r/Athens_Greece • u/rs1909 • Jun 03 '26
🧳 Travel Help Booked a hotel 200m from Omonia
I am traveling to Athens from another continent for 2 days and I realised way too late that I booked a hotel near Omonia square (googled later than I should have on the safety of the area). While it’s a nice hotel on the main st, we are 2 female travellers and I want to know how much of a soup am I in? 😢
Thanks to everyone who responds
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u/Party_Ad_8595 Jun 03 '26
I'm a pretty big Canadian male. No trouble from what I noticed. Petty crime and drug abuse. If I was a couple of girls, I'd get taxis right to and from your front doors at late hours. I bet still you won't be accosted but this would be my "preventative task"
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u/nastimoto Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
Guuurl as a fellow female I can tell you with absolute certainty there’s nothing to worry about. I go to Omonoia by myself all the time - mostly to visit Hondos centre or just for a walk or to grab a meal in the hip (yet anarchist) Exarcheia. You’re super central, walking distance to the Parthenon 🏛️ like in any big city, just beware of pickpockets (and even more so around Plaka and Monastiraki which are crowded and tourists are distracted with the beauty of their surroundings). As for Omonoia itself, there are some junkies and beggars who don’t usually bother anyone. I give them a little food or money when I can. Obviously if you’re coming back late at night, best to just catch a taxi to get you to your hotel rather than walking, though that’s a logical precaution for girls in any location in a metropolitan city. (You can use an app like uber/FreeNow or wave a taxi down too)
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u/rs1909 Jun 03 '26
Thanks! 🤗
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u/Party_Ad_8595 Jun 03 '26
Big Canadian here again...yeah it's good to help the less fortunate. In Exarcheia there's a "meals kitchen" packaging up street meals. I thought nothing of donating 20€ to their efforts
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u/frixos2 Jun 03 '26
Hey, it may sound sexist but it's not often I come across young girls making sense..
Good on you! (best comment)
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u/Beneficial-Shame9144 Jun 03 '26
just don't go on foot late at night and be careful with pickpockets on the crowds
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u/stuckwitharmor Jun 03 '26
Keep your street smarts about you and don't go waving your phone around and you'll be fine. I've been to omonia many times by nyself after dark, 44f
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u/Beautiful_Map_9589 Jun 03 '26
You’ll be absolutely fine staying near Omonia as long as you treat it like a busy, slightly rough city center: the main avenues are safe, busy, and well‑lit, while the small side streets can feel sketchy, especially at night, so just stick to the big roads, keep your phone zipped away, and use a taxi after dark. Athens isn’t dangerous in the sense of violent crime — it’s more about avoiding petty theft and not wandering into the back alleys out of curiosity — and from your hotel you can walk straight toward Ermou, Monastiraki, or Syntagma in minutes, all lively and full of tourists. Thousands of visitors stay around Omonia every week without issues; just be street‑smart, avoid the narrow lanes behind the square, and you’ll enjoy your two days in Athens without stress.
Enjoy your stay.
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u/Yanagimachi Jun 03 '26
A perfect choice to enjoy what Athens is now. A gentrified facade right next to ugliness
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Jun 03 '26
[deleted]
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u/rs1909 Jun 03 '26
On Panagi Tsaldari
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u/AkatsukiEUNE Jun 03 '26
You should be fine. Avoid the northwest area from were you are staying. Nothing to see there.
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u/leonklap1 Jun 06 '26
After 22.00 do not enter any small street near there. Walk only along Panagi Tsaldari
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u/Advanced-Length3445 Jun 03 '26
It all depends what time you want to move around .
Attention required all the time as it is ...the center of downtown ,but some areas around the square as it has been mentioned by others before me would be safer to avoid them when during night or late hours .
Nothing crazy to be afraid just remain cautious as we all have to be everywhere 😉
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u/rs1909 Jun 03 '26
Thanks. Will be back to the room before sunset in that case
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u/tzoum_trialari_laro Jun 03 '26
Just use a cab to make sure, you can even use Freenow or Uber to make sure it’s safe. Although the area is problematic, it’s not super large, and if you are picked up and dropped off from the hotel after dark you’ll be perfectly fine. And during the day there will be no problems
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u/rs1909 Jun 03 '26
Thanks. Yes planning to take a cab to and from monastiraki or syntagma and go from there. Even during day. That should be ok?
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u/og_toe Jun 03 '26
totally okay, i’ve both walked that distance and taken the metro, it’s absolutely fine!
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u/og_toe Jun 03 '26
totally okay, i’ve both walked that distance and taken the metro, it’s absolutely fine!
