Best hotels in Athens: seven places with the Acropolis in the right window

The city's drawing room, with the Acropolis from the roof

The hotel faces parliament across the square, so from the front rooms you watch the evzones change guard without leaving the window. The rooftop restaurant takes in the Acropolis, Lycabettus Hill and parliament in one sweep, and the marble lobby with its chandeliers and heavy carpets is where Athenians come for a coffee they cannot justify every day.

This is the hotel for anyone who wants the full classical city hotel, with spa, pool and a level of service few others in Athens reach. It feels closer to Vienna than to Greece, and that is deliberate. The wrong choice if you want taverna warmth and a host who remembers your name, because it is simply too large for that.

The smaller neighbour with the same view

King George shares a wall, a square, a view and an owner with the Grande Bretagne, but at a fraction of the size. The top-floor restaurant looks straight at the Acropolis, and the rooms are done in a calmer, more classical style, with dark wood and marble bathrooms.

Staying here gives you the best of Syntagma without the vast lobby or the breakfast queue. It works best for couples who want quiet and a hotel where staff recognise faces, and who are happy to walk next door for the spa and pool. Less suited to anyone who wants a busy house and a bar that fills every night.

The design hotel built from old furniture

NEW Hotel is on Filellinon Street, two blocks from Syntagma Square and one from Plaka. The interiors were made from the hotel that stood here before: chairs, doors and panelling were cut up and reassembled into walls, lamps and the reception desk. It is odd on the first evening and rather lovely by the second.

This is the closest Athens comes to an art hotel, and it suits anyone who thinks a room should say something. It is light, playful and fairly small, with a roof terrace guests use heavily in the evening. Look elsewhere if you want traditional and neutral, nor for anyone who needs a pool.

A rooftop pool on the quiet side of Plaka

The hotel stands on Nikodimou Street in the calmer south-eastern corner of Plaka, where the streets are wide enough for trees. On the roof there is a pool with the Acropolis straight ahead, and a restaurant used for breakfast in the morning and dinner once the rock is lit.

It is the most practical choice in Plaka for families: rooms with space, a pool that earns its keep after a day in the heat, and a position from which you walk to everything without sleeping in the taverna lanes. The style is classical and a little heavy, a hotel from another era in the best sense. Less suited to anyone after new design and a young crowd.

The rooftop bar everyone mentions

The hotel sits directly on Monastiraki Square, with the Metro beneath it and the flea market round the corner. Its rooftop bar is one of the best known in the city, the Acropolis straight ahead and the square below, and it fills with guests and Athenians alike every evening. Rooms facing the square share the same view from the bed.

This is our first-timer's choice: you are in the thick of it, you walk to everything, and the airport Metro is under your feet. The rooms are modern and plain, built for sleeping rather than lingering. The caveat is obvious: the square and the bar are noisy until late, so this is not the hotel for anyone who needs silence.

Modernism on Agia Irini Square

Perianth occupies a modernist building on Agia Irini Square, the small plaza between Monastiraki and Syntagma that has become the city's coffee square. Inside it is terrazzo, marble and furniture by Greek designers, and the top-floor suites have their own terraces.

It is made for anyone who cares about design and wants to stay in the part of the centre that feels like today's Athens rather than the visitors' version. Coffee bars and wine bars are directly outside. It is a small hotel with no pool and a modest breakfast, so it is the wrong choice for anyone who wants a full resort in the city.

Hot tubs on the roof, the Parthenon at eye level

The hotel is on Rovertou Galli Street, directly behind the Acropolis Museum and a few minutes from the Acropolis entrance along Dionysiou Areopagitou, the pedestrian promenade under the rock. On the roof there are hot tubs and loungers with the Parthenon close enough to watch people walking round the temple.

It feels like a quiet, grown-up hotel, with neutral, well-kept rooms and a roof terrace that turns every evening into a small occasion. It is ideal for couples who want calm and a view without Syntagma prices. Skip it if you want nightlife outside the door, because here there are only cafés and people walking.