Afer spending days scouring over all the hotel search engines....we finally found something "reasonable"...in a pretty nice district of Athens. But that runs more than $160 per night. My impression is that relative to the economy the hotels in Athens are among the highest in Europe. Why?

You are probably making the mistake of looking into international chain hotels. There might very well be only a few of those and they know that many foreigners prefer them whatever the price. Look into local hotels. Greece is not exactly well connected to the Internet. So, most local businesses are not online and you´re missing those.

Helsinkflyer, how do we get to look into local hotels? Also will be there in June.

Have you tried Venere or Tripadvisor?

Wasn't expensive for me. I liked and posted about this hotel from Oct. 2004.

www.travelling.gr/tempihotel/info.htm

Athens - Hotel Tempi

75 a night first night due to Paralympics. 58 a night the following nights.

Nice 2 star a couple of blocks east of the Monastiraki subway stop. On a quiet pedestrian street looking onto a small plaza with a flower market. Air conditioning which was needed as there was not much of a breeze in Athens. Had a room at the back which was very, very quiet. No elevator.

I stayed at the Attalos Hotel, which has doubles from 83 to 96 euros, depending on the season, including breakfast. Very good location, a view of the acropolis from our room's balcony, convenient and near the Monastiraki metro stop. Nothing fancy, but I'd go back.

http://www.greekhotel.com/athens/attalos/more.htm