After 20 years of turmoil, Europe’s coolest city has its groove back
To truly get under the skin of the revived Athens, head to a dynamic neighbourhood away from the tourist hordes but just 20 minutes from the city centre.
I probably shouldn’t admit this, but it wasn’t Athens’s iconic, historic sights – the Acropolis, the finally revealed Parthenon, the ancient Forum – which finally convinced me to book my first visit to the Greek capital last month. Instead, it was the buzz I’d been hearing that, after 20 years of economic and political upheaval, the city had found its groove again.
I was intrigued. As ground zero for the Greek government-debt crisis, the 2010s saw the city struggling under the weight of economic collapse and civil unrest. All but abandoned by holidaymakers, it became a gateway to the islands and little else, a sad, run-down shadow of its former self.
But, at last, Athens is on the up. In recent years, visitor numbers have rocketed to new highs, with international arrivals between January and June 2026 topping 13 million – 15 per cent up on the year before – and the capital’s airport seeing its busiest August ever, surpassing 4 million passengers in a single month for the first time.
The renewed energy is palpable: the economy is growing, unemployment is declining, and a sense of civic confidence and pride abounds as shuttered office blocks and historical buildings hum with the sounds of renovation.
