39 Best Bars in Athens, Greece

Located between Syntagma and Psirri, this innovative and consistently famous bar-restaurant is among the most popular in Athens, and one of the World's 50 Best Bars. The impressively decorated, multilevel venue even has a private room, where clients can order bespoke drinks. The unpretentious, fashionable bar is loved for its unique, signature cocktails, all made with creative vision and excellent taste. There's a degustation menu that offers the chance of tasting four to five smaller versions), or you can just have them regular size, which is never too difficult to do here.

A popular after-hours dive with a cult following. Known for its cozy atmosphere and lively crowd, it offers quality drinks accompanied by Greek music that often inspires spontaneous sing-alongs among locals. While the drinks may be on the pricier side, the vibrant ambience and authentic experience make it a worthwhile stop for night owls seeking a genuine taste of Athens nightlife.

One of those "legendary" Athens clubs that just keep on going (after a short break when it was shut down for renovations), this place goes on after-hours but also starts early on some days. Large and high-ceilinged, with the DJ booth in the middle, it gathers revelers daily for drinks and bites as well as clubbing to Greek and international hits.

This is a restaurant-bar, but is more known for its late night allure when local celebs and high-end professionals flock there to let loose especially on weekends over a series of cocktails and shots. Whether you prefer the loud, buoyant, shoulder-rubbing indoor vibe or outdoors at a table on one of Kolonaki's most central streets for a less shouty conversation over good wine, this place is one of only a handful where you can stay out and party till the late hours.

Expert sommelier and chef Anton Lianoudakis welcomes you in a small, quirkily decorated and cozy space with a large bench in the middle to taste wines, olive oils, and honey from select producers. One can book tasting sessions or just sit to enjoy wines paired with delightful homemade bites, made in a cupboard-size kitchen—from marinated cheeses and freshly baked Georgian pitta bread to ice cream with olive oil and aged vinegar. Stoic philosophy nights are also organized, accompanied by dishes based on ancient Greek recipes. Lianoudakis's expertise and knowledge is as phenomenal as the Greek and Armenian wines he presents.

Down-to-earth, local, lively, Kapnikarea is named after the sunken Byzantine church that it flanks. Come here to relax after some sightseeing or shopping on busy Ermou Street where live rembetika (the Greek blues from Asia Minor) music swirls mesmerically around a little alleyway every day at different hours. Locals love sitting here enjoying a cold beer and meze, morphing into impromptu choirs, intoning their favorite songs. This little spot has been around for ages and is not to be missed.

This is where locals come to party, sipping delicious and creative cocktails and to bop along to upbeat music. Open until the early hours, this place with the motto "the bar we call home" is a trendy haunt where smiling easily becomes contagious. Its seaside location at Zea Marina adds another refreshing reason to go.

With a menu of more than 70 cocktails and an extensive wine list, there is something for everyone at this rooftop bar in the heart of lively Monastiraki Square. The top reason to go is the magical view of the Acropolis.

Fun, cozy, small, with a bold and creative decor (including a masked circus artist holding playing cards and dangling on a swing) and excellently mixed cocktails, this is the kind of bar where you can linger over a Bloody Mary at noon or stay up until the early hours chatting over drinks into the next day. 

This elegant Parisian-style bar and café is frequented by fashion personalities, academics, and thespians alike, who come to unwind over a few cocktails. During the day you'll find a great range of teas and coffees served in porcelain cups. Bistro-style food is also served.

A cool, innovative and creative approach to Athens's new chapter in cocktail culture can be experienced at this awarded place. The bar's main principles are sustainability, seasonality, and invention, with most ingredients being made in the bar's lab next door and the menu changing daily. Outside are high tables with stools and artisanal cocktails served with optional street food–style bites, while in the indoor "jungle" the drinks are more elevated and complex.

Beautiful people, breakneck music, and a slightly gaudy VIP vibe have made this club-restaurant a perennial city favorite all year-round. The food here is also top-line and there's a beautiful garden when you need a breather. Reservations are highly recommended for both the club and the restaurant.

Over the last few years Greece has exploded with microbreweries, with even ordinary supermarkets now selling at least a handful of exceptionally fresh, sometimes unpasteurized, and always interestingly flavored beers. The ideal place for choosing among hundreds of labels of Greek craft beers is this pub in Psirri's busy central square, where you can relax for hours watching the world go by.

"Celebratory" is an understatement when it comes to describing this bar-club, where members of the LGBTQIA+ community are heartily welcomed with an open mind—and arms—to party, socialize, and dance to live DJ sets and enjoy live drag shows. Great-quality cocktails accompany the buoyant, playful, and friendly atmosphere.

