Athens for Digital Nomads

Just saying the word 'Athens' invokes emotion. It's one of the world's oldest cities, and the birthplace of democracy. The birthplace of western civilisation. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, flourished here. Socrates, the father of western philosophy was from here.

But none of that really matters because it's not 400BC anymore. What's it like now?

On paper, Athens is in many ways the antithesis of what I look for in a destination. It doesn't have much green space, the people aren't especially happy, everyone smokes, it's not especially cheap, there are way too many tourists. Yet for reasons I can't explain, I just like the feel of it. I enjoy walking down the street in Athens. I like that there's a fire in the people and that it's all too common to see drivers shouting at each other.

I think a big part of it is that I've never stayed in the city centre. In fact I detest the city centre and venture in no more than necessary. The city centre is crowded and full of tourists and is a generally horrible place.

Through luck or skill, when I booked my first room in Athens having never been here before, I opted for an Airbnb in Neos Kosmos, south of the centre. It's away from the tourists and pretty residential, and is just very much my kind of place. Not really anything to do there and not really notable in any way, but a really pleasant area to exist in, if you're into just existing.

The best way I can describe Athens is that I get a warm feeling inside when I think of my stays here. I cannot give a list of things this city offers that makes it perfect for a digital nomad. There are many reasons that it's not suitable for a digital nomad. But when I think of my time here, I get a warm feeling inside that I can't explain, and I'd take that over cheap accommodation and fast Internet speeds.

I'm not really a fan of "doing" things when I go somewhere, I'm much more of a beer than a doer. But if there is one thing I've done in Athens that I really enjoyed, it was sitting up Philopappos Hill for the sunset.

How affordable is Athens?

You'll find Athens to be more expensive than major cities in the surrounding countries, but cheaper than a lot of the other tourist honey-pots in Europe.

Of the capital cities in the region that I've been to as a digital nomad, Athens is noticeably cheaper than Budapest, particularly for accommodation, but significantly more expensive than Sofia, Bucharest and Skopje.

Paying for things in Athens

Athens is in the slightly annoying position where almost everywhere accepts card payment, including Apple Pay. Once in a blue moon you'll encounter somewhere that doesn't, and because of that you keep cash in your pocket just in case. If you've got a Visa or Mastercard you'll be fine 99% of the time. That includes paying for public transport.

Socialising in Athens

Athens is certainly one of the easier cities I've been to have a social life. There are regular social events on apps like Meetup, and many of these attract the same people week after week, so you can actually get to know people over a prolonged period.

Most of these events that aren't based around something dorky like Bitcoin or AI, are instead based around alcohol. And while the people are friendly and the events are plentiful, there are a couple of major caveats that come with socialising in Athens.

The first is that like everywhere in this part of the world, everyone smokes. A lot. Everywhere. People mostly don't smoke inside (they do in clubs), but because of the climate, most bars and consequently most social events are outdoors, or at least somewhere that can be argued as outdoors. Which means that once you're in a crowd of people, some will be smoking.

Nothing makes me go home more quickly than having to breathe second-hand smoke, and nothing makes me stay at home more than the thought of it, which very much dampens going out in Athens for me.

The other caveat is that socialising happens late here. Uncomfortably late.

I'm now in my forties so perhaps that has something to do with it, but I just don't like going out that late. I don't see the point of it. Even in my younger years, going out in the UK you'd be in the pub by 7, the club by 10, and in bed by about 1am, so your body clock's not going to get thrown out too far by having a night out.

Here they just don't do that. Clubs often don't open until midnight. When I ask locals why they don't go out after they finish work at 5pm on Friday like normal people, they tell me that they instead go home and have a nap, and then go out at night. Because that makes sense.

If you're going to have a proper night out here, you're going to be out until sunrise. That's your Saturday gone as well then. Nothing's fun about that.

Athens is a really fun city, and it's a really easy place to meet people. But they do make it easy to talk yourself into staying at home.

I took this photo before going into Gaziview nightclub. Apparently it's not dignified enough or something.

Running in Athens

Compared to other European cities, Athens is grossly lacking in green space. It doesn't have many parks, and those it does have are small and pretty barren. It's also hilly, and doesn't believe in smooth paving. This city was built 3,000 years ago and that was the last time any civil engineering took place. So when running, be prepared to either go around and around and around in circles, or to run up and down a lot on not very smooth surfaces.

I've run in six different locations through my time here. None are great, so that's something to look forward to.

