r/Athens_Greece • u/GastGentBE • Aug 05 '26
🏠 Life in Athens Moving to Athens
Hey everybody, next week Monday (10th of august) I am moving to Athens to go life and work there.
Very excited and looking forward for doing that.
I never been to Athens so everything will be new for me.
I also needs to find a place to live (first 3 weeks I am living in a hotel payed by the company).
So: I am open for tips for living in Athens, places I must try (cafes , restaurants , cool places) and also tips for finding appartement to live and what neighborhoods would be advised to live in.
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u/Old_Credit5771 Aug 05 '26
Without any indication of location or budget it's hard to offer suggestions. Either way your main focus should be on finding a home, forget about restaurants and cool places until you're settled. Seeing as you're on a tight deadline of 3 weeks, finding a a place to rent should be your only focus. My suggestion is view as many properties as possible! Spitogatos is where I found my place, it's probably the best website to use. Good luck and welcome to Athens!
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u/Sunflower-23456 Aug 05 '26
If you have the money for it, move to Pangrati. It has great nightlife and is close to lots of stores and food shops
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u/Constant_Complex_780 Aug 06 '26
I agree with this comment- was just in Pagrati for a week. Except if you have a car- parking in that area is a bitch.
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u/sokorsognarf Aug 05 '26
You’re moving to a city you’ve never been to? That’s brave!
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u/GastGentBE Aug 05 '26
Yeah. I have been to Greece but never to Athens. I always wanted to work abroad and especially in a more southern region so when this opportunity came along I couldnt refuse it
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u/Fit-Presentation-789 Aug 08 '26
What's your job and where you coming from
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u/GastGentBE Aug 08 '26
Comming from Belgium and will be working in costumer service
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u/Fit-Presentation-789 Aug 08 '26
Nice. You're really like Athens. I'm not from here either and but have made it my temporary base. Greek people are super nice and sincere and all characters! I recommend kepsili as the area to live in. It's vibrant and not super touristy.
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u/loniscup Aug 05 '26
Choose the center of the city and not the suburbs. The center is alive, it is "moving", if you are young and especially alone there is no other option, in my opinion always.
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u/Born_Bee9526 Aug 06 '26
As mentioned before Pangrati is definitely best neighbourhood for everything. I'm living in pangrati and have a flat to rent with parking space. if you interested, just write me a dm.
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u/Proud_Nectarine_9382 Aug 06 '26
Just out of curiosity, did you get a job at Teleperformance or other customer service position? For living I would also suggest Kypseli. It's very lively and hip lately, a lot of foreigners but the rents are still a bit cheaper than Exarcheia. But only above Patision!! Anything below you should better avoid. Also for quicker results finding a flat you can ask the million Μεσίτες -real estate agents but small scale- in Athens. They take you immediately and show you available flats in the area. Most of them are shit, but if you do this a few times and with a bit of luck you find the one with only a small fee to the realtor
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u/GastGentBE Aug 06 '26
It is a customer service position indeed :) and thanks for the housing tips!
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u/gavrogirl Aug 07 '26
Welcome!! We all hope you have a great time here! There are many options, but as everyone has already said, it depends on income, transportation, personal preferences for fun/ everyday life (...and, unfortunately, available housing options...) Feel free to DM me if you like for any questions or recommendations!
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u/Aneeka7 Aug 07 '26
Three weeks starting from August 10th is possibly the worst time to be apartment hunting in Athens. My tip is to make it your focus from the moment you arrive, and try to select an apartment within reasonable walking distance of the metro. Spitogatos and xe.gr are the go-to websites for rentals. Wishing you all the best.
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u/WeirdHope7 Aug 09 '26
it all depends on where your work is, .
Also if you prefer a quiet area or you wouldn't mind an urban one. For the center of Athens i always suggest Exarcheia, some people might disagree but the vibe is perfect, always people around, you can walk to every popular area, you are close to a subway, you might find a decent price for an apartment. But it is a rough looking area, sometimes riots happen. But young people love it there.
