Athens Apartment Location
 

We are considering this apartment for our 3 night stay in Athens in June.

http://www.vrbo.com/147936

Could you please tell me if this is a good location in Athens.

It is near the Panepistimio metro stop. We would like to be able to walk to the Plaka and other sites in Athens, so we need a convenient location.

Thank you for your help.
Laurie

Hi Laurie! The apartment looks wonderful - lucky you! I would say this is an excellent location for your plans - it's the university area: the metro station is one of the smaller ones, but it has a fascinating display of ancient artefacts, particularly ones connected with spinning and weaving (I think - haven't been through there for a while.) You can walk to Syntagma Square in 15 minutes, 5-10 more to get right inside Plaka. You'll also be quite near the central market area, which is very interesting. If you need more specific info I can probably help.

Hi Nikoletta,
Thank you for your reassuring comments about this apartment and it's location.

The apartment looks nice on the website and I love the idea of having a terrace with a view of the Acropolis!

This is our first visit to Athens so it is hard for me to understand where the sites are in relation with other areas. We would like to visit the Acropolis of course and the museum, also the old market area and the Plaka.

Would we be able to walk to these areas or would it be better to take the metro?

What would be the easiest way to get from the airport to this apartment? Would we be able to take the metro from the airport? We try to travel light, so we won't have large luggage with us.

Thank you so much for your help!
Laurie

A good way to see locations and orient yourself is to scroll around on a large and good online map -- here's the best one I've found:
http://www.greeka.com/attica/athens/...map/athens.jpg

when you click on it, it gets huuge, scroll till u find Acropolis. Scroll up on the Map & to right: That Metro stop is right by the Number 2 in a red square. Quite handy.

That map is too big to print. This one below prints out well: put your printer on HI Quality Color, set it for horizontal; it takes 2 pp but you will only use page 2 mainly.
http://www.athensguide.com/map/athens.htm

There are other maps but they use Greek lettering; these do not.

Listen to Nikoletta, she lives in Athens and knows whereof she speaks. I'm counting on her to show me some new stuff in Athens next June!

Hi TravelerJan,
Thank you for sending those links to maps of Athens. They are very helpful! Now, I can get an idea of where things are in relation to other sights.

We are in the process of trying to send a deposit for this apartment with Paypal.

Thanks Again for the maps!

Laurie

Hi again! Now you've got Travelerjan's maps it should be easier to work out where things are in relation to each other – I notice that the second one is from Matt Barrett's website: athensguide.com – the best guide to Athens I've ever seen! On the page with the map he mentions the maps you can get from the National Tourist Organisation - at the airport you'll also see stands with free transport maps: the best one for you has 'Athens Public Transport Pocket Map' on the front. It's in English and shows all the central area of Athens with the Metro stations clearly marked; it also shows the bus and trolley routes, so it's easy to see which ones go to the places you're aiming for. This could be useful if you want to go to the National Archaeological Museum, which would be quite a long walk from Panepistimio. You could take the Metro from there to Omonia, then take a bus or trolley down 28th October street – just a few stops. It's worth using the public transport system: you can buy the tickets at kiosks – they cost 80 cents and you can use them on the tram, trolley, bus and Metro (not to go to and from the airport, though). One ticket can be used for an hour and a half – you have to remember to validate it in the special machine when you start your journey.
You would certainly be able to use the Metro to get from the airport to your apartment – that would be the simplest way, though you see more on the bus! That would take longer, though, and as there isn't an address for the apartment I can't tell exactly how to get to it from Syntagma, where the bus stops. On the Metro you'll change at Syntagma, then it's just one stop to Panepistimio. It will be very easy to get to the Acropolis stop from Panepistimio – just two stops on the same line. This is also the best (?) stop for Plaka, though you can also reach it easily on foot from the Central Market area, which is a very easy walk (ten minutes?) from where you are. And close to that is the Psyrri area, where there are some great places to eat!! (I agree with all Matt Barrett's recommendations here!)
(Janet – thank you for your vote of confidence! Though actually, you do get a bit out of touch with some things when you actually live in a place – I don't know much about hotels any more, for instance!)

Hi Nicoletta,
Thank you so much for all your suggestions. We would like to visit the National Archaeological Museum, so I appreciate your tips on how to get there.

I was thinking that we could take the metro but Matt Barrett's website says the airport metro may be closed soon to put in a new line. I don't know if it will be open in June or not.

Also, thank you for your suggestions for local public transportation and restaurants.

I did book this apartment for our stay in Athens in June. We decided to stay 4 nights instead of 3 because it sounds like there will be so much to do in Athens.

Thanks again for all your help!

Laurie

Hi Laurie,

I had also looked on VRBO and saw this apartment and another one to the east of the National Gardens that interested me. The view of the Acropolis is certainly a draw! Since you have already reserved the apartment, what did they share about the cancellation policy? Thank you.

Kathy

Hi Golfmom,
The owner requested 50 Euro as a deposit for our 4 night stay in Athens. It must be paid through paypal and it is non refundable if you cancel.

The owner was very quick with email replies and was patient with me when I had some issues to resolve with paypal.

(Someone had tried to hack into my account so I had to take some steps to make sure my account was secure.)

It was the balcony with the view of the Acropolis that made this apartment stand out, for me.