The Best Museums in Athens: A Guide for First-Timers and Culture Addicts

AthensMuseums

13 Jan

Athens has more museums than you could see in a month. You don’t need to see them all. You just need to know which ones deliver.

This is not a list of every museum with a TripAdvisor page. It’s the ones worth your afternoon. The world-famous collections. The specialist gems. The quiet rooms where you’ll stand alone in front of something that stops you mid-step. Some are obvious. Others are the kind of places locals mention when they realise you’re not here for the Acropolis selfie.

Start with our Athens Travel Guide 2025 before you lock anything in. It’ll help you pick the right neighbourhood, figure out what’s worth booking ahead, and skip the tourist-trap filler.

The best museums in Athens for ancient Greece

The Acropolis Museum

If the Acropolis is on your list (it is), start here. The Acropolis Museum opened in 2009 and it’s bright, modern, and curated with real intelligence. Glass floors reveal ancient ruins beneath your feet. The top floor gallery lines up with the Parthenon outside the window. The building itself feels like part of the experience.

What to look for: The sculpture galleries on the upper level give you context before or after walking up to the Acropolis. The underground excavation area lets you look down into an ancient Athenian neighbourhood through the floor.

Best for: First-time visitors who want the story behind what they’ve just seen on the hill.

National Archaeological Museum

If you’re doing one big archaeological museum day in Athens, make it this one. The National Archaeological Museum is enormous. It covers Greek civilisation from prehistory to late antiquity. The Mycenaean collection alone could take hours. Try to do it all in one hit and you’ll be cooked by lunchtime.

How to do it without burning out: Pick a theme. Bronze, sculpture, frescoes, Mycenaean gold. It’s all there. Or pick a shortlist of iconic objects (the Mask of Agamemnon, the bronze Poseidon, the Antikythera mechanism) and build your visit around them.

Best for: People who want the most impressive collection in the city. The “how is that even real” objects live here.

Museum of Cycladic Art

Yes, we’re biased. But the Museum of Cycladic Art is one of the most unforgettable museums in Athens. It holds the world’s most extensive collection of Cycladic art. Those minimalist, mysterious figurines that look like they were designed in 2025, not 3200 BC. Their clean lines and abstract forms influenced Picasso and Modigliani. Standing in front of them feels strangely modern.

What to look for: The Cycladic figurines, including early spade-shaped pieces and major finds connected to Keros. The way the collection connects the Cyclades to the broader Aegean story.

Best for: Anyone obsessed with the islands. Design lovers who like ancient art that feels contemporary.

The Byzantine and Christian Museum

A lot of people skip the Byzantine era and go straight from “ancient” to “modern.” Don’t. The Byzantine and Christian Museum is a deep, beautiful dive into religious art and artefacts across centuries. It’s housed in a dreamy villa with gardens that feel like a small exhale from the city outside.

Best for: Icon lovers, history nerds, and anyone who wants something calmer than the big-ticket museums.

Numismatic Museum

If you have even a passing interest in money, trade, or the random thrill of seeing ancient coins up close, the Numismatic Museum is for you. It’s housed in Iliou Melathron, the former home of Heinrich Schliemann, the archaeologist linked to the discovery of Troy. The building alone is worth the visit.

Best for: People who like history told through small, detailed objects. Anyone who wants to visit a gorgeous neoclassical mansion as much as a collection.

The Epigraphic Museum

This one is niche. The Epigraphic Museum is packed with inscriptions. Ancient messages carved into stone. Public rules, dedications to the gods, civic records. Less flashy than a golden death mask, but it shows you how ancient Athens actually ran.

Best for: People who love the details. Repeat visitors who’ve already done the headline attractions.

Museum of the Ancient Agora

Want to understand how ancient Athens actually worked day to day? The Museum of the Ancient Agora is the move. It’s housed in the Stoa of Attalos, a fully reconstructed ancient building, and the whole experience feels like stepping into the civic centre of the ancient city. This was where Athenians shopped, argued politics, and ran into Socrates.

Best for: Anyone fascinated by politics, philosophy, and daily life. Not just temples.

The Parthenon Marbles

Walk into the top floor of the Acropolis Museum and you’ll see one of the most powerful displays in any museum anywhere. The Parthenon Gallery wraps around the building’s perimeter, filled with original marble sculptures from the temple. Friezes showing the Panathenaic procession. Metopes depicting mythological battles. Fragments of the pediments where gods once stood.

Look closer. White plaster casts fill the spaces where original sculptures should be. Those missing pieces aren’t lost. They’re in London.

One floor down, five Caryatids stand in a climate-controlled gallery. These are the original marble maidens from the Erechtheion, the temple on the northern edge of the Acropolis. They once stood as columns supporting the south porch, carved in the likeness of women over two metres tall. There should be six. The sixth is in the British Museum, separated from her sisters since 1803.

What happened

Between 1801 and 1812, Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin and British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, removed around half of the surviving Parthenon sculptures. His agents also took a Caryatid from the Erechtheion, slabs from the Temple of Athena Nike, and other fragments from across the Acropolis. They sawed through marble, hacked off sections, and shipped them to Britain. In 1816, the British government purchased the collection from Elgin for £35,000. They’ve been in the British Museum ever since.