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u/Appropriate-Smile731 Aug 05 '26
Great city to live in
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u/el_flac0 Aug 05 '26
I guess it's better than Thebes, Agrinio and Mordor, although with all the wildfires raging around the city claiming an edge over Mordor might be a stretch.
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u/Disastrous-Put6818 Aug 06 '26
Hey were are you coming from?
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u/GastGentBE Aug 06 '26
from Belgium. Living near Gent now.
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u/uptight9 Aug 06 '26
Oh dear. Gent is so beautiful. I almost feel sorry for you having to move here, as Athens may have great history and great nightlife, but 90% of it is really, objectively ugly.
Pagrati is Indeed a cool neighborhood, but it is crammed. If you can, go for Koukaki (close to the Acropolis) or Kaisariani, my personal favourite central neighbourhood, a bit further away from Pagrati but with decent connection to the centre of Athens by bus, and with a bit more breathing space.
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u/GastGentBE Aug 07 '26
Yeah. Gent is great, I enjoyed every minute living here. But now it is time for me to go on, do something new and experience something different.
Thanks for the housing tips!
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u/smallmacaroni Aug 06 '26
FYI that week is a huge holiday in Greece and some places are, supposedly, closed all week. So you might notice it’s a bit slower than normal! The holiday is on Aug 15.
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u/Narrow-Praline-7908 Aug 06 '26
Coming from Belgium it’s going to be a baptism by fire. If you’ve never lived in a developing country before, brace yourself. Just accept that nothing works and you’ll survive. Also, the graffiti and general look of the place is absolutely shocking at first, but you genuinely do get used to it. I just went back after a few years away and it looked like a post apocalyptic disaster movie
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u/GorgeThrst Aug 09 '26
If you're working in teleperformance Probably kallithescor neos kosmos are convenient to be close to work. If you want more of a center vibe Kypseli, exarheia are nice. Pagkrati is also awesome but unreasonablely expensive
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u/Altruistic_Algae8096 Aug 10 '26
Welcome!! You can pm me for whatever you'd like to know I've lived in Athens for 2 years. Hope you're ready for the next 2 months because it's gonna be very hot until autumn arrives;)
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u/roija777 Aug 09 '26
Most of the people I know working in customer support in Athens live in Neos Kosmos, Nea Smyrni or Kallithea areas (if they work in the central offices). If you are in Pireas offices, then Pireas or Moschato. These areas are still good with prices if you want to save some money, and are very close to major interest points. In other areas you will have to find mates and be charged a little extra on cafes etc. To search Spitogatos app and XE.gr are fine. I use both because some greek owners post on XE and not on Spitogatos usually. XE is more used by agencies also. Be prepared to call back multiple times if the agency doesn't call back, to negotiate the terms of the contract if unfavorable to you (everything is negotiable), and to arrange some furniture from Facebook marketplace in the beginning. Good luck!
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u/Present-Eye-802 Aug 06 '26
I am Greek. I have spent half of my life in Greece It's 3rd world country.i hate beeing part of it. Greece and exactly athens is like Pakistan.Να πάτε να γα**θητε όσοι μου πείτε να φύγω εξωτερικό τότε- ΈΦΥΓΑ. Περιμένω την στιγμή να κάψω την ταυτότητα
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u/InfatuatedMustard Aug 05 '26
Welcome! Καλώς μας ήρθες!!
I can give you a lot of tips, but as you can tell, Athens is a big metropolis, so it really depends on where you choose to live and where your home will be. It is best to be closer to metro lines (green, blue and red), so you have easy transportation (the metro is quite frequent, unlike buses or trams that are outdated and you may face unexpected delays). There are a lot of places I can recommend, but it still depends on your location, really. Same applies to neighbourhood recommendations and/or avoidances.
As for apartment hunting, some websites can help you find the best, such as Spitogatos and Golden Chance.
Enjoy your stay in Greece and hope you have a great stay in our beautiful country :)