Athens Museums are alive. They constitute a dynamic part of our society. An updated museum guide will help you navigate among the best of them.
In Athens today one can find museums about archaeology, the byzantine era, sculpture, painting, natural history, various religions, war, mental health, IT, Cycladic art, modern art, children, jewelry, coins, cars, musical instruments, toys and …crime!
Following you will find a table with all the information you need to make your plans according to location, your available time, interests, and priorities. This way, you will know which ones to visit now and which you will leave for next time.
| Museum | Location | Fees / Operating Hours / Site |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Acropolis Museum | Dionysiou Areopagitou Str. (metro Acropolis) | Full: 10€, Reduced: 5€ or Free / When to visit / Museum site |
| 2. Archaeological Museum of Kerameikos | 148, Ermou Str., Kerameikos (metro Kerameikos) | Full: 8€, Reduced: 4€ / When to visit / Site |
| 3. Ancient Agora | 24, Adrianou Str. (metro Thisio) | Full: 10€, Reduced: 5€ Operating hours / Museum site here |
| 4. Art Tactual Museum | 198, Doiranis Str. Kallithea | Full: 2€ / Operating Hours / Site here & here |
| 5. Benaki Museum | 138, Peiraios Str. (metro Kerameikos) | Full: 5-15€, Reduced: 2,5-12€, Free for all under 22 yrs/ Opening Hours / Site |
| 6. Benaki Museum of Greek Culture | 1 Koumbari St. & Vas. Sofias Ave., 106 74 (metro Syntagma) | Full: 12€, Reduced: 9€, Free for all under 22 yrs/ Opening Hours / Virtual Tour / Site |
| 7. Byzantine and Christian Museum | 22, Vas. Sofias Ave. (metro Syntagma) | Spring-Summer: 8€, Fall-Winter: 4€, Free: up to 25 yrs old EU citizens/ Operating Hours / Site |
| 8. Criminology Museum | 75, M. Asias Str., 11527 | By appointment only /Digital Visit / Site |
| 9. Dromokaitio Mental Hospital Museum | 343, Iera Odos Chaidari | Operating Hours: 8.00 – 14.00 M-F / Site (only in Greek) |
| 10. Philatelic and Postal Museum | Stadiou Square 5 & Fokianou Str. 116 35 (metro Syntagma) | Free entrance but by appointment only 15 days prior to visit / M-F 10.00-15.00 / Site |
| 11. Glyptotheke National Sculpture Museum | Army Park, Goudi (metro Katechaki) | Full: 3€ / June 2022 not open due to renovations / Site |
| 12. Goulandris Museum of Contemporary Art | 13 Eratosthenous str. 116 35 | Full: 10€, Reduced: 5€, Free / Opening Hours / Site |
| 13. Goulandris Natural History Museum | 13, Levidou Str. Kifisia (metro Kifisia) | Full: 10€, Reduced: 6€/ Operating Hours / Site |
| 14. Hellenic Children’s Museum | 17-19, Vas. Georgiou B’ Str., 106 75 (metro Syntagma) | Free for all/ Open on Wednesdays & Saturdays / Opening Hours / Site |
| 15. Hellenic Cosmos Cultural Center | 254, Pireos Str., 177 78 Tavros | Entrance: 6-8€ according to the event/ Opening Hours / Site |
| 16. Hellenic IT Museum | Petrou Spiropoulou 2 & Thessalonikis, 183 46 Moschato | Full: 4€, Reduced: 3€, Free / Virtual Tour / Opening Hours / Site |
| 17. Hellenic Motors Museum | 33, Ioulianou 33 Str & 74, C’ Septemvriou Str. | Full: 10€, Reduced: 8€/ Opening Hours / Site |
| 18. Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum | 12, Kallisperi & Karyatidon Str., Acropolis 11742 (metro Acropolis) | Full: 5€, Reduced: 4€ / Opening Hours / Site |
| 19. Jewish Museum | 39, Nikis Str. (metro Syntagma) | Full: 6€, Reduced: 3€/ Opening Hours / Site |
| 20. Museum of Cycladic Art | Building 1: 4, Neophytou Douka str. Building 2: Vasilissis Sofias ave. & 1, Irodotou str. (metro Syntagma) | Full: 15€, Reduced: 10€, Free for all under 18 yrs / Opening Hours / Site |
| 21. Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments | 1-3, Diogenous Str., Plaka 105 56 (metro Acropolis) | Full: 3€, Reduced: 2€ / Opening Hours / Site |
| 22. Museum of Islamic Art | 22 Ag. Asomaton & 12 Dipilou St., 105 53 (metro Thissio) | Full: 9€, Reduced: 7€ / Opening Hours / Site |