Nea Smyrni Park

The place I've done by far the most running in Athens is Nea Smyrni Park. That doesn't mean it's any good.

It has a path around the outside that is just under 800m, so you need to run around six-and-a-half laps just to do a 5k. It's also built on a hill, shockingly, so doing a 5k you can expect ~60m of elevation. It was resurfaced before my most recent stay, but is still quite uneven, worse after heavy rain, so tighten your running shoes to protect your ankles, and don't be surprised if people with kids decide that the outer path, used continually by runners, is the best place to teach their toddler how to play football.

To walk or run I must have been to this park 50 times. On just one of those occasions was it not open. They closed it to the public to hold a school sports day, which was ridiculous. They gave no prior warning, indicated by the number of other people showing up for their daily activities. And given the lack of alternative parks nearby, that led to some quite frustrated dog-walkers.

On the plus side, it has lots of tortoises, there's a free toilet in the middle of the park, and at the north-east side of the park (the flattest part) is a workout area that's good for stretching and other exercise.

The north-east edge of Nea Smyrni Park, next to the workout area, is the flattest part of the loop. It's not that flat.

Grigoris Lamprakis Kallithea Municipal Stadium

Grigoris Lamprakis Stadium sits in between Koukaki and Kallithea. It's a somewhat rickety old stadium with a football pitch in the middle and a running track around the outside. Parts of it have been cut into the surrounding rock, so in a way it's kind of beautiful.

It's open to the public from 7am to 5:30pm and 8pm to 9:45pm on weekdays, and from 8am to 2:50pm on weekends, but that's a lie. I came here within these hours on two occasions where it was closed to runners because some selfish cunts had hired out the football pitch, so it's kind of pot luck.

When it is open, it's a decent option for running. There are staff here, and on my first time I wandered in not sure if anyone was going to stop me, but no one did so I just went onto the track and started running.

The track itself is a peculiar length. I always ran in lane 4, and my phone tells me it was 26 laps to run a 10k, which would make it less than a 400m running track, but not by much. I guess they just couldn't be arsed to add on the last few metres.

If you go in the entrance and turn right you'll find a toilet, which is always useful (although don't expect toilet paper or even a toilet seat), and it's pretty safe. I don't think I ever shared the track with more than four other runners, and it's safe enough that everyone leaves their bag at the side of the track without the worry it'll get nicked.

If you do come and it's not open to runners, Nea Smyrni Park is about a 20-minute walk away.

It's a fairly worn-out old stadium, but I've definitely run in worse. The track itself is bobbling in places, and worn-through in others, but it wouldn't be Athens if the ground was smooth. Don't expect much shade if you come here in the middle of the day.

Stavros Niarchos Park

Stavros Niarchos Park is down by the water, so is going to be out of reach for people staying anywhere near the centre of the city. If you can easily get here, it's perhaps the best option for running in Athens.

Looking at a north-facing map, you'll see the park is shaped somewhat like a diamond. In the northern corner of this diamond is the Kallithea Municipal Running Track. That's a very extravagant name for a rather uninspiring running track.

I ran 10k here on a day that my AirPods decided they'd had enough of existing, and with nothing but my breath to entertain me, I've never been so bored in my life. I'd guess that one lap of the track is 200m, which means I went around it fifty times. Fifty fucking times.

It's connected to a sprint track that I think is 150m. Nearby is a food kiosk, and round the back of the food kiosk are some free public toilets. There's also a drinking fountain next to the running track to save you having to bring any water.

On the other side of the bush that lines the running track is another sports area that includes a swimming pool and a football pitch. The path around this area is also used by runners. I haven't run there myself, but I'd see them through the bush, so that's another option.

At one end of the sprint track you'll find quite an extensive workout area, and if you keep on exploring, you'll soon find a climbing wall.

If you're here for a slow run, I really don't recommend using the running track. You have some better alternatives in this park. There's a canal that is longer than the running track and has far more going on around it. There's a cycle path that goes around the park but that is equally used by runners, and there's also a very wide pedestrian bridge that takes you from the park, down to the water's edge without having to cross any of the main roads. All of these offer a far less mundane route than going around and around and around.

The running track is grey and straight, with very sharp corners. Because why turn corners when you can run in a straight line?

Run to the sea

When I want to not go around in circles in Athens, I find that the best thing to do is to run to the sea. The main road near my first room in Athens has a tramline running down the middle of it, and I quickly realised that this tram goes all the way to the sea. So to go on a longer run when you don't know the city and you don't want to be continually stopping to look at a map, just follow the tram tracks.