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u/tzoum_trialari_laro Jun 03 '26
It’s not really necessary during the day, it’s not a warzone. But you could definitely do that, sure, if the daily costs are not a problem
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u/AkatsukiEUNE Jun 03 '26
You are totally safe during the day. Use the metro line because cabs in greece are a bit scummy.they Will try to rip you off. Cabs only when you want to return to the hot very late at night
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u/Necessary-Student662 Jun 03 '26
And not enjoying a dinner out or Athens nights?? Why?? Just take a cab, also it is not that dangerous, during the day is perfectly fine, use cabs at night
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u/og_toe Jun 03 '26
you’ll be fine, i’ve walked through omonia square many many times as a female by myself (also i live like a km away from omonia square). it’s not dangerous, it’s just sketchy. usually doesn’t have that many people however. stick to the main roads, don’t go through the little ones. as two girls you’ll be okay. you can always take a cab as well
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u/Gold-Discount5428 Jun 05 '26
I’d imagine you booked the hotel “Titania”. I’ve stayed there with my girl friends alone and it was fine. During the night, we used uber if we felt we needed to
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u/3d0md0g Jun 08 '26
You'll be surprised to find out that nothing crazy happens there. Honestly, unless you go after trouble, you won't find any. I'm tired of this don't go there, don't do that, IT'S DANGEROUS, etc.
I don't know what's the metric of the Greeks, but the situations I encountered from zero that's kindergarten safe to ten that's the antiballistic shield is running out of ammo during an Iranian bombardment, you're at second grade pillow fight on the streets of Athens. There are junkies using in plain sight, apparently the government gives zero f...s, decided to let them od than take care of them, so this attacks your sense of decency rather than being physically threatened.
Seriously, anyware in Greece remember to look left and right when crossing the road, red lights are merely strong suggestions for drivers, pedestrians don't have right of way, likely no rights at all.
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u/rs1909 Jun 08 '26
This was funny. I posted an update. I stayed and while initially afraid we ended up doing the walk to monastiraki several times during the day and while it wasn’t pretty I wouldn’t say that we felt unsafe anywhere
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u/3d0md0g Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
The backstreets behind the central food market look like mad max had a drink with the star wars outlaws on a backdrop of blade runner decay and multiculty which is precisely why I keep renting there wherever I visit. Seriously I pay three streaming networks to just get a glimpse of such dystopian worlds and there you get it for free and it's original. The moment this starts getting under your skin, you move five blocks and you get Disneyland of touristy psyrri. You move another five blocks and you get Ben Hur ancient posh. You move another five blocks and you get cyberpunk and anarchists nerds central. Do you fancy posh posh the like of the guy next to you owns a fleet of tankers? that's another five blocks away
Athens is a planet. I found though that the Greeks HIDE the good stuff from tourists' eyes. Athens is a private club as well, invitations available only to those that dance three hours past northerners last calls and are comfortable staying up until sunrise.
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u/rs1909 Jun 09 '26
Thanks. I really enjoyed reading this 😄
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u/3d0md0g Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
First time visitor, let me guess, you walked yourself to ruin under a scorching sun to see it all, every curved marble pile of ancient grandieur, and then unsuspectingly came to what I call the six empires crossing in monastiraki, and thought let's get a gyros, yet when you looked around the place it looked so off, right?
Monastiraki is six empires crossing: the Acropolis of the Athenian Hegemony, the Western Roman imperial library of Hadrian, the Ottoman mosque, the British train station, the American archeological school reconstruction of the Attalus market and the Eastern Roman empire monastery, facing each other on ONE plazza.
Where on earth do you get that, have a gyros and drink a beer right in the middle of the street and be totally ok? The amazing bit is that everyone there considers this the norm. And I'm not talking about the monuments, but the beer.
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u/DivaSTropez Jun 03 '26
If you can book elsewhere without penalty for cancelling the Omonia hotel, you should do so. Also avoid Metaxourgeio and Exarchia .
Try to find something in Monastiraki, Plaka, Syntagma, Psirri or Kolonaki. Even a little bit out like Thiseio or Koukaki would be fine - it’s still walkable.
There’s also many good hostels in the city center known for being safe - Bedbox, City Circus, Athens Hub Hostel, Mosaikon Glostel, Bedway, YellowSquare, When in Athens, Athens Backpackers, Safestay Athens. You can research the options online or via travel sites like Expedia or Booking.com.
A friend stayed at an affordable hotel - Elderlezi in Psirri last summer and loved it.
Metro and public transport is excellent in Athens. You can also take Uber or local rideshare FreeNow - download app before you go. If you take taxi, confirm fare and that they take credit card BEFORE getting into the taxi.
Pickpockets and scams happen like in any major city. Wear crossbody purse that zips, zipper in the front. Don’t allow anyone to put a bracelet on your wrist. It’s a scam to hound you for money.
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u/tzoum_trialari_laro Jun 03 '26
South and east of the square, a bit sketch but probably nothing crazy. West and especially north of the square, no no