15 Athens Hotels and the Ground Beneath Them
The Syntagma grand dame that served as Churchill’s wartime headquarters, a mansion attributed to the architect Ernst Ziller, a 1950s textile factory in Psyrri, and a fifth-century BC city wall kept in a hotel basement.
Athens keeps its grand dames on Syntagma Square, turns neoclassical mansions into small hotels, and builds new ones over ancient walls it cannot move. This list has the Grande Bretagne, which served as Churchill’s headquarters in the winter of 1944, a mansion attributed to Ernst Ziller across from the cathedral, the 1950s textile factory that became Mona, and the Divani Palace Acropolis, with a stretch of the fifth-century BC Themistoclean Wall kept on its lower floor.
The list is grouped by character, not ranked. Where a hotel’s own site could be confirmed, its name links there; the rest are listed without one.
The grand dames
Hotel Grande Bretagne, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Athens · Syntagma
The Grande Bretagne began as the Dimitriou mansion, designed by Theophil Hansen in 1842, and became a hotel in 1874 under Efstathios Lampsas. In the Second World War it served in turn as headquarters for the Greek government, the German occupation command and the British. In December 1944, by the hotel’s account, ELAS fighters packed the sewers beneath it with explosives while Churchill was staying, a plot found before it could be set off.
King George, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Athens · Syntagma
The King George opened in 1936 on Syntagma Square, next door to the Grande Bretagne, and is run by the same company, Lampsa. Its own guest roll names Grace Kelly, Aristotle Onassis and Frank Sinatra. It joined the Luxury Collection in 2013.
Conrad Athens The Ilisian · Ilisia
The Conrad opened in 1963 as the Hilton Athens, designed by Emmanouil Vourekas, Prokopis Vassiliadis and Spyros Staikos, with facade reliefs by the painter Yannis Moralis. Conrad Hilton is said to have called it the most beautiful Hilton in the world. It closed for a multi-year rebuild and reopened in 2025 as Conrad Athens The Ilisian.
Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens · Vouliagmeni (Athens Riviera)
The Astir Palace resort on the Vouliagmeni peninsula dates from the 1960s, and its guest list is said to run from Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Frank Sinatra to Brigitte Bardot and Nelson Mandela. It reopened in March 2019 as the first Four Seasons in Greece.
Neoclassical mansions reborn
The Zillers Boutique Hotel · Monastiraki
The Zillers occupies a nineteenth-century neoclassical building the hotel attributes to Ernst Ziller, the Saxon architect behind the Presidential Mansion and the National Theatre. It faces the Metropolitan Cathedral across Mitropoleos Street, with a rooftop restaurant looking at the Acropolis.
The Dolli at Acropolis · Plaka
The Dolli is Grecotel’s 2023 conversion of a 1925 neoclassical building on Mitropoleos Street. It is named for Dolli Daskalantonaki, matriarch of the founding Grecotel family, and furnished with the family’s own antiques and art.
Shila Athens · Kolonaki
Shila is a 1920s neoclassical mansion on Mantzarou Street turned into a house-hotel with a handful of suites. It has no reception desk or street sign; guests are let in by key and treated as house guests. The same group later turned a Psyrri textile factory into Mona.
Monsieur Didot · Kolonaki
Monsieur Didot stands on Didotou Street, named for the Didot family of French printers and philhellenes. Babatchas Design Studio restored the neoclassical townhouse into a small hotel.
Ministries, factories and ancient walls
Electra Metropolis Athens · Syntagma
The Electra Metropolis opened in 2016 in the former Ministry of Education building on Mitropoleos Street. A multi-storey work by the painter Alekos Fassianos runs up the lobby atrium.
Mona Athens · Psyrri
Mona was converted from a 1950s textile factory in Psyrri, with the industrial shell left exposed. It was opened by House of Shila, the team behind Shila in Kolonaki, with interiors by Eftihia Stefanidi.
Divani Palace Acropolis · Koukaki (Makrygianni)
The Divani Palace Acropolis sits two blocks below the Acropolis Museum. During construction a stretch of the Themistoclean Wall, the fifth-century BC fortification of ancient Athens, was uncovered; it is preserved on the lower level, open to view. The Divani family’s hotel group dates to 1958.
COCO-MAT Athens BC · Koukaki
COCO-MAT Athens BC opened in 2019 by COCO-MAT, the Greek natural-mattress maker, which furnishes it with its own beds. Ancient remains uncovered during construction are kept on display inside, which the owners say is why it is called Athens BC. In July 2023 Greece’s Council of State ordered its top floors demolished for blocking views of the Acropolis.
Art and design statements
New Hotel · Syntagma
The New Hotel was built as the Olympic Palace Hotel in the late 1950s and reopened in 2011 after a redesign by the Brazilian Campana brothers. It is owned by the art collector Dakis Joannou’s YES! Hotels; the Campanas chopped up the old hotel’s furniture to build the new interiors.
Semiramis Hotel · Kifissia
The Semiramis opened in 2004 as Karim Rashid’s first hotel, in candy pink and lime, for Dakis Joannou’s YES! Hotels in Kifissia. It doubles as a gallery for pieces from the Joannou collection.
Perianth Hotel · Monastiraki
The Perianth is a 1930s modernist building on Agia Irini Square, restored by K-Studio and reopened as a hotel in 2018. The Zen Center Athens runs in its basement, where guests can join meditation sessions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these hotels ranked?
No. The groups sort them by character, and the order within each group carries no meaning.
What made a hotel interesting enough for this list?
A story. Every entry was a grand dame with a wartime past, a neoclassical mansion reborn, a ministry or factory turned hotel, or a building that kept the ancient city under its floor. Comfort alone did not qualify.
Why are there no prices?
Rates change daily and a priced list goes stale in a month. Where a hotel runs its own site, its name links there, so you see the current rate and book direct.
Which hotel puts me closest to the day trips on this site?
Most day trips from Athens run up to Delphi, down the coast to Cape Sounion, over to Corinth and Mycenae, or by ferry to Hydra and Aegina. The Syntagma and Plaka hotels sit closest to the coach departures and the port road.
Do the small hotels book out faster than the grand ones?
Usually. The small mansion hotels, Shila, Monsieur Didot, the Perianth, hold only a handful of rooms and fill first. Book those well ahead.