I don't mean run along the tram tracks, I mean run along the pavement at the side of the road, but just make sure you're following the same route as the tram tracks.

I probably should have realised this beforehand, but on my first time running this route I got to the sea and felt amazing. My watch was reading just over 5k and I'd kept a good pace, so I was thinking to myself "wow, maybe I'm not as unfit as I thought."

Turns out if you go to the sea it's downhill. You'd think I would have realised that. But as everything here is so up and down it didn't really feel like I was going down, until I turned around and came back, and then it really felt like I was going up. So keep something in the tank for the return leg.

On my most recent stay in Athens I got to the sea and decided to just keep going. I'd got to know the city well enough by that point I figured that I wouldn't get that lost, and what I found was I could do a nice loop by finding the pedestrian bridge that goes to Stavros Niarchos Park. If you can figure that route out I recommend it.

Follow the tram tracks and you get a great run down to the sea and back without needing to navigate.

Philopappos Hill

In my second room in Athens I was very close to Philopappos Hill so I tried running here. You get absolutely gorgeous views from the top, including of The Acropolis, and given its proximity, I'm surprised it doesn't get filled with more tourists. As it is, the paths are sufficiently quiet that you can run all around the park pretty comfortably, and if you go around the back of the hill (the side furthest from The Acropolis) you won't really see anyone else.

Still, I don't really recommend running here. The ground is pretty uneven, and I found myself having to go up and down the hill twice just to do a 5k. It's a better park to come for a lunchtime walk, which is what I used it for a lot. Regardless of running, do make sure to come up here at least once while in Athens. The views are breathtaking.

This is Philopappos Hill that I took on a walk here one day. If you look to the top of the hill on the right, there's a monument. I'm not sure what, I probably should have stopped and read the plaque. Running up that hill and around the park a couple of times makes it a 5k, but it's definitely not friendly running terrain.

The National Garden

The last place I've run in Athens is The National Garden. I came here when running with someone else, and although it's a fairly pleasant place to walk, it's too small to run any distance and there are a lot of people wandering around.

I'd avoid running here unless you're desperate.

Getting vegan food in Athens

Athens is a pretty vegan-friendly city. In most restaurants you'll be able to find something vegan on the menu, and there are a couple of dozen vegan-only restaurants dotted around the city.

The supermarkets are a bit less vegan-friendly. You'll find occasional intentionally-vegan items on the shelves, especially an odd amount of vegan cheese, but you won't find entire vegan sections like you do in some other countries.

Peas

40 Falirou Street

Peas is my favourite fully-vegan restaurant in Athens. It's located in Koukaki and offers all kinds of meat-dish equivalents, but not trying to make them so realistic that it gets weird.

Included on the menu are three kinds of burgers, a club sandwich made from seitan, kebab slices made from lentils and chickpeas, and perhaps my favourite dish is the 'zen palette', which includes tempeh, tofu and seitan. A great post-workout meal for sure.

The most expensive items on the menu are €11.50, but they have many that are cheaper. They also have free water readily available and don't pressure you at all to buy a drink, so the menu price of the food is what you end up paying.

The one downside is that there aren't many tables so if you come here at a busy time you might not have anywhere to sit. They offer take-away as an alternative.

This is called the zen palette. I don't know why. It's tempeh, tofu and seitan with salad and pita bread, and costs €11.50. Zenny as fuck.

Bread Factory

Leof. Andrea Siggrou 100

In a city plentiful in vegan restaurants, Bread Factory might seem a strange choice to include in my vegan recommendations for Athens, but the reason I include it is I found it incredibly convenient, and stocking the kinds of items that are hard to find elsewhere.

To start with the convenience, it's open 24 hours per day so no matter what time of night you get peckish, you never have to go hungry. In that sense it's great for drunk food, although it often astounded me how many non-drunk people would come here to sit quietly with a hot drink in the dead of night while I was stumbling home. Beyond that, everything in the shop is clearly labelled, with all vegan items having a 'vegan' icon attached to them, so you can easily identify what you can eat here. Again useful when drunk.

And while the name may imply that it's an industrial bakery, it offers much more than that. I like to make my daily smoothies with seeds, and they have some very reasonably-priced here, including chia seeds and flax seeds, which aren't too easy to find elsewhere in Athens. It has vegan ice cream, and plenty of vegan snacky food that you can put on the table for when you get peckish. Things like vegan cookies and sweets aren't so easily available elsewhere. They also sell hot food, including vegan burgers for €2.98, which is where it becomes great for your post-drinking meander home.

