Athens - Advice & Help please

taurusgb

Hello

My 18 year old son is planning a holiday to Athens with 3 friends. They are all sensible lads and have asked me for any advice to avoid pitfalls BEFORE they go ahead and book. Now, I have only organised one holiday that included flights and that was some years ago so I have no experience to offer them. Could someone with more experience and a lot of common sense please share it with us before they go ahead and book flights, hotel and buy insurance. They want to book it this weekend for the last week in June.

Bare bones of their plans/ideas are as follows:-

1. Looking at Easyjet or Ryan Air
2. They have found a hotel that is on the tramline that leaves from the airport. It is only 2* but they have no idea what this offers in Greece
3. Travel insurance - can they buy as a group as they are not related or should theyt get a policy each?
4. Things to be aware of while there (eg someone my MIL knows had everything stolen from a hotel safe in Athens - passports, cash, insurance documents etc
5. They need it to be as cheap as possible, sos any moneysaving ideas for while they are there to keep their costs low would be great.
6. Any ramifications for current state of things in Greece, as I know life is difficult there at the moment for a lot of people

Thank you

richardw

Before booking easyJet or Ryanair, do a dummy booking to work out the total cost including all add ons including luggage and seat selection, if they want those.

Look up reviews of the hotel on trip advisor and booking.com to see what others say about it.

They'll need a travel insurance policy each and EHIC card.

Scan a copy of your passport into your computer and e mail a copy of it to your own web based internet e mail account such as hotmail, yahoo etc, same with insurance documents and the like.
Have two methods of getting cash in case one fails.

Also look at other places such as Magaluf and San Antonio.

natbags

Athens is fab, found it really easy to get around
Flew aegean which proved cheaper and train straight out from the airport. good area to stay is around plaka, souvlaki street is fab and the sunday flea market is fab and quite close to the acropolis

Alan_Bowen

Athens is not top of the list for most 18 year olds at all. If they are classical scholars, there is plenty to see but I worry they don't actually know what they want to do? Greece is not expensive but Athens is the most expensive city, as most capital cities are.

[Deleted User]

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

Athens is not top of the list for most 18 year olds at all. If they are classical scholars, there is plenty to see but I worry they don't actually know what they want to do? Greece is not expensive but Athens is the most expensive city, as most capital cities are.

Seconded.
Most of Athens is grimy with significant social problems and a considerable amount of crime.
At that age they'd be better off flying direct to an island such as Crete,Rhodes or Corfu where there'll be far more people of their own age and more fun things to do.
This is a good website for research whatever they intend to do.

https://www.greecetravel.com

Make-it-3

Agreed, this sounds a strange choice of destination. What are they planning to do?

Athens is fine for a day or two if you want to see the Acropolis, but is a pretty polluted, noisy and grotty city to want to spend any time in and at end of June will be hot and sticky too.

If I were them I would be staying a day and then hopping on a ferry to an island with some beaches, nightlife etc - Mykynos and Ios spring to mind.

taurusgb

Thanks for all the replies so far. They chose Athens as affordable and different. None of them are keen on going to a destination of the usual 'get drunk and find a girl Ibiza type holiday IYSWIM'. Though they do want to have some fun. Really grateful for the tips so far

Make-it-3

Each to their own, I think you've had most of your initial questions answered.

As for no.6, they are hardly likely to notice the impact of the economic situation in a week as tourists. Tourism is the one thing that is keeping the country going.

Another tip (although an unlikely pursuit for teenage boys) do not eat in any restaurant with a view of the Acropolis if you want good food at a reasonable price.

peachyprice

taurusgb wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies so far. They chose Athens as affordable and different. None of them are keen on going to a destination of the usual 'get drunk and find a girl Ibiza type holiday IYSWIM'. Though they do want to have some fun. Really grateful for the tips so far

I know exactly what you mean, Magaluf or the like would be my 18yo boys' idea of hell! It's just not what they are used to or enjoy. As one of them said, why would you go all that way to do what you can do at home.

See if you can find some ferry timetables online for some islands close to Athens, they're usually quite affordable and are timed for day trips, or even see they can stretch to it so they could do a night or two away from Athens.

[Deleted User]

taurusgb wrote: »

None of them are keen on going to a destination of the usual 'get drunk and find a girl Ibiza type holiday '.

He IS 18 ?

Blue264

taurusgb wrote: »

Any ramifications for current state of things in Greece, as I know life is difficult there at the moment for a lot of peopleThank you

My OH is Greek and most of his family live in the northern outskirts of Athens, so we've been a few times lately.

The only area of the city centre I would avoid is Omonia as it's not got the best reputation with the locals. OH's mum always tells me to not get off the metro at Omonia because of gang fights between the immigrant population and neo-Nazi groups. There is a massive backlash against these gangs amongst the mainstream population and young people, and trouble is mostly confined to this small area of the city. That said, there have been far worse scenes in London in recent years.

Other than this, the sheer dignity and pride of the Greek people wins out over their economic crisis. Besides a number of shops being closed, you son would probably not see any evidence of how things have changed in Athens.

The nightlife is amazing! Plaka is the most touristy place to eat, but there are still good, cheap places were the locals eat there. The real nightlife begins about 10pm and many venues only close at 6am, yet it's all very civilised. Other than night clubs and bars, Athens used to have a few hundred Bouzoukia clubs, and there are now only about 50 left, but they are an amazing night out. Athenians know how to party! I went to one on a Tuesday night, rolled out at 5am and many of the patrons were still going strong, and the age range at this club was 18-70+.

http://www.breathtakingathens.com/node/5000145

Warn your son about the drink measure if he drinks spirits at all. The main beer is Mythos, but if he ordered a vodka, he can expect it to be 3 or 4 times the size of an English bar measure.

Kifisia, one of the northern suburbs, has a more relaxed nightlife, but can be even more opulent.

I think your son will have a great time, and personally, I'd be far happier with him going there than to Kavos.