Athens, Greece, is a very desirable tourist destination with millions of travelers arriving each year, especially in the summer months.
Nowadays, there are numerous luxury hotels with some old-line, iconic 5-star properties dotting the center around Syntagma Square, one of the city’s hubs. Other more modern properties are strategically located either near archaeological sites or along the avenue that connects the city center with the seashore neighborhoods.
Greece has a global reputation for hospitality since ancient times, when the god of hospitality was none other than Zeus, the chief deity of the Olympian Pantheon.
The Academias Hotel, Autograph Collection, is one of the newer boutique properties where I spent a couple nights during my recent trip to Athens. It’s located in a repurposed building at the corner of Academias Avenue and Omirou Street. Academias is one of the main thoroughfares that connects the area around Syntagma, the Greek Parliament, and the National Gardens (previously known as the Royal Garden) to the rest of the city’s hubs.
It’s at the edge of the very upscale Kolonaki district, about 4 minutes’ walk from Syntagma. If it was in New York City, it would have been at the equivalent of 6th Avenue in the mid-West 50s. The hotel is also very near (about a city block) where my family’s last office and retail business was located and where I had my office before I came to the U.S.
Actually, during my stay, I visited the storefront, which is now a bar offering Italian food, wines, and beer. I had a glass of Peroni beer for old time’s sake!
One of the things that I should mention is that the hotel has exceptional amenities: a spa, a nice indoor pool, and Symposium – the breakfast restaurant on the 2nd floor.
The staff was friendly and efficient during my stay. The property has 60 rooms and suites, and the bedrooms were spacious and well equipped.
The hotel also gives a nod to the literary history of Greece with quotes engraved or gilded on the walls of the reception and ground floor from such notable minds as Socrates, Plato, Nikos Kazantzakis, and other Greek leading lights.
To quote from Plato: Life must be lived as a play!
From Socrates: I’m not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the World; also, Wisdom begins in Wonder.
From Kazantzakis: If you disassemble Greece, all that will remain is an olive tree, a grapevine and a ship!
Plato’s, the lounge bar at the entrance of the hotel before reception, was well-stocked with top shelf liquors, including a well-aged Metaxa brandy that I took a snifter of. There are also a number of dishes and noshes available at the bar, including grilled haloumi cheese, burgers, pizza, a nice mushroom risotto, and a number of other items. The hotel was busy but not crowded, perhaps because it was the beginning of October, well after the height of the tourism season.
I was told that they celebrate Christmas and the holidays at Plato’s with a couple of specialty cocktails called The Polar Express and Santa’s Naughty List. They also serve an enhanced festive menu featuring warm Pumpkin Soup, Lamb Chops, and the mouthwatering Crispy Marron with Rum (chestnut with rum) dessert.
One evening, I had dinner at Nyx (the Greek word’s translation is Night) – the rooftop restaurant with excellent Japanese and Asian dishes. It also has a spectacular, though distant, view of the Acropolis over the city’s rooftops.
It’s presided over by Executive Chef Dimitris Kotsalis, one of the younger Greek chefs who was very adept at presenting Asian cuisine.
The food at Nyx had a very distinct Japanese tone. I decided to have a branzino dish (lavraki in Greek) that looked and tasted like a South American ceviche, nigiri sushi, and a couple rolls. I was not disappointed. The fish was very fresh and properly cut. The rice balls and rolls were properly formed.
There were numerous hot dishes on the menu, but I love sushi and ceviche. So it was natural that I would order them. I finished with the Crème Brûlée, and I was as happy as a clam!
The holidays are especially festive at Nyx when Chef Kotsalis designs a bespoke 5-course New Year’s Eve dinner featuring duck, lobster, Wagyu dry aged beef, and a Canele Taittinger dessert, marking that meal as the epitome of a celebration of abundance.
The author received a complimentary stay at this hotel, but as always, we are dedicated to giving you unbiased accounts of our experiences. See our Disclosures page for more information.
Manos Angelakis
Manos Angelakis is one of the founders, the former Managing Editor for 25 years, the current Managing Editor Emeritus, and Senior Food & Wine Writer of LuxuryWeb Magazine. He is an accomplished travel writer, photographer, and food and wine critic based in Hackensack, New Jersey. As a travel writer, he has written extensively about numerous cities and countries. Manos has also been certified as a Tuscan Wine Master and has traveled to wine-producing areas in order to evaluate firsthand the product of top-rated vineyards. In the past year, he has visited and written multiple articles about Morocco, Turkey, Quebec City, Switzerland, Antarctica, and most recently the South of France. Articles in other publications include Vision Times and Epoch Times.
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