If you're staying nearby, it might surprise you how many useful items that are hard to find elsewhere are stocked here, each clearly labelled as vegan, and available 24 hours per day.

Clearly-marked vegan items are dotted all around Bread Factory, including these tahini cookies.

Groceries

Compared to restaurants, supermarkets in Athens leave a little to be desired in terms of their vegan-friendliness. For some reason every supermarket, even smaller ones, have vegan cheese. Beyond that, most don't have any dedicated vegan sections, just a few intentionally-vegan items dotted around the store. Athens has several supermarket chains. ΣΚΛΑΒΕΝΙΤΗΣ is my favourite of these (branches all over the city). They stock a good vegan mince.

There are also some decent health-food shops around the city. Βιολογικό Χωριό is an organic store with a load of vegan produce including many different vegan protein powders. Their Nea Smyrni branch is the best one I've found, but they also have a city centre branch that stocks much of the same stuff.

For some reason, despite lacking in other vegan products vegan cheese is incredibly plentiful in Athens' supermarkets, so particularly during my first stay, almost all the meals I made included it, like this wholewheat baguette with cheese, tomato and olives. All ingredients came from Lidl.

Is the tap water drinkable in Athens?

Yes, and it's oddly delicious.

Where to stay

I've now stayed in five different rooms in Athens. The first of these was in Neos Kosmos, and I've not ventured too far away from that, getting no further than Kallithea.

My only advice would be: Avoid the city centre like the plague.

Where I stayed

Near Acropolis bright apartment! Next to Metro

Eggeli 68

This was the first and only place I stayed that wasn't self check-in during this particular stint in Europe. I got off the plane from Sofia and neither my UK nor my Bulgarian mobile networks would connect, so instead I used the airport wifi and messaged the hosts saying I was leaving the airport, so would be at the room soon. I was assured that someone would be there to meet me.

I arrived. No one was there to meet me.

Without any network I couldn't message anyone so had to wait until a resident came into the building. I snuck in after them while the door was open, went up to the third floor, and from there I was able to catch the apartment's wifi connection (whose password I'd thankfully already saved), so I again messaged and said "I'm here, no one's here to meet me."

"They'll be there shortly" was the reply.

I went up to the fourth floor, being told that was the floor the apartment was on, and I sat in the stairwell waiting for someone to show up.

Ten minutes pass. No one shows up. Fifteen minutes pass. No one shows up. Twenty minutes pass, and finally the door to one of the apartments opens. The person I was supposed to be meeting was inside the apartment but, as he said, hadn't been checking his messages. Great. So I'd been sitting in the hallway for twenty minutes with him right on the other side of the door.

He'd been expecting me to ring the doorbell, but this is a building with many apartments, and nowhere in the instructions had they told me which apartment it was or which doorbell to ring, so that was well organised.

He quickly showed me around, telling me absolutely nothing that I couldn't have figured out myself, making this in-person check-in a waste of everyone's time, but finally, more than thirty minutes after arriving at the building, I was in the room.

My first impression was... well there's not much stuff. What I mean is that often hosts will leave you food, or at least some cooking essentials like oil. Nope, none of that. There's a washing machine in the room, so surely there's some detergent somewhere? Nope, none of that either, nor any shampoo, there were only two rolls of toilet paper for my six-week stay, one of the AC remotes had no batteries, and the kettle was partially broken. So one of the first things I did after checking in was go down to the nearby Lidl and buy all the stuff that thoughtful hosts typically provide. Well, things can only get better.

I'm a pretty low-maintenance guest, and after the shambles that was this check-in process, the company that manages this apartment (they manage several Airbnbs in Greece) were really top-notch. The kettle fully broke about a week later, and someone showed up on a motorcycle to replace it within 24 hours. Someone called 'Eirini', who was my point of contact, was always very friendly. The wifi speeds in the room are pretty dire, and I messaged Eirini to ask if this was normal. Knowing full well she was going to do nothing about it, she replied saying "I'll contact the network and see what they can do about it." The whole conversation was so cordial I couldn't really be angry that she was only pretending she was going to fix it.

Predictably the speeds didn't improve, so for the duration of my stay the download speed hovered around 6mbps, and the upload speed was about 0.6mbps.

I really liked the room though. Prior to coming here I'd stayed in Sofia in a room with a lack of natural light, so I absolutely loved how much light got in here. It was such a bright apartment, and very spacious. Moving out the coffee table, there was a huge floor space in the living room that I used most mornings for exercise. The only downside of this room being so big, was the TV was tiny and it was miles away on the other side of the room. You could have had a 60" TV in there and it wouldn't have looked out of place.

