Four Days in Athens, Greece – Solo Female Traveler

Ever wanted to travel solo, but had no idea where to go? Same. Until this past summer when an opportunity presented itself for me to visit Greece, Albania, and Italy, however I would need to do it alone. I had never traveled solo before so of course I started scouring the internet reading solo female travel blogs and watching YouTube videos; searching the countries I would be visiting, everything there was to do and where the safest places to stay were. Turns out Greece was a great first place to visit solo and I couldn’t wait to experience it!

I booked my flights and hotels and everything else I planned to just wing it -in typical Kayla fashion. I thought as long as I can get to where I am going and have a definite place to stay then everything would fall into place, as it always has in the past (read my Iceland blog if your wondering what I mean). My plan was fly direct Boston to Greece on a Sunday, then on Friday fly direct into Albania, then Monday fly direct into Rome and Wednesday fly home and don’t worry it all worked out. I packed everything into a carry on and my backpack and headed out, though my carry on idea didn’t work out so great once in Europe they weighted it before every flight and made me check it. I packed a bit more than I would usually need because I was headed to a wedding so you know I needed some extra things. Anyways, Sunday night came I made my way to the airport and hopped on my first flight. I flew Delta which was great because they have a direct flight into Athens which saved me from doing any 5 am transfers. 

Monday: 

My first views of Greece from the plane were incredible and everything to follow would be nothing short of that. Athens International Airport was a 10/10 experience, they were extremely efficient – customs was quick and I was on my way out the door within 15 minutes. As I exited the airport I was blasted in the face with the heat and directed to a line for a taxi that moved fast and I was in a taxi on my way to the hotel in no time. I arrived at my hotel checked in and hoped in the shower because who doesn’t want a nice shower after a 8 hour flight. I stayed at the (Acropolis Select Hotel) I had a great experience, no complaints. I would say it is more of a budget friendly hotel right outside of Plaka which is super close to everything, it has a breakfast buffet in the morning and a roof deck restaurant with views of the Acropolis. After I showered I got ready, called home and headed upstairs to grab food and a much needed coffee. First meal in Greece I opted to try a Greek dish, I ordered moussaka which is kind of like a lasagna/eggplant parm type of dish, it was delicious. After I ate I was finishing up my drink and met another girl who was also traveling solo for the first time so she gave me some places to check out and things to do. After I finished up I headed back to my room to chill out for a little bit because jet lag is REAL.

I laid down for about an hour or two before deciding I needed to get up and function or my body would never adjust so I headed out to explore the neighborhood a bit and see what was around for the next day. This is my warning for anyone who does NOT like the heat – Athens in August is not for you because it is toasty even at 6 o’clock at night. I wandered around the neighborhood grabbed a few souvenirs and decided to head back to get ready to look for dinner – dinner in Greece is at like 8-9 o’clock at night FYI. There is a long street with a ton of tavernas and everyone wants you to eat at theirs so sometimes you just gotta pick one, I ended up at Elaea which was delicious! I had the mussels, a glass of Greek wine, and baklava, the servers were super attentive and friendly – overall a great experience. After eating too much I decided to call it a night and headed back to the hotel to try and catch some sleep. 

Tuesday:

My first full day in Athens and I had a whole lot of things planned for myself – today I was hitting as much of Ancient Greece as I could. As a kid my favorite history class was ancient civilizations, so I was pretty excited to basically be walking through the pages of my old history books. First stop breakfast at the hotel to fuel up with all the coffee and yumminess I could before setting out for the day! First place on the agenda was the Acropolis Museum, I did not buy tickets ahead of time (highly recommend doing) but got there early enough to only wait in line for a very short time, I think I arrived just before 10 am which was apparently the correct time to get there because when I was leaving the place was PACKED. Anyways – WOW this museum is incredible, it is amazing how many amazing sculptures were recovered and still intact after thousands of years, everywhere you look in the museum is truly incredible. The attention to detail the ancient greek society had is something else, the marble slabs and statues are insane. There was a good portion of the museum that you are not aloud to take photos in but that is where you will get lost in amazement. You could spend hours upon hours just admiring all of it and reading the history behind everything; you can also opt to take a guided tour through the museum I chose to go through on my own. Underneath the museum you can visit an excavation site which is also pretty cool. 

Next I headed over to the Temple of Zeus and ended up purchasing a city pass – which gives you access to 8 ancient sites for 5 days, this made the most sense because it was around 30 euro and paying to get into each separate site is anywhere from 6 euro to 15 euro. The Temple of Zeus was unfortunately mostly blocked by scaffolding because they were working on restoring some of it but it was still nice to walk around and learn a bit more about it. The temple took centuries to complete and it is one of the largest temples to ever be built in the ancient world; there are giant columns and countless statues of Zeus throughout the temple. The original entrance was the Hadrian’s Arch which is still standing today but on the outside of the gated temple. After exploring for 30/45 mins I headed over to grab some lunch at a taverna before heading to the other side of Athens to see the other sites. After grabbing a ‘fredo cappuccino’ (basically a frozen coffee) and greek salad, I grabbed some water and headed over to Trekking Hellas – because what trip is complete without a hiking adventure! My plan was to jump on a guided hike the next day and I had found Trekking Hellas online with great reviews. I made a quick stop, got all the info I needed, and found out where to buy a pair of hiking socks. 

Heading over to another side of Athens there were all kinds of shops and food places, I was now realizing how giant Athens was and there was no way I would be able to see everything in my short time. I grabbed a pair of hiking socks from the outdoor retail store and worked my way over to Hadrian’s Library. At this point in the day it was almost overwhelmingly hot out and everywhere you went was in complete sun exposure – Hadrians library was beautiful and had so many ruins to see but it was toasty (as you can see from my face). 