| 23. National Archaeological Museum | 44, 28th October (Patission) Str. | Spring-Summer: 12€ Fall-Winter: 6€ / When to visit / Museum site |
| 24. National Gallery Museum | 50 Vas. Konstantinou Str. (metro Evangelismos) | Full: 10€, Reduced: 5€, Free: up to 25 yrs old EU citizens/ Opening Hours / Site |
| 25. National Historical Museum | Old Parliament Building, 13, Stadiou Str. 10561 (metro Panepistimio) | Full: 3€, Reduced: 1,5€ / Opening Hours / Site |
| 26. National Museum of Contemporary Art | Kallirrois Ave. & Amvr. Frantzi Str, (metro Syngrou Fix) | Full: 8€, Reduced: 4€ / Opening Hours / Site |
| 27. Numismatic Museum | 12, El. Venizelou (Panepistimiou) Ave. (metro Panepistimio) | Full: 6€, Reduced: 3€ / Opening Hours / Virtual Tour / Site |
| 28. Toy Museum | 14 Poseidonos & 1 Tritonos Str., 175 61 Palaio Faliro (tram stop Trokantero) | Full: 9€, Reduced: 7€ / Opening Hours / Site |
| 29. Vorre Museum | 1 Parodos Diadochou Konstantinou Str., Paiania | Full: 5 €, Reduced: 3€ / When to go and how / Museum site |
| 30. War Museum | Vasilissis Sofias Avenue & 2-4 Rizari Str. (metro Evangelismos) | Full: 6€, Reduced: 3€ / Opening Hours / Site |
The special ticket’s price is 30 €, it is valid for 5 days and for 11 sites! One can visit Acropolis of Athens, Ancient Agora of Athens, Ancient Agora of Athens Museum, Archaeological Museum of Kerameikos, Hadrian’s Library, Kerameikos, Lykeion Archaeological Site, North slope of the Acropolis, Olympieio, Roman Agora of Athens, South Slope of Acropolis
In order to purchase tickets online, visit the official e-ticketing service of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports at www.etickets.tap.gr
1. The Acropolis Museum
The Acropolis Museum is the city’s pride and joy.
A modern, visitor-friendly archaeological museum focused on the findings of the archaeological site of the Acropolis of Athens.
In this museum one can see all the findings from the sacred Acropolis and the surrounding area, coming from the Mycenaean period, the Roman era, and the Early Christian one.
It is located on the archeological site of Makrigianni. With its lean modern design, it operates as a frame opposite the Acropolis Sacred Rock. It keeps a beautiful low profile and both locals and tourists love it. A full e-tickets service is also available here.
2. Archaeological Museum of Kerameikos
This museum is characterized as the most exclusive and richest, mainly in burial exhibits.
They are considered the best of their kind in Greece.
Kerameikos is considered to be the biggest nekropolis in Greece. Archaeologists have not yet completed their excavations and are not certain about the area this ancient cemetery covered or the time the works will need to be completed.
3. The Museum in the Ancient Agora (Stoa Attalou Museum)
The Museum of the Ancient Agora is housed in the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos, originally erected during the 2nd cent. BCE as a gift of the king of Pergamon, Attalos II, to Athens.
The exhibition in the Athens Museum in the Ancient Agora holds archaeological finds coming from the systematic excavations of the American School of Classical Studies in the area.
The findings are dating from the Neolithic to the Post-byzantine and Ottoman periods.
4. Art Tactual Museum for the blind and the visually impaired
The Tactual Museum is unique in Greece and one of the 5 Museums of its kind in the world. It was created in 1984, in order to provide equal opportunities to blind and visually impaired visitors.
In this specialized venue, visitors can enjoy the richness of Greece’s culture, through the sense of touch.
5. Benaki Museum
There are the permanent exhibitions of Photographic Archives and Modern Greek Architecture Archives. For more exhibitions and events you may see this specific part of the museum’s site here.
The Benaki Museum’s Photographic Archives Department was established in 1973 to collect, preserve and document photographs of Early Christian, Byzantine, and post-Byzantine art and architecture.
