Greece wasn’t chosen for the ruins, or the islands, or anything you’d normally plan a trip around. We picked Athens for one very specific, very unglamorous reason: we needed a flight home to India that could handle over 60kg of luggage between us, at minimal extra cost, after 5 months in Europe.

Why Athens, specifically

IndiGo had just launched direct Athens-Mumbai flights on their brand-new Airbus A321XLR — a long-haul narrow-body aircraft, meaning fewer passengers on board, which came with a genuinely generous 30kg checked baggage allowance per person. Our combined luggage was almost exactly 60kg. We got that ticket for ₹18,000 per person (roughly €170 at the time), baggage included. That math made the decision for us.

The remaining problem was getting from Toulouse to Athens with the same amount of luggage. Flying Blue points, through Air France and a Diners Club Black card with a 1:1 point conversion, solved that — and let us pull off a small logistics hack worth sharing. Air France’s points bookings allow 23kg checked per person (46kg total) plus 12kg cabin baggage each. At the self-check-in counter, we were offered the option to check our larger cabin bags instead of carrying them on — we took it, which brought us to 58kg checked. The remaining 2kg went into our laptop bags, which don’t count against the cabin allowance the same way. Checking one bag still meant the full 12kg cabin allowance applied to what we kept with us, so we walked through with our laptop bags regardless. Nobody at the counter questioned any of it.

Why 10 days, all in one apartment

After 5 months of near-constant movement, we wanted to slow down completely. We booked a thoughtfully furnished 2BHK apartment in Athens for the full 10 days — the kind of place that’s clearly someone’s actual home rather than a rental unit dressed up for tourists. It felt like living there, not visiting, and that was exactly the point.

We stayed in Kypseli, a residential neighborhood with good bus connections into the city center and genuinely excellent food nearby (see below). Weekends were for the standard Athens circuit — the Acropolis and Parthenon, the Ancient Agora, a sunset tour out to the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion. As I mentioned in our Paris post, I’d rather write about the less-visited side of a place than repeat what’s already well covered — and Athens’ major sights already have more travel content than any single post could add to. Weekdays were for exploring neighborhoods on foot, buying groceries nearby, cooking at “home,” and generally living at the city’s actual pace rather than a tourist’s.

What we found

Athens ran roughly 15-25% cheaper than Paris for most things — a real, felt difference, not a marginal one. People were consistently friendly. Some of our best evenings were just sitting in local squares listening to live performers — the standout being a group of people in their 50s to 70s playing music together on a Sunday evening outside Monastiraki metro station, beers in hand, clearly just there for each other’s company rather than an audience.

We also saw a harder side of the city, mostly around Omonia — people using drugs openly on the sidewalks, near shuttered shops. They keep entirely to themselves; as long as you don’t stop to stare, photograph, or otherwise engage, there’s no trouble. That said, it’s honest to say this can feel unsettling to someone new to the area, particularly after dinner hours when the streets thin out of both locals and tourists.

Where to eat in Kypseli

  • Παραδοσιακόν - χειροποίητες γεύσεις ΕΡΓΑΣΤΉΡΙΟ Σιμίδη — run single-handedly by a chef in his 50s, genuinely kind, and serving delicious traditional Greek sweets. A must if you have any kind of sweet tooth.
  • Parmesan Pizza — excellent pizza at a very reasonable price, with some of the friendliest hosts we met anywhere in Greece.
  • Tastes of Damascus — about 50m from Parmesan, serving excellent vegetarian Syrian food.
  • Solo Gelato — the best gelato we’ve had, full stop.

Practical tips

Tickets aren’t combined anymore. As of April 2025, the Greek government discontinued the official combined ticket that used to cover the Acropolis plus six other major sites for one price. You now need individual tickets per site (or a third-party bundle from a private operator, typically €44-98 depending on what’s included), and prices have gotten steep. Several sites are genuinely visible — and honestly fine to just view — from outside while walking past, so it’s worth deciding in advance which ones are worth the entry fee versus which you can skip.

Get the Rick Steves audio guide app before you go. It’s well-researched and well-narrated for Athens specifically, and made a real difference to how much we got out of the sites we did pay to enter.

Uber over Bolt, based on our experience. On arrival, Bolt quoted €15 cheaper than Uber for the airport-to-apartment ride, so we booked it — the final charge came in €3 higher than what Uber would have cost, for the same route and time. Bolt had no visible support option to dispute it; Uber consistently does. On the return trip and one other ride during our stay, Uber’s quoted and final prices matched exactly, with no surprises. Based on that pattern, we’d trust Uber more here.

Frequently asked questions

Is Athens safe to walk around? Mostly yes, including at night in most areas. Some pockets, particularly around Omonia, have visible drug use — it’s not aimed at passersby and generally poses no real threat if you don’t engage, but it can feel uncomfortable for a first-time visitor, especially later in the evening.

Is there still a combined ticket for the Acropolis and other sites? No — the official government combo ticket was discontinued in April 2025. You’ll need individual tickets per site, or a bundled ticket from a third-party operator.

Is Athens cheaper than Paris? In our experience, yes — roughly 15-25% cheaper across most day-to-day costs.

Uber or Bolt in Athens? Based on our own comparisons, Uber’s quoted price matched the final charge consistently; Bolt undercut Uber’s quote but then charged more than Uber would have, with no support channel to dispute it.