The centre: Acropolis to Kolonaki

Athens rewards staying central, and central is small: from the Acropolis Museum to Syntagma is about twenty minutes on foot, and almost everything a first visit wants is inside that walk. Plaka and Anafiotika under the north slope are the quiet, pretty, expensive option; Monastiraki and Psyrri are where the bars are and where the noise carries half the night; Koukaki and Makriyianni, south of the rock, give you the view without the racket.

Syntagma and Kolonaki are the money end — the grand hotels, the Benaki, the embassies, and the funicular up Lycabettus for the view that puts the whole basin and the sea in one frame. The National Archaeological Museum, further north, is the best museum in the country and is routinely skipped.

Buy Acropolis tickets online and go at opening or in the last couple of hours. The metro from the airport runs straight to Syntagma and Monastiraki.