Athens summer days are too hot for much, but once the sun drops the whole city heads outside, kids included. Open-air summer cinemas have screened films under the stars here since the silent era, and late dinners mean nobody rushes home. Here's what we checked, from the rooftop screen at Cine Paris to the fountains that dance to music at Stavros Niarchos Park.
Cine Thisio is an open-air cinema on Apostolou Pavlou street, with rows of seats facing a big screen and the floodlit Acropolis in view above it. Families come for an evening film under the sky, where the setting is half the show. It suits kids old enough to sit through a late film outdoors.
Cine Paris is an open-air cinema on a rooftop garden in Plaka, with the Acropolis in view beyond the screen. It opened in the 1920s, moved into this Kydathineon Street building in the early 1960s, and is one of the oldest open-air cinemas in Greece.
The Greek film platform Cinobo picks the films, and the terrace has its own bar.
Aigli Zappeiou has screened films under the trees of the Zappeion gardens since 1910, making it the city's oldest open-air cinema. A 2024 renovation added a 4K laser projector and Dolby 7.1 sound. The program mixes art-house picks, new releases and children's films. The canteen serves movie snacks plus a handmade deep-dish pizza, and the greenery of the National Garden keeps the evening air cooler.
Stavros Niarchos Park is the 21-hectare green space around the Renzo Piano-designed cultural center that houses the Greek National Opera and the National Library. Kids can run the Great Lawn, try the Sound Garden, find their way through the Labyrinth and play at the playgrounds.
Fountains in the seawater canal dance to music through the day. It is the world's largest public Mediterranean garden.
The Experience Park is the first open part of the Ellinikon redevelopment, on the site of the city's old airport. Its 75 acres hold about 900 trees, 80,000 plants and three plazas.
Kids head for the Forest Playground, built from wooden climbing structures, and the Water Maze, a walk-in fountain of water jets and light. There is also a zen garden and outdoor fitness equipment.
A fenced municipal playground on Poseidonos Avenue, between Flisvos Park and the marina. It is split into six areas: a toddler zone, a big-kid zone, walking paths, a sports field with outdoor gym equipment and mini soccer and basketball courts, an 80-seat wooden amphitheater, and a canteen.
The centerpiece is a 1,000-square-meter frame of slides and lofts, alongside swings, castles, towers and boats.
Flisvos Park is a long stretch of seafront parkland on Poseidonos Avenue, between the beach and Flisvos Marina. Its fenced playground is split into zones by age, with bouncy castles, pirate ships, trampolines, slides and climbing frames. One 1,000-square-meter structure has ramps for children with disabilities.
Beyond the play areas are walking and cycling paths, outdoor fitness stations, basketball courts and a small wooden amphitheater.
A fenced grove of pines and cypresses planted in the 1920s, about 5 hectares of dense shade in the middle of Nea Smyrni. Kids get a playground, outdoor chess, two fountains and dovecotes housing hundreds of pigeons.
A bike lane runs the whole perimeter path, handy for scooters and first bikes. Inside there's a canteen and an open-air theater that holds about 2,500 people.
Lycabettus is a limestone hill rising 277 meters over central Athens, the highest point in the city center, with pine trees around its base. A funicular runs up inside a 210-meter tunnel from Kolonaki in about 3 minutes, or families can climb the trail. At the top sit the Chapel of St. George, a café-restaurant, an open-air theater and views across the city to the Acropolis.
Philopappos Hill, the ancient Hill of the Muses, rises southwest of the Acropolis under pines, olives and cypresses. Stone paths and resting terraces laid by architect Dimitris Pikionis in the 1950s climb to the Philopappos Monument, the 2nd-century mausoleum of a Roman consul.
On the way, kids can look into the rock-cut caves known as the "Prison of Socrates" and stop at the small church of Agios Dimitrios Loumbardiaris.
Athens summer days are too hot for much, but once the sun drops the whole city heads outside, kids included. Open-air summer cinemas have screened films under the stars here since the silent era, and late dinners mean nobody rushes home. Here's what we checked, from the rooftop screen at Cine Paris to the fountains that dance to music at Stavros Niarchos Park.
Cine Thisio is an open-air cinema on Apostolou Pavlou street, with rows of seats facing a big screen and the floodlit Acropolis in view above it. Families come for an evening film under the sky, where the setting is half the show. It suits kids old enough to sit through a late film outdoors.
Cine Paris is an open-air cinema on a rooftop garden in Plaka, with the Acropolis in view beyond the screen. It opened in the 1920s, moved into this Kydathineon Street building in the early 1960s, and is one of the oldest open-air cinemas in Greece.
The Greek film platform Cinobo picks the films, and the terrace has its own bar.
Aigli Zappeiou has screened films under the trees of the Zappeion gardens since 1910, making it the city's oldest open-air cinema. A 2024 renovation added a 4K laser projector and Dolby 7.1 sound. The program mixes art-house picks, new releases and children's films. The canteen serves movie snacks plus a handmade deep-dish pizza, and the greenery of the National Garden keeps the evening air cooler.
Stavros Niarchos Park is the 21-hectare green space around the Renzo Piano-designed cultural center that houses the Greek National Opera and the National Library. Kids can run the Great Lawn, try the Sound Garden, find their way through the Labyrinth and play at the playgrounds.
Fountains in the seawater canal dance to music through the day. It is the world's largest public Mediterranean garden.
The Experience Park is the first open part of the Ellinikon redevelopment, on the site of the city's old airport. Its 75 acres hold about 900 trees, 80,000 plants and three plazas.
Kids head for the Forest Playground, built from wooden climbing structures, and the Water Maze, a walk-in fountain of water jets and light. There is also a zen garden and outdoor fitness equipment.
A fenced municipal playground on Poseidonos Avenue, between Flisvos Park and the marina. It is split into six areas: a toddler zone, a big-kid zone, walking paths, a sports field with outdoor gym equipment and mini soccer and basketball courts, an 80-seat wooden amphitheater, and a canteen.
The centerpiece is a 1,000-square-meter frame of slides and lofts, alongside swings, castles, towers and boats.
Flisvos Park is a long stretch of seafront parkland on Poseidonos Avenue, between the beach and Flisvos Marina. Its fenced playground is split into zones by age, with bouncy castles, pirate ships, trampolines, slides and climbing frames. One 1,000-square-meter structure has ramps for children with disabilities.
Beyond the play areas are walking and cycling paths, outdoor fitness stations, basketball courts and a small wooden amphitheater.
A fenced grove of pines and cypresses planted in the 1920s, about 5 hectares of dense shade in the middle of Nea Smyrni. Kids get a playground, outdoor chess, two fountains and dovecotes housing hundreds of pigeons.
A bike lane runs the whole perimeter path, handy for scooters and first bikes. Inside there's a canteen and an open-air theater that holds about 2,500 people.
Lycabettus is a limestone hill rising 277 meters over central Athens, the highest point in the city center, with pine trees around its base. A funicular runs up inside a 210-meter tunnel from Kolonaki in about 3 minutes, or families can climb the trail. At the top sit the Chapel of St. George, a café-restaurant, an open-air theater and views across the city to the Acropolis.
Philopappos Hill, the ancient Hill of the Muses, rises southwest of the Acropolis under pines, olives and cypresses. Stone paths and resting terraces laid by architect Dimitris Pikionis in the 1950s climb to the Philopappos Monument, the 2nd-century mausoleum of a Roman consul.
On the way, kids can look into the rock-cut caves known as the "Prison of Socrates" and stop at the small church of Agios Dimitrios Loumbardiaris.