Cool architects and graphic designers, intellectual revolutionaries and experimental philosophers: they all sprawl out at the retro airport-lounge-style ground-floor bar, or dance to live alternative-electronica DJ sets in the cavernous basement of this Bauhaus building in the Kerameikos neighborhood, part of the greater Gazi district. In summer, suck on a "papoto" ice popsicle cocktail as you relish the view of the Acropolis or watch an art film screened on the wall behind the bar on the postmodern, neon-lighted roof terrace. A handful of "multispace" imitators have emerged, offering offbeat film, video, and music events in painfully hip industrial spaces—but Bios is the original.

Laptops, coffee mugs, and chess sets cover the long wooden tables in this Central Athens joint by day. By night, chatty partygoers squeeze—booze in hand—into any spot they can find at this bar, which remains as edgily cool as when it first opened in the 1990s. It often feels like a laid-back party, as DJs navigate through rock, pop, and dance tunes and the multitasking bar hosts art exhibits, dance performances, art films projected on a massive wall, and theater installations. Wood details, low-hanging sculpture-lamps, and wax artworks give a warm feel to the high-ceilinged space.

Instantly recognizable because of the backlit bottles of liqueur lining its walls, this popular, old-time place in the heart of Plaka draws tourists and locals alike. It is the oldest distillery in town (going strong since 1909) and reputedly the second-oldest bar in the whole of Europe, and serves up a variety of drinks both Greek and international, adding cocktails to its menu in recent years. Huge barrels store head-spinning spirits produced on the premises even today—ouzo, cognac, tsipouro, and liqueurs in a rainbow of flavors.

In a Neoclassical building, under a giant mural of Frida Kahlo smoking a cigarette, this South America--inspired cocktail bar has a warmly decorated courtyard that is particularly breezy to hang out at on a summer night. During the day it serves a satisfying brunch and lunch and at night you can order Mexican snacks along with exotic drinks.

This youthful bar offers a different kind of local color than the usual walk-in or street-level place, as you'll have to enter an arcade selling antiques and take the elevator to the top floor of an old building to reach it. As you step out onto the roof, you'll come face to face with a stunning view of the Acropolis, the National Observatory, and the Anafiotika area—and after sunset all of them beautifully lit up. The cocktails are creative, the finger foods tasty, the music loud with regular DJ sets, and the service friendly.

One of Athens's most famous bouzoukia clubs has been a crowd favorite and now stars famous Greek singer Giorgos Mazonakis. Opening its doors at 11 pm until 6 am on Friday and Saturday, from December to May, the club has outstanding lighting and sound, and it attracts a young crowd who sing along with the top artists that perform on the Fever stage.

Rockers and metal-heads look no further. With walls splattered with album cover posters from bands like AC/DC and Metallica, the Intrepid Fox will satiate any yearning you may have for this genre of thunderous compositions. Pride of place in the center of this large, grungy bar is a pool table facing the main live stage, and tucked away in a corner is a boxing machine. For a less intense but no less sanguine experience head up to the rooftop bar to take in the view of this postindustrial quarter of Central Athens.

The bar itself is very small, but the pleasure of visiting it is hanging out at the little tables or on foot on the pedestrian street outside it, sipping a well-made cocktail or cold beer. Locals enjoy gathering in buzzy crowds here and at Blue Bird bar next door throughout the summer's hot nights.

On Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday evening, an excellent rembetika or traditional laiko band plays sing-along favorites much appreciated by the largely Greek crowd, and the price of the old-style Greek entertainment at this century-old taverna is surprisingly reasonable. Meanwhile, the food at this all-day taverna is displayed on big trays, which allows you to choose the dish of your choice with help from owners Mario and Pericles (the latter is also a noted rembetika singer).

Named after co-owner Lindsay Lohan, this dance megaclub hosts live mainly hip-hop and R&B DJ sets and gets guests into the party mood with zingy cocktails, light shows, and theme nights like "Dance N Roses" on Friday and "Showtime Party" on Sunday.

Located in a hybrid building that includes accommodations, a ground-floor bar, and a rooftop food and wine venue, this place serves 180 varieties of Greek and international wines by the glass. If you want to combine your wine experience with swoon-inducing views, definitely head for the top, although downstairs has a buzz, too, and is great for people-watching as you sip.

Brasserie by day and buzzy hip bar at night, this place is ideal for spending hours chatting at little tables on the sidewalk over great drinks and watching the world go by. It's fun in wintertime, too, whether you're indoors or out on the street.

At this traditional, but somewhat dated as a place and concept, music taverna you can get a taste of folk dances and costumes from throughout Greece. At the end of the night the music turns more "Eastern,"and everybody is invited to show off their own dance moves (if you don't want to dance, pick your seat accordingly). The price of this slice of old-style Greek entertainment is fair; there's a reasonably priced prix-fixe menu and wine by the bottle.