Buying gold jewelry in Athens
 

Does anyone have favorite shops in Athens for buying nice gold jewelry at reasonable prices? How much bargaining should one do? Thanks.

ttt

we were ripped off by a place at the foot of the acropolis (thanks to a tour guide who marched us all in there!) and later found another place in the plaka by just walking in and having a discussion with the owner( i am hunting for the name and hopefully will find it)....but the very best gold prices we found were in delphi if you are going there....there was a $100 difference between identical necklaces from athens and delphi (bargained by the same person both places!)....and definitely bargin- they start our very high!

Hello Wondering. Thank you, and where did you buy gold in Delphi, since we are planning on taking a day trip there.

yclarke123, when in athens, go to Voukourestiou Street for the best jewelry shops in the city! If you have a map of the city, you will find this street at the left of the central square of Athens which is called Syntagma (Constitution) Sq. Hope I helped a little!

Behind Hotel Grande Bretagne where I stayed on my recent trip to Athens, there is a marvellous jewellers who have a fabulous selection of coloured diamonds, as well as other pieces - their windows were nearly as good as Graff's.

Exactly m_kingdom2! That is Voukourestiou str!

I agree the stores behind the Grande Bretagne are the best, but they are also the most expensive and not really the kind of place where you go in and bargain.
In Plaka, you can bargain freely, but I don't like the quality or style of the jewelry there as much, and most of the store owners creep me out. Matt Barrett in his www.athensguide.com heavily promotes one particular jewelry store where he has made friends with the owner, so you might want to check his recommendation.

Delphi is very small - just a few streets. You will find everyone wanting to bargain.

since i am not good on directions i will try to find our "bargaineer" to get directions - when are you leaving?

We plan on doing a day trip to Delphi with CHAT or Key tours. I understand seeing Delphi in one day is a bit of a rush. Does anyone know if there is time to shop?

And I thought this thread was about a bribery scandal at the Olympics!

If you are a non-European union resident your are entitled for a full refund of the VAT when exporting the goods.
If you pay cash you should normally get a discount of 3 to 6%...!
An if you 'bargain' 3 to 5% more.

Never buy gold in tourist areas or places suggested by tour agents etc...

The most reliable places are:

Near Synatagma Voukourestiou :All of them specially Lalaounis,Zolotas,Kessaris, Anagnostopoulos,Vildiridis

In Kolonaki :Serkos

In Kifissia :Kartaki (1 st floor of the main shopping center) and Gofas.

One more tip when in Athens near the Acropolis do not miss to visit the Lalaounis museum!!It is fabulous!