The only room that did feel it was a little lacking in quality was the bathroom. It's a pretty drab bathroom, but I guess it stops me sitting on the toilet for too long. Every other room was great.

The kitchen is equipped with everything you'd expect, and includes a counter with a couple of stools I would eat at, and that were also the best place to set up a workstation. The only downside was there are two air conditioners in the apartment; one in the living room and one in the bedroom. Neither really reaches the kitchen, so on very hot days it could be a bit much to work there.

I'm never above working from my bed though, and the bedroom is basic but very pleasant. Lots of natural light, lots of storage space and comfortable. The sofa in the living room was the other place I worked, but the downside is there are no plugs nearby, so anytime I did I was at the mercy of my laptop's battery.

The apartment is a short walk from Neos Kosmos metro station, and I absolutely fell in love with the area. It's not touristy, is very peaceful, and everything you need is within easy reach.

Lidl is about a five-minute walk, with other supermarkets a bit further. It takes about fifteen minutes to walk to Koukaki, which is a more lively (and touristy) area not far from The Acropolis, with loads of restaurants and bars. Nea Smyrni park is a good place to run or to go for a walk, and is less than twenty minutes from the room. For anything else, as well as a metro station, there's a tram stop less than five minutes away, so it's a lovely area.

After such a shitty start, I was really sad when I had to leave this place. It's a really great room that I'd love to stay at again in the future.

The living room is pretty big, with a lot of floor space to exercise. The one downside is the TV is annoyingly small for such a big room. The door leads onto the large but largely useless balcony.

Cozy & Elegant Flat w/ Balcony, 10' from Acropolis

Veikou 94-96

Under other circumstances, this isn't a room I'd have chosen to stay in, but as there was a high possibility I'd have a friend staying with me, I went for a place in a more touristy area than usual. Despite differing from my usual criteria, I really liked it.

I have a fairly high noise tolerance, but being on a busy road took me a couple of days to adjust to. In the photos on Airbnb, I'd seen that there was a little lip on the bed frame that would stop your feet from hanging off the end. I took this to mean that the bed would be long enough that wasn't necessary, but it turns out it's actually quite a small bed. I'm six-foot in heels, and it took me a little while to get used to sleeping where I couldn't stretch all the way out. Or I instead slept diagonally. I'm not sure who came up with that idea for a bed frame, but they probably shouldn't be allowed near beds anymore.

In my experience, with a day or two you can adjust to sleeping anywhere, and once I did I really enjoyed staying here. It's a pretty big place for a one-bedroom flat. The bedroom, kitchen and living room are all a decent size. The bedroom includes a desk and comfortable chair to set up a good workspace, the kitchen includes a dining table and four chairs but still feels spacious, and the living room has a sofa which (I think) opens into a second bed, and it also includes an armchair which I found comfortable to work from. There's a decent-sized TV, albeit on a very rickety entertainment unit that I felt could collapse at any minute (to the point I removed all the books to alleviate the weight it was carrying).

The flat has very high ceilings. I couldn't reach them if I tried, so my one grievance was that in each room, the light hangs down from the ceiling about a metre. In the kitchen and the bedroom that didn't concern me, but in the living room, where I did yoga and other exercise, it was a pain because I'd keep on punching the light when I was working out. If you've got high ceilings, why make them lower by dangling a light down?

The kitchen is equipped with everything you'd expect, barring a microwave which was a bit annoying. The bedroom has loads of storage space, and even though the bathtub isn't big enough for anyone but a midget to bathe in, the bathroom is perfectly adequate.

The Internet was fast and reliable, with the exception of when there was a Vodafone-wide outage for the entire local area for two days. The host was very good at checking this for me and keeping me informed of any updates. Perhaps my favourite feature of this apartment though, is the balcony.

Unlike in my previous room, it has a table and chairs out there as a permanent fixture, so I would come onto the balcony with a cup of tea most mornings and watch the world go by. A tree partially obscures the view, but being on a busy road, there's still enough going on to make sitting outside a pleasant start to every day.

I wouldn't quite describe the area as touristy, in that it's not as bad here as in the town centre. What I would say is it's bustling with a combination of locals and tourists, and there are loads of restaurants (many with vegan options) and a couple of supermarkets within a very easy walk.

