Places to visit in Attica, Greece
40 places to visit in Attica, Greece, each with LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own: Acropolis of Athens, Daphni Monastery, Erechtheion and more. Stand at any of them with the app open and the stamp is yours, confirmed on site, in your Attica volume.
7 UNESCO World Heritage sites · 27 Famous places to visit · 6 Hidden gems
UNESCO World Heritage sites in Attica (7)
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Acropolis of Athens
A rocky citadel rising above Athens, crowned by the Parthenon and other temples of the 5th century BC built under Pericles. It has been the symbol of the city for over two millennia and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Daphni Monastery
A Byzantine monastery west of Athens, built in the 11th century on the site of an older sanctuary. Its church is known for glittering mosaics, including a stern Christ Pantocrator in the dome, and is a UNESCO site.
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Erechtheion
An Ionic temple on the north side of the Acropolis, finished around 406 BC. Its south porch is held up by six carved female figures known as the Caryatids, and the building covered several ancient cults.
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Odeon of Herodes Atticus
A stone theatre on the south slope of the Acropolis, built in 161 AD by a wealthy Athenian in memory of his wife. It was restored in the 1950s and still hosts concerts and the summer Athens Festival.
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Parthenon
The marble temple of Athena on top of the Acropolis, built between 447 and 432 BC in the Doric style. Its sculpted frieze and pediments are among the most studied works of ancient Greek art, and restoration work continues today.
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Temple of Athena Nike
The smallest temple on the Acropolis, a little Ionic building perched on a bastion by the entrance. It was built in the 420s BC and dedicated to Athena as goddess of victory.
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Theatre of Dionysus
The oldest theatre in Europe, cut into the southern slope of the Acropolis in Athens. Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes were first staged here during festivals of the god Dionysus, and carved marble seats for dignitaries still remain at the front.
Famous places to visit in Attica (27)
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Acropolis Museum
A glass and concrete museum opened in 2009 at the foot of the Acropolis, built above part of an excavated ancient neighbourhood. It displays finds from the hill, including the Parthenon frieze on the top floor.
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Aegina
A Saronic island about 27 km from Athens, reached by a short ferry ride. It is known for its pistachios, the 5th century BC Temple of Aphaia and a fishing harbour town that was briefly Greece's first capital.
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Agistri
A small, quiet island in the Saronic Gulf, a short ferry trip from Aegina. Pine forests run down to clear water and small beaches, and it is a popular day trip from Athens.
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Ancient Agora of Athens
The marketplace and civic heart of classical Athens, where citizens traded, held courts and debated. The site holds the Temple of Hephaestus, a reconstructed stoa and the foundations of many public buildings.
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Areopagus
A bare rocky hill just below the Acropolis that gave its name to ancient Athens' council of elders. The Apostle Paul is said to have preached here, and it offers a good view over the Agora.
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Hadrian's Library
The ruins of a library and cultural centre built by the emperor Hadrian around 132 AD, near the Monastiraki area. A long wall with columns at the front still stands beside the old Roman Agora.
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Hydra
A rocky Saronic island with no cars, where donkeys and boats carry people and goods. Its stone mansions climb around a horseshoe harbour, built by sea captains who grew rich in the early 1800s.
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Kythira
An island south of the Peloponnese, said in myth to be the birthplace of Aphrodite. It has white villages, a Venetian fortress at Chora and the Kakalatia waterfalls near Mylopotamos, and ferries reach it from Neapoli and Piraeus.
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Lyceum
The site of the school founded by Aristotle in 335 BC, east of the centre of Athens. Excavations from the 1990s uncovered the remains of a gymnasium and exercise ground in a small park.
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Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens
The main church of the Greek Orthodox archbishop of Athens, built between 1842 and 1862 in Byzantine style. It stands in Mitropoleos Square and holds relics of saints and the tombs of patriarchs.
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Mount Lycabettus
A limestone hill that rises about 277 metres above central Athens, topped by the small white chapel of St George. A funicular and footpaths lead up to a wide view of the city, the Acropolis and the sea.
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National Archaeological Museum of Athens
Greece's largest archaeological museum, in central Athens, holding treasures from across the country and many periods. Highlights include the gold mask from Mycenae, the Antikythera mechanism, and bronze statues recovered from the sea, such as the Artemision god.
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Panathenaic Stadium
A horseshoe shaped stadium built entirely of white marble, rebuilt in 1896 for the first modern Olympic Games on a site used since antiquity. It can seat around 50,000 people and is the finish of the Athens marathon.
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Plaka
The old historic neighbourhood of Athens, clustered around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis. It has winding lanes and neoclassical houses, built over the residential areas of the ancient town.
