Athens: 13 Top Sights & Hidden Gems to Explore with Teens, Athens, Greece

People flock to Athens every summer because, on a continent full of old buildings and history, this Greek city offers some of the most iconic and ancient. But spending all your days touring ruins and museums is a good way to bore the heck out of kids and even teens. You need kid-friendly ways to see the historic sights and other things to do in between.

We spent four days in Athens in hot, crowded August, at the tail end of our Mediterranean cruise on Holland America’s Oosterdam.

Here are the things we did with our teen, including ruins you can’t miss, neighborhoods to explore and good things to eat. I also have some suggestions for things we could have done better.

Trawling Expedia for hotels three months before our trip, I was looking for a major hotel brand that I could trust to have good air conditioning. And I wanted a pool.

I found small local hotels that were well-located but expensive and somewhat basic. I also found bigger hotels from brands I know, but most engaged in the magical thinking that it’s possible to sleep three people in a room with one bed and no pull-out sofa.

Eventually, I found the Wyndham Grand Athens, which had the most important things we wanted, at a reasonable room rate. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).