The road behind the room turns into a local market every Friday and is a great place to buy fresh produce, and a five-minute walk up the hill behind the property takes you to Philopappos Hill, which is a fairly pleasant park to come to if you need some exercise or want to get outside for a bit.

I'd gladly stay here again if it weren't for the ridiculous bed.

The living room has plenty of space, a decent-sized TV, a comfortable sofa bed and nice armchair, an air conditioner and lots of natural light. If only some doorknob hadn't hung the light down so low from the ceiling, it would have been perfect.

City center gem

Kallirrois 39

I really loved this room. It's a good vibes kind of place. Or maybe I was just happy when I was here, I'm not sure, but I was certainly sad when I had to leave.

I found the host, who I never met in person, to be exactly what you want from a host. Communicated clearly, responded quickly, but didn't bother me at all during my stay other than to check everything was ok a couple of times, and to arrange for a cleaner to come around (at no extra charge).

The room is more spacious than I was expecting from the Airbnb photos, and perhaps more spacious than it appears in my photos - it's a decent-sized place for a one-bedroom flat, especially if you're here alone.

There is no workstation, but I found the sofa to be so comfortable that I'd sit there with my laptop on my thighs for ten hours some days, and never once did I feel uncomfortable. It's a really great place to work, and with a plug right behind the sofa, you can keep your laptop plugged in all day too.

The wifi reaches all corners of the apartment, is 100% reliable from my experience, and is more than fast enough for video calling - roughly 63mbps download speed and 30mbps upload speed. Next to the router is the fairly large TV. I used it for little more than playing my workouts, but it was fine for that. You've also got a deceptively heavy coffee table in the living room. Once you've garnered the energy to move it into the hallway you have a space more than big enough to exercise.

The living room leads onto the apartment's very sightly balcony. And while it looks nice, I didn't spend too much time sat out there, because at the time of year I was staying, other than in the early morning and after sundown, it is completely unprotected from the sun and is just too hot to be comfortable. There are no awnings or umbrellas on the balcony to protect yourself with, so you'll more than likely be sitting inside with the AC on.

The rest of the apartment is equally spacious, comfortable and well-equipped, with the exception of the kitchen which I found to be a little bit lacking. It's a pretty big kitchen, and has plenty of crockery, cutlery and pots and pans. But there is no chopping board or tea towel (I carry my own, so no problem for me), and there aren't even any non-metallic cooking utensils. I went to Lidl and bought a wooden spoon, just so I wouldn't scratch the non-stick pan. There's also no microwave despite there being plenty of space. So while the kitchen is nice and has some useful equipment, be prepared to pop to the shops for what it's lacking.

Another great thing about this room is the location is more or less perfect. Right outside the building (metres away) are bus stops, tram stops and a metro station. The building is on a main road, but the apartment is at the back of the building so there are no noise concerns. In fact I found it to be very well insulated from noise, even from adjacent rooms. The location is so good though, because you're right across the street from Koukaki. Koukaki is a very vibrant but somewhat touristy area. It has lots of bars and restaurants, however staying within Koukaki itself can be a bit much. Here, you just have to cross a main road to be in Koukaki, but go in the opposite direction and you're in a very local area. You're within easy reach of the touristy stuff, without being overwhelmed by it.

The nearest Lidl is about a 10-minute walk down some back streets. Nea Smyrni Park is about 25 minutes away, as is Kallithea Stadium - both of which are good spots for running. To get into the town centre is also about a 25-minute walk.

Apart from the slightly under-equipped kitchen, I really don't have a bad word to say about this place. It was a really seamless, easy stay for me. Everything worked, no issues with the host at all, no noise concerns, great area, spacious room. If only life was always so effortless.

I arrived at the room after dark, which meant I got to take some nice nighttime photos before messing everything up. The bedroom is very pleasant. Out of shot there is an air conditioner, a cupboard containing a lot of spare towels, and an empty cupboard to keep your things. There is no desk.

Dream apartment in Kallithea

Leoforos Eleftheriou Venizelou 152

I booked this room as a bit of a Hail Mary, having not been to Kallithea before, but having grown frustrated at being unable to find anywhere else that ticked all my boxes. And once again, Athens delivered. This is another great room.

At the time I stayed it had 46 reviews and a 5* rating on Airbnb, which is pretty rare. Given how fickle guests can be, if you've hosted 46 of them and every single one of them has rated you five stars, you're definitely doing something right. And this was a room that I really do struggle to say anything bad about.

