Athens has one of the most underrated bar scenes in Europe. The combination of year-round outdoor drinking, a Mediterranean approach to the evening that keeps people out until 4am on a Tuesday, and a generation of Greek bartenders who trained in London and Tokyo before returning home has produced a city that consistently surprises visitors who arrive expecting nothing more than ouzo and sunset views.
There are 12 bars in this guide. We have been to all of them. Some require navigating the labyrinthine alleys of Monastiraki; others sit on rooftops with views that no other European capital can match. All of them are worth your time, and collectively they tell the story of a drinking culture that is finally getting the international recognition it deserves.
Athens fits naturally into a broader Mediterranean bar tour. Our Rome bar guide and the Barcelona guide each explore cities with comparable combinations of historic setting, outdoor culture, and serious cocktail innovation. Among the three, Athens is the most affordable, the most sociable, and — at its best — the most genuinely interesting.
The Best Athens Bars Right Now
Psirri and Monastiraki: The Heart of Athens Nightlife
The neighbourhoods of Psirri and Monastiraki form the social and drinking core of central Athens. During the day these streets are market stalls, street food vendors, and tourists buying postcards. After 9pm they transform: the bars fill, the music starts, and the streets between venues become an informal continuation of the party. The concentration of quality bars within walking distance of each other makes this one of the best neighbourhoods for bar-hopping in Europe.
"Athens has been doing serious cocktail work for fifteen years and the international bar world is only now catching up. The city's combination of Greek spirits, extraordinary local produce, and bartenders who trained globally and came home makes it one of the most exciting drinking destinations in Europe."
Kolonaki: Elevated and Expensive
Kolonaki is Athens' wealthiest neighbourhood — boutiques, embassies, and bars where the prices match the postcode. For a certain kind of evening, this is exactly where you want to be. The rooftop bars in Kolonaki look south across the city to the sea, and several of the neighbourhood's wine bars stock lists that would be exceptional in any European capital.
Exarcheia: The Underground Scene
Athens' hidden gem bar scene is concentrated in Exarcheia, the city's politically autonomous neighbourhood that has always operated slightly outside the mainstream. The bars here are rougher, cheaper, and more interesting than anything in Kolonaki. Many are essentially bar-fronted music venues; others are simply rooms where someone opened a fridge full of beer and pointed at a turntable. All of them are more alive than anywhere else in the city after midnight.
The Greek Spirits You Should Be Ordering
Athens is the right place to explore Greek spirits seriously. Tsipouro — grape pomace brandy from northern Greece — is the local firewater, usually served neat and cold alongside a plate of mezes. Mastiha, the resin liqueur from Chios, is the ingredient that Athens' best bartenders are currently deploying most creatively. Assyrtiko wine from Santorini, increasingly available by the glass across the city, is one of the great white wines in the world and prices in Athens are a fraction of what you'd pay in London.
For context on how the Greek bar scene compares to its regional competitors, our European cities bar scene overview places Athens among the top tier. The city also features in our best rooftop bars with city views — the Acropolis view category is essentially Athens' alone to lose.
