Athens with 10 Month Old

[yellowishgiraffe]

Hi all,

We have our first European family holiday planned for October. We are going to Athens, staying in an AirB&B in the Pagrati area. DS will be 10 months old.

We'll arrive Friday evening and leave on the following Wednesday afternoon. Which gives us a full four days between travel.

We're flying BA, so have decent luggage allowance as well as car seat, travel buggy etc.

Can any advise me on some baby friendly things to do around Athens? We have a baby carrier we can bring along for the stroller friendly bits like the Acropolis.

I want to take it quite easy, maybe do one major tourist thing a day. We're planning on eating breakfast and dinners at the apartment and having lunch out and about.

I'm also interested to hear about travel to and from the airport and around the city. Is it worth bringing our own car seat? We don't want to hire a car as parking is an issue where we're staying. Are there cab companies that will supply car seats?

Any words of wisdom would be much appreciated.

There is a lovely quiet botanical garden, known as the National Garden very near Syntagma Square, the main square in Athens. It’s a lovely place to cool off after being in the heat of the city.

I second the garden

Thanks very much. The national garden is quite close to our apartment so we will definitely be paying it a visit!

There is a lovely area called Plaka which has nice shady cafes and restaurants and is a relaxed place to be and has a traditional feel.

Hi, my husband is from Athens so we visit often.
Many taxis don't have car seats so you may want to bring your own. There is also a metro for travelling around the city, or further afield. If you fancied going to the beach you could go to Elliniko by metro, then there is a taxi rank outside the exit to go to Glyfada. Or taxi all the way, around €15.
Near you in Athens there is the Byzantine and Christian Museum, it has a lovely cafe in a garden with a view! Unfortunately cafea don't always have changing facilities, so come prepared. If you would like to go to museums, the National Archaeological Museum is good.
Lastly, avoid the area of Metaxourgeio as it is not safe.
I hope this is helpful!

OP I'd double check about the acropolis as I'm pretty sure you need to check in strollers and even if they are allowed, it's not stroller friendly at all. It's a steep climb (one side more than the other) and the actual steps up to the Acropolis are really steep, slippery marble and it can get very congested and a bit of a bottleneck to enter/leave sometimes. A baby carrier is your friend here.

We did a brilliant free tour last time we were there and it's all stroller friendly, just round the streets of Athens.
athens-free-tour.com
If you don't know the city it's a great way to orient yourself.

I'd second the National Archaeological Museum as well worth a visit. You can take the buggy to the panathenaic stadium and if you're prepared to carry baby up the steps and you time it for sunset (bbc weather app will keep you right) you get incredible views of the sun setting behind the Acropolis. Similarly, the Bowling centre at Piraeus (you can get a taxi up from the metro) has amazing views over Athens, especially at night. The food is good there too!

Wow some great ideas here, thanks everyone.

We had two full days there in Oct 2016 and spent one day doing the Acropolis and the Acopolis Museum and the other doing the monuments in Monastiraki (Agora, Roman Forum, etc). For the Acropolis you will need the baby in a carrier, but the rest you could take a pushchair (although the pavements can be uneven in places). We had our two DC with us and found everywhere child-friendly, but our DC were 5 and 8 at the time, so older (and harder to entertain!). I wasn't too enamoured of modern Athens tbh and with four days I would aim to get out of the city on one of the days and go to the beach, if the weather is nice.

Hellooo!

I read you post now and I just wanted to share an update related to the topic we are discussing here. Actually they are good news:

Indeed the access to the acropolis was quite difficult, and even dangerous for old people, but during this period of time (that the archeological sites are closed) they are working on it. Meaning that the path won´t be that slippery and they are repairing the elevator that people with "disabilities" or people who cannot make it until the top can take it.

Visiting so many historical sites can be a bit boring sometimes for little kids, but I was lucky enough to take a pretty interesting walking tour where the kids were learning and having fun!

freetouratenas.top/athens-free-walking-tours/

A totally reccomended experience in Athens.

Have fun with your families and enjoy the Acropolis, which is pretty awesome :)

Sorry!

Just realised that I forgot to include the link to the source of what I was saying in relation to the Acropolis of Athens. I don´t think this is an official site, but rather a blog related to the archeological site, however it helped me learning a lot about the Acropolis. So hope it´s usefull for you too

acropolisdeatenas.info/

The free walking tour in Athens

Enjoy the amazing city of Athens as much as I did please!! :)

I was there in September and it was sweltering. After doing a fair bit of sightseeing I headed to the Hilton and paid to use the pool there for a few hours. Pricey but worth it. The metro into the city is easy but you might need a taxi to make the final journey to your accommodation.