and olives at full volume, with tavernas buried in the middle of it. A morning if you eat, forty minutes if you look.
- 2 The Ancient Agora of Athens
The civic heart of the ancient city, where Socrates walked, and far quieter than what is above it. Two hours, and shade under the trees.
- 3 Anafiotika
Climb into the island village built into the rock by builders from Cyclades - whitewash, cats and washing lines against the Acropolis. An hour, and no tickets.
- 4 The Acropolis and Parthenon
Up while the stone is still bearable. Half a day if you want it all; there is no shade on the rock and the marble is slippery when polished by feet.
- 5 The Acropolis Museum
The afternoon answer: the original sculptures, a glass floor over the excavation, and air conditioning during the hours when the rock is punishing.
- 6 Temple of Olympian Zeus
Fifteen columns of a temple that took nearly seven centuries to finish, ten minutes' walk away. An hour, mostly spent working out the scale.
- 7 Panathenaic Stadium
The only stadium built entirely of marble, host of the first modern Olympics. Sit in the seats; that is the point of it.
- 8 Lycabettus Hill
Finish on the highest hill in central Athens for sunset: white chapel on top, funicular if the legs are done, the whole basin and the sea beyond.
Where to cheat
The Lycabettus funicular exists because the hill is brutal at the end of a day like this. In high summer, moving the Acropolis to the last two hours before closing works as well as going early - the light is better and the crowds thinner.
Honest expectations
This is a summer-proofed order, and in July it is still a hard day. Carry more water than seems reasonable, and treat the museum's café as a planned stop rather than a failure of nerve.
More of this country is on the Greece page. Going between towns instead? See the routes. Other cities on foot are on city walks.