Athens, Greece's capital is located at the Prefecture of Attica. Attica is an excellent and interesting place to get to know. There are so many places to visit and to combine excursions to the well known historical places, activities, entertainment, shopping, beaches, cruises to the nearby islands of the Saronic Gulf.

Athens is the largest city in Greece with around 4 million people live in it and it is a cosmopolitan city than never sleeps with numerous sites to visit and beautiful beaches located at Athenian Riviera at the South West part of the city. Piraeus is the main port of Athens, just 20 minutes by metro and it is the departure point for most of the Greek Islands.

Athens, a thousand and one cities - When you climb up to the Acropolis, keep looking at the view as you stroll about. Every time you'll see another city.

A city filled with contrasts and surprises. Beautiful and varied. Every second Athens becomes a different city. Ancient. And Byzantine. And Neoclassical. And modern. Crowded. And solitary. And always smiling.

You can find Athen's smile everywhere: in an ancient theatre, in a modern exhibition hall, at a sports event, down by the sea, high on a mountain top during a guided tour, at a concert, around the table in a tavernaki, in a garden during a posh reception, in a little alleyway, in a spacious square, behind the mast of a sailboat or next to the column of an old temple. Or somewhere near a contemporary sculpture.

Athens is home to 148 theatrical stages, more than any other European city (including the famous ancient Herodes Atticus Theatre, home to the Athens Festival, which takes place from May to October each year). In addition to a large number of multiplexes, Athens features many romantic, open air garden cinemas. Athens also has a vast number of music venues including a state of the art music hall known as the "Megaron Moussikis" that attracts world-famous artists all year round. The relatively recent and rapid redevelopment of many areas in central Athens has brought the city centre back into the limelight.

Plaka quarter, lying just beneath the Acropolis, is famous for its numerous neoclassic buildings, making it one of the most scenic districts of Athens. It remains the traditional top tourist destination, with many tavernas featuring traditional music.

The Athens City Riviera, extending from the major commercial port of Piraeus to the southernmost suburb of Varkiza for some 30 km, is also connected to the city centre with a tram (which, although modern can be slow during rush hours) and it boasts a series of high class restaurants, cafes, exciting music venues and modern sports facilities. In addition, Athens is packed with trendy and fashionable bars and nightclubs that are literally crowded by the city's youth on a daily basis. Especially during the summer time, the southern elegant suburbs of Glyfada, Voula and Vouliagmeni become home to countless such meeting points, situated all along Poseidonos and Alkyonidon Avenues. In the winter time, the focus of the nightlife moves up into the city centre, in Piraeus as well as across the northern suburbs. In the northern districts, the classy suburb of Kifissia hosts a vast number of expensive restaurants, bars and cafe's.

Ancient Athens was a powerful city-state. Center of the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum, Athens was also the birthplace of Socrates, Pericles, Sophocles and many other prominent philosophers, politicians and writers of the ancient world. It is widely referred to as the cradle of Western Civilization and the birthplace of Democracy, largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then known European Continent.

The classical era heritage is still evident in the city, portrayed through a number of ancient monuments and artworks, the most famous of all being the Parthenon on the Acropolis, standing as an epic landmark of western civilization. The city has also a vast variety of Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a small remaining number of Ottoman monuments that project the city's long history through the centuries. Modern landmarks can also be found, dating back as far as 1830 (establishment of the new, independent Greek State). The Greek Parliament (19th century) , the Athens Trilogy (Library, University, Academy) and the new (2004) Athens Olympic Sports Complex are only some of these architectural landmarks.