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Platonic Academy
The place where Plato founded his school around 387 BC, in a park northwest of the centre of Athens. Visitors can see foundations of ancient buildings among the trees, and the school kept teaching here for nearly nine centuries.
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Pnyx
A hillside west of the Acropolis where the Athenian assembly met from about 500 BC. Citizens gathered on the slope to vote on laws and war, and speakers addressed them from a stone platform.
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Poros
A small island separated from the Peloponnese coast by a narrow strait just a few hundred metres wide. The town climbs a hill topped by a clock tower, and pine forests cover much of the island.
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Sounion
A rocky headland at the southern tip of Attica, topped by the columns of a Temple of Poseidon built around 440 BC. Sailors passing the cape would see it from far out, and it is a popular place to watch the sunset.
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Spetses
A pine covered island at the mouth of the Argolic Gulf with a small old harbour and few cars. It played an important role in the 1821 war of independence under the shipowner and heroine Laskarina Bouboulina.
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Stoa of Attalos
A long two storey colonnaded building in the Ancient Agora, first built in the 2nd century BC. It was rebuilt in the 1950s and now houses the Museum of the Ancient Agora.
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Syntagma Square
The central square of Athens, facing the Parliament building. Soldiers in traditional uniform guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier here, and a changing of the guard takes place on Sundays at 11 am.
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Temple of Aphaia
A Doric temple in a sanctuary complex on the island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf, dedicated to the goddess Aphaia. Built around 500 BC, it is one of the best preserved temples in Greece.
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Temple of Hephaestus
A Doric temple on a hill above the Ancient Agora, built around 449 BC. It is one of the best preserved ancient Greek temples anywhere, in part because it was later used as a church.
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Temple of Olympian Zeus
The remains of a vast temple begun in the 6th century BC and finished by the Roman emperor Hadrian in 131 AD. Only 15 of its original 104 Corinthian columns still stand, close to the centre of Athens.
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Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion
A Doric temple dedicated to Poseidon on the tip of Cape Sounion, at the southern end of Attica. Built around 440 BC, it stands on a cliff above the Aegean and is a famous place to watch the sunset.
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Tower of the Winds
An octagonal marble tower in the Roman Agora, built in the 1st century BC as a water clock, sundial and weather vane. Each side is carved with a figure representing one of the eight winds.
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Zappeion
A neoclassical exhibition hall in the National Garden, finished in 1888 and paid for by the Zappas family. It hosted the fencing events of the 1896 Olympics and later served for conferences and receptions.
Hidden gems in Attica (6)
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Anafiotika
A tiny neighbourhood on the northeast side of the Acropolis hill, part of Plaka. Its whitewashed houses with narrow stairways resemble a Cycladic village, and were built by islanders who came to work in Athens in the 19th century.
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Kaisariani Monastery
A small Orthodox monastery on the north side of Mount Hymettus, close to Athens. Surrounded by pine woods, it dates from the 11th century and has a Byzantine church with later frescoes.
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Lake Vouliagmeni
A small brackish water lake south of Athens, fed by underground currents seeping through the mass of Mount Hymettus. Its water stays warm at around 22 degrees Celsius all year, and swimmers use it for its mineral properties.
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Monastiraki
A flea market neighbourhood in the old town of Athens, below the Acropolis. Clothing boutiques, souvenir shops and specialty stores fill its lanes, and it is one of the main shopping districts of the city.
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National Garden of Athens
A public park of 15.5 hectares in the centre of Athens, behind the Greek Parliament building. It was known as the Royal Garden until 1974 and has shaded paths, ponds and a small botanical museum.
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Philopappos Monument
A Roman mausoleum on Mouseion Hill, southwest of the Acropolis in Athens. It was built in the early second century AD for Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappos, a prince of the Kingdom of Commagene.
Collecting in Attica
What are the best places to visit in Attica?
LOQAH lists 40 places in Attica. The best known include Acropolis of Athens, Daphni Monastery, Erechtheion, Odeon of Herodes Atticus and Parthenon. Each has a stamp of its own to collect when you are there.
How many LOQAH stamps are there in Attica?
40, and more are added over time. Each place has LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own.
How do I collect a stamp in Attica?
Open LOQAH at the place and get its stamp. LOQAH checks where you are once, at that moment; at the place itself the stamp is confirmed on site, with a gold badge.
I have been to places in Attica before. Can I add them?
Yes. In Earlier trips, choose Attica and swipe through its stamps, or import your Google Timeline. Each one goes into your volume with the date, if you know it.
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