The visitor will see images of Greece and its culture, as well as its history and contemporary society.
6. Benaki Museum of Greek Culture
The Benaki Museum of Greek Culture is housed in one of the most beautiful neoclassical buildings in Athens, near the National Garden and the Hellenic Parliament.
It was converted into a museum in order to house the collections of Antonis Benakis and was donated to the Greek nation by himself and his three sisters.
Following its most recent refurbishment (2000), the building presents a unique exhibition on Greek culture from prehistory to the 20th century.
The Benaki Museums are a unique collection. They are a valuable gift to Greece and are located in Athens and in other parts of the country.
7. Byzantine and Christian Museum
The Byzantine and Christian Museum has over 25,000 artifacts. It represents vividly the entire Byzantine and post-Byzantine art and culture.
One can enjoy religious artifacts of the Early Christian, Byzantine, Medieval, post-Byzantine, and later periods.
The Museum preserves, records, documents, researches, studies, publishes, and raises awareness of such artifacts.
8. Criminology Museum
The Criminology Museum can be found on the grounds of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
It is a unique museum of its kind in Greece.
It illustrates the history of crime by presenting some of the most notorious crimes that took place during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The museum has 1500 exhibited objects in its Forensic medicine collections and Toxicology collections. There are also Weapons, Firearms, and a Reconstructed Guillotine, the only one ever used in Greece.
9. Dromokaitio Mental Hospital Museum
It is the first hospital museum that was founded in Greece in 1995, after 108 years of operation of the hospital.
The museum’s exhibits include medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and even the remains of deceased patients. There is also photographic material that records the activity of the hospital.
Obviously, this is a museum for those with a special interest in the field.
10. Philatelic and Postal Museum
This is a special museum of modern art and technology. The most important artists of Greece, such as Tassos or Kefallinos, have produced postage stamps. Also, there are exhibits of old machinery and post office equipment.
The visitor will enjoy the postal history of Greece and the history of stamps.
11. Glyptotheke National Sculpture Museum
The permanent exhibition of the National Glyptotheke is a very impressive one both in size and grandeur. It lies in an extended open-air area in the area of Goudi, opposite to Papagou neighborhood, and in the Museum’s building.
On a beautiful day, one can enjoy a big variety of sculptures such as Folk sculpture, Ionian Islands sculpture, Neoclassical sculpture, from Neoclassicism to Neorealism, Funeral sculpture, from 19th to 20th century, Yannoulis Chalepas, Modernism and Tradition, Anthropocentrism, Abstraction, Pop Art, After Modernism and Foreign Artists.
12. Goulandris Museum of Contemporary Art
The Collection of the Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation is one of the most important private collections in Athens.
The museum’s objective is to make this collection accessible to all, as was the wish of its founders.
The visitor will enjoy modern and contemporary art by world-renowned artists such as Cézanne, van Gogh , Gauguin , Monet, Degas, Robin, Bonnard, Picasso, Braque, Léger, Kandinsky, Miró, Giacometti, Pollock, Bacon, Lichtenstein Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, Tsarouchis, Parthenis, Bouzianis, Vassiliou, Moralis , Tetsis, Takis, Chryssa, Stamos, and others.
13. Goulandris National Museum of Natural History
Founded in 1965, the Goulandris Natural History Museum is home to zoological, botanical, marine, rock, mineral, and fossil specimens.
The laboratories of the museum focus on gathering, recording and studying botanical, zoological, and geological specimens from Greece.
A very impressive visit for both the children and the adults.
14. Hellenic Children’s Museum
The Hellenic Children’s Museum (HCM) is a non-profit organization for public welfare. It operates in Athens since 1987.
It helps children develop all aspects of their personality in order to become citizens who respect their own individuality and obtain a social conscience.
15. Hellenic Cosmos Cultural Center
“Hellenic Cosmos”, the Cultural Centre of the Foundation of the Hellenic World, is an ultra-modern Cultural Centre and Museum that stands out for its innovative programs.
It is a cutting-edge technology venue, although you might find its website too basic. An actual visit will give the cultural center its true credit.
On Peiraeus Street, at the venue, one can enjoy Interactive Exhibitions, Virtual Reality Tours, Theatrical Performances, Documentaries, and Art Events.
16. Hellenic IT Museum
We have reached the time when IT can be displayed in a museum. Hellenic IT Museum, the only IT Museum in Southeast Europe, started its operations in 2008.