After leaving Hadrian’s Library I walked up the short path to the Roman Agora where I was able to snag a seat on a shaded bench for a few minutes. The Roman Agora was definitely in more ruins than Hadrian’s library but you were able to wander around and explore further, there was a beautiful giant olive tree right at the entrance. 

My decision to save the Acropolis for last was what I hope to be a smart one, I had heard that going around 6 pm there would be less people and the sun wouldn’t be beating directly down on you. As I began my journey up the entrance I could tell there were still a large amount of people at the top so my plan was not going to pay off. Upon arriving at the south entrance to the right there was a small rocky hill you could walk up to get beautiful views from the city below which was awesome! The rocks were extremely slippery though due to the amount of people that climb up them daily.

After snapping a few pictures from the top of the hill I headed for the entrance to the Acropolis, once through the gate your first stop is going to be Odeon of Herodes Atticus’ which is a theatre used for hosting musical festivals holding up to 5,000 spectators; crazy to think they still use it today! I continued my journey to the top of Acropolis hill. There are many monuments at the top of the hill but the most well known is the Parthenon, which was a temple built for the goddess Athena. After taking a break on some rocks at the top to chug water and try to cool down a bit I began exploring and photographing the monuments that once held so much meaning to the ancient Greeks. Truly a beautiful experience and so grateful I was able to experience these amazing sites! After exploring the top of the Acropolis for probably an hour I began my journey down this time taking the north slope down.

My plan for the rest of the night was head back to the hotel take a cold shower and grab some food before crawling into bed and crashing for the night. Dinner tonight brought to you by the hotel restaurant/bar because I was far to exhausted to head out and find food. I grabbed a risotto and glass of Greek wine; all while enjoying views of the Acropolis. After pretty much devouring the food I headed back down to my room, crawling into bed, and calling home. After that I called it a night; as I had a big day of hiking the following morning!

Wednesday:

Wednesday I woke up nice and early so I could head down to breakfast and get a good meal in before heading our for my hike. I was super excited to get out of the city and back into nature especially in an entirely new place. After breakfast I went upstairs gathered my things and set out to meet my hiking guide at Trekking Hellas. This company is awesome, highly recommend if you are looking for tours and trips via a company; they offer all different types of activities. The hike we were doing was Mount Ymittos, which is only 20-30 minutes outside of Athens. I learned on the hike that they were currently in a heat wave with high humidity, so this made for a hot, sweaty hike. Before heading to the trail head we stopped by a local grocery store picked up some essentials: sunscreen, snacks, and bandaids. The hike was beautiful and challenging at some points but by far worth it. I was able to see the city from above, visit two monasteries, walk through an olive tree grove, and see some ruins. The hiking guide was super friendly and told me all kinds of things about the area and facts about the mountains and company. They offer guided hikes up Mount Olympus which is now very high on my bucket list and a good reason to make my way back to Greece in the near future! After the hike we stopped at a little hut and grabbed some cold water and a snack. After my day of hiking I headed back to my hotel and took the longest shower ever and relaxed in my room for a little bit. After relaxing in bed and grabbing a quick nap, I decided to head out to find some dinner, I ended up grabbing a table at Athina Restaurant. After eating a delicious plate of cabonara I decided to head back to the hotel and get a good nights sleep, because tomorrow I would be on a boat all day visiting some Greek islands!

Thursday:

Today was a very early morning, I had to be at the pick up point by 7:45 am to head to the marina. I packed up my backpack with everything I thought I would need for the day and headed out to the pick up location, conveniently a short walk around the block from my hotel. After loading into the shuttle van we were off to the marina, the ride was probably about 30-40 minutes. I checked in and boarded the boat and awaited my day at sea. Our first island stop was the island of Agistri, known for its beautiful beaches and Cheese di San Anargyroi.

The water was beautiful and we were given about 2 hours to explore the island. I wandered off to see the church and decided to take a swim at one of the near by beaches. The water was so crystal clear and beautiful, there were people of all ages swimming in the ocean or simply just floating around with their friends. After drying off I decided to venture into one of the shops to grab a cold water because it was HOT. I then headed back to the boat to relax while I awaited taking off and heading to our next location. Our next stop was lunch on the boat and jumping off in the middle of the ocean – again the water is so crystal clear blue you could literally see the bottom. We were able to swim/float around for a but before we all loaded back onto the boat and headed to the final island of the day: Aegina. Aegina is definitely a much larger island and some people chose to stay here for a night or two to explore the whole island. There was a large beach lined with little shops and restaurants; the Temple of Aphaia is located here. If I am being completely honest, by the time we reached Aegina I was maxed out and exhausted. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much desire to hike up to the temple though it was only a 30 minute or so walk from where the boat had docked. It was so hot at this point and after being in the ocean, on a boat, walking around all day I wanted to just chill out. I found a nice spot under a tree and pretty much just people watched for the entire 2 hours. After this it was time to head back to the marina and I could not wait to get back and sleep. After the hour boat ride back and the 30 minute shuttle ride back, I showered and passed out.

Friday:

Today was a sad day but exciting at the same time, it was my last day in Greece and I was getting ready to head to Albania for the wedding. I had a slow start to the morning, I headed down for breakfast and then headed out into Athens for one last time to pick up some last minute souvenirs, a frappe, and loukoumades. After enjoying my treats at a small cafe and people watching some more I headed back to the hotel to shower and pack before heading to the airport.

10/10 would recommend going to Greece. I will 100% be going back in the future, there is so much history and culture in the amazing country. If you are looking for a place to travel solo to the first time, Greece could be right for you, I felt safe the entire time and I think it was a perfect start to my solo euro trip!