Kallithea is further from the city centre than the rooms above. Staying here, you're as close to the sea as you are The Acropolis, which for me is a good thing. It's not a touristy area at all, but it's a busy, vibrant area all the same.

The apartment is on a main road, but around the back of the building so noise is a non-issue. It's about a ten-minute walk from Kallithea metro station, and there's a bus stop just outside. Literally just outside. People use the steps to the apartment to sit on while they wait for the bus. There's a BAZAAR supermarket about three minutes walk away, and the nearest Lidl is 10-15 minutes. Nea Smyrni Park, Grigoris Lamprakis Stadium and Stavros Niarchos Park, all options to go running, are all around a 20-25 minute walk.

If I needed to get outside one day but had no other reason, I'd walk to Nea Smyrni, walk a lap of the park, and walk back again. To do that takes 48 minutes. There's a fairly quiet Starbucks near Nea Smyrni Park. Sitting upstairs there is a nice place to relax with a podcast for a couple of hours.

As for the room itself, it really does have everything. It's self check-in, but I was greeted by a bottle of wine waiting for me on the dining table. Unfortunately I don't like wine, but the thought was nice. There was also some complimentary fruit and other snacks included. That's just one example of why this is a place that feels like the host cares.

She's very communicative, but not overbearing. You can tell from her messages, to the decor in the room and the attention to detail, that she really does try to make sure that guests enjoy staying here.

The living room and kitchen/dining area are semi-connected, but both are pretty big in their own right. The living room has a 50ish" TV, a comfortable L-shaped sofa that is great to work from, more than enough floor space for exercise, and an AC unit to keep you cool. The kitchen/dining area has a dining table with three chairs, a desk with another chair that makes a very comfortable workstation, and the kitchen is large and fully-equipped with everything you'd expect, and many things you wouldn't.

Microwave, oven, four hobs, frying pan, several saucepans, cooking utensils, loads of crockery and cutlery, loads of cups and glasses, large fridge-freezer, loads of cupboards, toastie machine, juicer, two baking dishes, and all kinds of other bits and bobs that I'm not going to list here.

Oddly enough no chopping board, but I have my own so I didn't really notice that.

I don't miss too much about being settled, but one thing I do miss is having my own equipment to cook with. This isn't quite the same, but if the DN lifestyle does make you miss cooking, you might be able to semi-scratch that itch here.

The bedroom is entirely separate, down a little hallway. Even the bedding, the walls and the curtains match, all being a mix of white and turquoise. That is a host that pays attention to detail. There's another AC unit in the bedroom, and a couple of large cupboards which offer lots of storage space.

The room is on the first floor, presumably above a business as there aren't any ground floor apartments in this building, although I never heard anything happening below me. That's quite good because I jump around quite a lot while exercising, so it's good to know I'm not disturbing anybody. But despite being on the first floor, the back of this room (through the doors in the living room or the bedroom) leads out onto a very leafy concrete courtyard.

You don't often see people out there, as those on other floors presumably don't have access as they only have balconies. But it's very pleasant if you want to sit outside, with the caveat that everyone in Greece smokes, and it won't be long until someone's cigarette fumes are irritating your nostrils.

It's both a blessing and a curse that the courtyard gets very little sunlight. A blessing because you'll never find the sun too bright to sit outside, but a curse because it means that the room doesn't get that much natural light.

I like little more than to be woken up by the sun on my face, and here that's never going to happen. The surrounding buildings block out sufficient sunlight that it never feels very bright in the room. It certainly doesn't feel dingy, and it's not so devoid of light to be a problem, but it's not the brightest room either.

The last room in the apartment is the bathroom, which like every other room, has been greatly thought out, and I was greeted by this bowl of nice smelling balls in water. I don't know how else to describe them. They were sat on what is a very old and confusing washing machine. I could never quite figure out how to get it to do a cycle that lasted longer than about fifteen minutes, but hey, better for the environment.

The room's wifi connection typically had a download speed of about 95mbps, and an upload speed of around 10mbps. It was a slightly strange connection, in that anytime I turned on my laptop, it would say it was connected to the wifi, but I'd have no connection. I simply had to disconnect and reconnect and it would always start working, so it was never an issue, but slightly annoying.

I've tried to be as balanced and as critical as I can be in this review, but that's honestly as bad as I can make it. It's not that bright and it sometimes takes about thirty seconds to connect to the wifi. This is a near flawless room. I very much recommend staying here, especially if you want to stay away from all the tourists.

The living room has a comfortable sofa, large TV, and more than enough floor space for exercise. There's even a clock built into the wall look. And it's set to the right time.