The museum is the first official Greek organization that exclusively exhibits the IT history timeline from 1970 to the mid-90s.
17. Hellenic Motors Museum
The Hellenic Motors Museum is an unexpected museum. It occupies 4.000 sqm. in a unique building in terms of architecture and design.
Its exhibitions are dedicated to the evolution of the car. More than 110 cars from the 19th and the 20th century are displayed in an overall beautiful manner. It is located in the heart of Athens, just a few minutes away from the National Archaeological Museum.
18. Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum
The Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum (ILJM) is the first museum devoted to the art of jewelry in Greece and one of the very few of its kind in the world.
The ILJM is a non-profit cultural organization that operates since December 1994.
The Museum acts as an international center for jewelry and decorative crafts. It focuses on silver and goldsmithing as well as contemporary studio jewelry.
19. Jewish Museum of Greece
The unique collection of the Jewish Museum of Greece includes more than 10,000 objects – the oldest of which are textiles from the 16th century.
Clothes and household items offer a vivid picture of everyday life in the Greek Jewish communities from the mid-18th until the 20th century.
20. Museum of Cycladic Art
The Museum of Cycladic Art is a living cultural institution in the center of Athens. It is one of the most loved museums by the Greeks. It promotes the ancient civilizations of the Aegean and Cyprus, with special emphasis on Cycladic art of the 3rd millennium BC.
21. Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments
Beautiful and valuable musical instruments are in the Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments. Through them, one travels in the country’s culture and history.
There are three floors of exhibits such as pottery drums, flutes, shawms, long-necked lutes, guitars, mandolins, and bells.
22. Museum of Islamic Art
The Benaki Museum collection of Islamic art includes artwork from India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, the Middle East, Arabia, Egypt, North Africa, Sicily, and Spain.
It is considered one of the most important museums of its type in the world.
23. National Archaeological Museum
The National Archaeological Museum of Greece is the most important museum in the country and one of the most important in the world, in the field of Ancient Art.
The visitor can see collections that represent all the civilizations that flourished in Greece, from prehistoric times to the end of the Roman period.
24. National Gallery Museum
The National Gallery Museum was founded in 1900. There are more than 20,000 works of painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, new media, and decorative arts, which span the history of Greek art from the post-Byzantine period to date.
25. National Historical Museum
The National Historical Museum (NHM) celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Greek Revolution.
The museum highlights the ideas, causes, persons, events, and results of the Greek War of Independence. A war that was successful and filled with conflicts and compositions of different interests and traditions.
26. National Museum of Contemporary Art
The National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST) began its operation in 2000. It is located at the former FIX brewery in the center of Athens.
EMST acquires, preserves, and exhibits works of contemporary Greek and international art.
In this beautiful modern museum, one can enjoy different art mediums such as painting, sculpture, video, installations, photography, industrial design, and more.
27. Numismatic Museum
The Numismatic Museum is one of the oldest state museums in Greece. It was established in 1834, the same year as the National Archaeological Museum.
One of the most beautiful museums in Athens, it has 500,000 coins, medals, lead balls, seals, weights, spears, and talents- dating from the 14th century BCE until today.
The richest collections are those of ancient coins. These are coins of the city-states, kings, and rulers of the ancient Greek and Hellenistic world, the Roman Republic, the Roman emperors, and the provinces of the Roman Empire.
28. Toy Museum
The Benaki Toy Museum opened to the public in 2017.
Its holdings are based on the collection of Maria Argyriadi which is among the most important in Europe.
The toy museum includes toys, books, clothing, and other items associated with childhood from Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
29. Vorre Museum
One of the best museums in Athens is on 18 acres in Peania! It is a unique folk and contemporary art museum. The visitor will see various buildings, gardens, courtyards, and over 6000 exhibits of folklore, and contemporary Greek history and art.
There are also two houses from the Turkish occupation era, a stable and a wine press. The museum is a donation of the Vorre family to the Greek state.
30. War Museum
The War Museum is located in one of the most central parts of Athens, at the intersection of Vasilissis Sofias and Rizari streets.
The original core of the museum exhibits comes from a famous exhibition on the War History of the Greeks, that was held in Zappeion in 1968. One can see thousands of rare weapons and weapons components from various historical periods.
This is the way some of the finest and most interesting museums in the city mostly describe themselves. There are options for all tastes, for all the family, for every day or time available. Have fun!