Athens summers are long and hot, so the trick is planning around the heat. Mornings go to the sea, afternoons to shade or air conditioning, and evenings to fountains and open-air cinemas once the sun drops. Here's what we checked, from the warm, cave-fed swimming of Lake Vouliagmeni to films under the floodlit Acropolis at Cine Thisio.
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.
Lake Vouliagmeni is a small brackish lake under a sheer rock cliff, formed when a cave roof collapsed about 2,000 years ago. Warm seawater seeps in through flooded caves and mixes with a spring, so the water stays between 21°C and 29°C.
Kids swim straight off the main deck, where sunbeds and tables go first come, first served. Lifeguards are on duty, and there is no natural shade.
This organized beach has fine sand, no rocks and clear, shallow water, with a Blue Flag every year since 2002. Lifeguards are on duty daily through the summer season, and there is a doctor, toilets, changing rooms and showers.
Sunbeds and umbrellas line the shore, and the grounds behind hold football fields, beach volleyball and tennis courts, plus beach bars, ice cream, grill and meze spots.
Akti Vouliagmenis is the organized sandy beach of Vouliagmeni on the Athens Riviera, opened in 1959 and holding a Blue Flag. Behind the sand there is a fully equipped playground, three canteens, changing rooms, showers and toilets.
The water is clear, and free Wi-Fi covers the beach. It suits families who want a full day by the sea with food and facilities on hand.
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.
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.
Parnitha is the highest mountain in Attica, rising to 1,413 m at its Karavola summit, and much of it has been a national park since 1961. A network of trails and forest roads runs through Greek fir and pine forest, past springs, streams and rocky cliffs.
It is the only place in southern Greece where red deer still live wild, and over 1,000 plant species grow here.
A forest adventure park at Malakasa where kids clip into a harness and work through rope courses strung between the trees, with zip lines along the way. The courses are graded by age group, from Squirrels for the youngest up to Eagles for teens.
Off the courses there is archery, a bungee trampoline, a climbing wall, pedal go-karts and an obstacle game called Operation Tarantula, plus picnic areas.
XPLORE fills 4,500 square meters inside the Golden Hall mall with three zones. Science has hands-on exhibits on sound, light, air and water, including a giant floor piano and a water table. Adventure has a castle mirror maze, a dinosaur jungle, a construction zone with a life-size digger, a TV studio and a race track. Oceans is an aquarium with 20 tanks of sharks, rays and jellyfish.
Hellenic Cosmos is the cultural center of the Foundation of the Hellenic World, set in an old industrial complex on Pireos Street. Its landmark is the Tholos, a domed virtual-reality theater with a 350 m² screen that takes audiences from Ancient Olympia and the Agora of Athens to outer space.
Kids can also try VR headsets, watch children's theater at the Theatron, see exhibitions and join weekend workshops.
Athens summers are long and hot, so the trick is planning around the heat. Mornings go to the sea, afternoons to shade or air conditioning, and evenings to fountains and open-air cinemas once the sun drops. Here's what we checked, from the warm, cave-fed swimming of Lake Vouliagmeni to films under the floodlit Acropolis at Cine Thisio.
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.
Lake Vouliagmeni is a small brackish lake under a sheer rock cliff, formed when a cave roof collapsed about 2,000 years ago. Warm seawater seeps in through flooded caves and mixes with a spring, so the water stays between 21°C and 29°C.
Kids swim straight off the main deck, where sunbeds and tables go first come, first served. Lifeguards are on duty, and there is no natural shade.
This organized beach has fine sand, no rocks and clear, shallow water, with a Blue Flag every year since 2002. Lifeguards are on duty daily through the summer season, and there is a doctor, toilets, changing rooms and showers.
Sunbeds and umbrellas line the shore, and the grounds behind hold football fields, beach volleyball and tennis courts, plus beach bars, ice cream, grill and meze spots.
Akti Vouliagmenis is the organized sandy beach of Vouliagmeni on the Athens Riviera, opened in 1959 and holding a Blue Flag. Behind the sand there is a fully equipped playground, three canteens, changing rooms, showers and toilets.
The water is clear, and free Wi-Fi covers the beach. It suits families who want a full day by the sea with food and facilities on hand.
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.
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.
Parnitha is the highest mountain in Attica, rising to 1,413 m at its Karavola summit, and much of it has been a national park since 1961. A network of trails and forest roads runs through Greek fir and pine forest, past springs, streams and rocky cliffs.
It is the only place in southern Greece where red deer still live wild, and over 1,000 plant species grow here.
A forest adventure park at Malakasa where kids clip into a harness and work through rope courses strung between the trees, with zip lines along the way. The courses are graded by age group, from Squirrels for the youngest up to Eagles for teens.
Off the courses there is archery, a bungee trampoline, a climbing wall, pedal go-karts and an obstacle game called Operation Tarantula, plus picnic areas.
XPLORE fills 4,500 square meters inside the Golden Hall mall with three zones. Science has hands-on exhibits on sound, light, air and water, including a giant floor piano and a water table. Adventure has a castle mirror maze, a dinosaur jungle, a construction zone with a life-size digger, a TV studio and a race track. Oceans is an aquarium with 20 tanks of sharks, rays and jellyfish.
Hellenic Cosmos is the cultural center of the Foundation of the Hellenic World, set in an old industrial complex on Pireos Street. Its landmark is the Tholos, a domed virtual-reality theater with a 350 m² screen that takes audiences from Ancient Olympia and the Agora of Athens to outer space.
Kids can also try VR headsets, watch children's theater at the Theatron, see exhibitions and join weekend workshops.