Charming and Comfortable Nea Smyrni Apartment

Nikolaou Plastira 46

On booking this place I was of the feeling that the room itself wasn't all that, but the local area would be perfect for me.

I was right on both counts.

The area is exactly what I look for when booking accommodation. It's very local - I didn't really see any tourists while I was staying here. Multiple supermarkets and convenience stores are nearby, with one literally around the corner. Nea Smyrni Park, one of Athens' few parks, is a six-minute walk from the room so going running or just getting outside is easy. A really good organic store, Βιολογικό Χωριό, is about an eight-minute walk from the room and has a tonne of vegan-friendly organic products, including protein powders. Reasonably-priced as well. A branch of Starbucks that's good for coding or reading is just a little bit further than that - twelve minutes' walk from the room, and the transport links are good, with a bus stop just a couple of minutes from the room, and a tram station outside of Starbucks.

In a way the area's almost too good, because there's literally nothing I needed that wasn't within a twelve-minute walk, so apart from when I went on long runs and didn't want to just do circuits of the park, I just stayed in the local area. I loved it.

That's the good news. On the other side of the coin, the apartment itself is the least impressive of the five places I've stayed in Athens thus far. By far the biggest hindrance is the lack of natural light.

It's a ground floor room, so if you want to keep the curtains open you have to wear clothes all day like a fucking idiot. But the tall building directly opposite means that basically no direct sunlight gets into the room so it's dingy all day. And I'm someone that just doesn't do well in dark spaces.

I always notice a very direct correlation between my mood decreasing and staying in a dark room, with my circadian rhythm getting thrown all out of whack.

Throughout my stay in this room I came up with a somewhat ingenious system of using my phone to simulate natural conditions each morning, but it was scant consolation, and I did not enjoy that side of my stay. It's why I've never understood blackout curtains. They're as bad for your health as smoking.

That's my least favourite thing about this room, but if you're not someone that needs daylight then it's not a bad place.

The kitchen is pretty well equipped, barring the fact there's no oven. But I found the cooker to be infuriating, firstly because it's the slowest cooker I've ever used. Once I'd learned that I got around it by using the kettle to boil water instead, so it kind of worked. Secondly though, is it's a ceramic cooker with buttons built-in. And what I found was that these buttons firstly wouldn't work if your fingers were wet, but they would get triggered by hot water.

You can see what happens then. You have a pot of water boiling, some of the water jumps out of the pan and onto the buttons - turning the cooker off, changing the temperature, locking it etc. But you then can't press the buttons because they're wet, so every time, and it happens a lot, you have to get a tea towel and dry the cooker, just so you can press the buttons to turn it on again.

Who the fuck came up with that design?

The kitchen has the only opening window in the apartment, which was another thing I didn't enjoy. The living room and bedroom both have sliding doors that go onto the balcony, but being on the ground floor leaving them unlocked is a security risk, so the kitchen window was the only ventilation I ever had. So as well as being dark, it would get a bit stuffy. This room's perhaps a little cave-like in that regard.

What partially makes up for it, is I found it a quite comfortable room to work from. The bed's comfortable, there's a desk in the bedroom, although I never worked from it, instead favouring the sofa in the living room, or the dining table and chairs in the living room when doing video calls. And the wifi was always sufficiently fast and stable.

And perhaps my favourite thing here was the massage chair, which is just a regular armchair with a massage pad on it, but having that was pretty cool.

With all that said, there's a lot that's positive about this room, particularly the local area, but I don't think I'd stay here again. I need to be woken up by daylight in the mornings, and this apartment just doesn't get enough of it.

The sofa is comfortable enough to work from all day, moving the coffee table out the way gives sufficient space for a workout, but the real prize here is the massage chair, which is quite addictive.

Summary

Final thoughts

It's hard for me to recommend Athens as a destination, because when I think of the things I look for as a digital nomad, Athens doesn't tick many of the boxes. I always look for green space. There isn't much of it here. I like places that are cheap so I don't have to think about what I'm spending. Athens isn't very cheap. I hate smoking and everyone that smokes. Everyone here smokes. There's no reason I should like it here, but for some reason I do. For some reason, I just come here and I'm happy, and I can't tell you in the slightest why.

Maybe it's just me, I don't know. I've met my share of locals and foreigners who really don't like Athens. So maybe you'll come here and curse me out for recommending it. But I come to Athens and I'm happy, and that's as simple as I can say it.

Do I want to come back again?

Yes. And I don't know why.