The British Museum’s position

The museum maintains that Elgin acted legally under Ottoman rule and that the sculptures benefit from being displayed alongside artefacts from other civilisations. The British Museum Act 1963 forbids the museum from permanently disposing of its holdings without an Act of Parliament.

Greece’s position

Greece has formally requested their return since 1983. The argument is straightforward: these sculptures were created specifically for the Parthenon, they were removed during foreign occupation, and they belong in Athens. Reunited with the pieces that never left. The Acropolis Museum was purpose-built with a gallery designed to display the complete collection together.

Where it stands now

Public opinion in Britain has shifted. A 2024 YouGov poll found 53 percent of Britons support returning the marbles to Greece, with only 24 percent opposed. A 2025 conference in London brought together archaeologists, lawyers, and campaigners who argued the momentum is building. Italy’s culture minister publicly pledged support for Greece’s position. Other institutions (the Vatican, Heidelberg University, the National Museum of Denmark) have already returned Parthenon fragments to Athens.

The British Museum is currently planning a £1.35 billion renovation. The Duveen Gallery, where the marbles are displayed, will close during the works. Some see this as the moment.

What you’ll see at the Acropolis Museum

The Parthenon Gallery displays the original sculptures that remained in Athens alongside plaster casts of every piece held in London. It’s a deliberate choice. Showing you exactly what’s missing and exactly where it belongs. Ancient marble next to white plaster. The story is incomplete.

Below, the five Caryatids stand together. An empty space marks where their sixth sister should be. In her place: a plaster replica. The originals were moved inside in 1979 to protect them from pollution. But they were only able to bring five home. The sixth had already been in London for nearly two centuries.

Our view

Pretty simple. Bring our fucking marbles back.

The best art museums in Athens

National Gallery

The National Gallery is the place to see Greece’s modern art story in one go. It reopened after a major renovation and the collection spans from the post-Byzantine era to the present. El Greco gets a room. So do the Greek Impressionists. The sculpture garden is a proper outdoor wander if you need fresh air between galleries.

Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation

If you want a modern, glossy museum with a serious roll call of international masters, the Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation is it. It opened in 2019 in Pangrati and it’s packed with exhibition space, a library, and a café. The collection includes Picasso, Cézanne, Van Gogh, and a strong showing of Greek modernists.

Best for: People who want big-name art without the giant museum fatigue.

National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST)

Athens has a strong contemporary art scene, and EMST is the flagship. It’s in the old Fix brewery building in Koukaki. Even if contemporary art isn’t your thing, the building and the views might convert you. The collection focuses on Greek and international contemporary work, often political and conceptual.

Best for: Contemporary Greek art. Sunset views from the top floor balcony.

Yannis Tsarouchis Foundation Museum

If you like seeing an artist’s world up close, visit the Yannis Tsarouchis Foundation Museum. It’s a townhouse where Tsarouchis lived and worked. His paintings (Greek sailors, dancers, scenes of everyday life) hang in rooms where he once ate breakfast.

Smaller Athens museums worth your time

These are the museums that make you feel like you’ve earned your Athens stripes. Brilliant if you’ve done the big ones before.

Benaki Museum of Greek Culture

A one-stop panorama of Greek history and culture from the prehistoric era to the 20th century. Ancient to Byzantine to Ottoman occupation to independence. All under one roof. The gift shop is excellent.

National Historical Museum

Modern Greek history told through artefacts and artwork. The building used to be the Old Parliament, which already sets the tone. Strong on the War of Independence and the shaping of the modern Greek state. Lots of swords, flags, and portraits of moustachioed revolutionaries.

War Museum

Bold and intense, with artefacts inside and outside the building. Uniforms, weapons, aircraft, and the Greek experience across conflicts from ancient times to the 20th century.

Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology

Fun in the best way. Replicas and reconstructions of ancient inventions. Timekeeping devices, theatre mechanisms, things that feel wildly ahead of their time. Great for kids. Great for anyone who likes to see how things work.

Ilias Lalaounis Jewellery Museum

Thousands of pieces by the legendary Greek jeweller, plus the private workshop where designs were created. Located near the Acropolis. Easy to combine with a morning on the hill.

Maria Callas Museum

Opened in 2023, and it’s interactive in a way that feels fresh, not gimmicky. Soundproof studios where you can experience iconic arias. Even if opera isn’t your thing, the drama of her life story is compelling.

Museum of Folk Art and Tradition

Tucked into Plaka, housed in a beautiful mansion. Centres on the life and work of folklorist Angeliki Chatzimichali. Embroidered costumes, traditional crafts, domestic objects from another era. The museum you visit when you want Athens to feel personal.

Benaki Toy Museum

Not in central Athens (it’s in Palaio Faliro), but worth the trip if you’re travelling with kids or you’re into nostalgia. A massive collection of vintage toys, games, books, and children’s clothing.

Athens museums for families

Athens is surprisingly good for museum days with kids, as long as you keep expectations realistic. Short visits. Snack breaks. One “fun” museum for every “serious” museum.

Great picks:

Acropolis Museum for the glass floors and big visual impact

Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology for hands-on curiosity

Benaki Toy Museum for full nostalgia mode

National Archaeological Museum if your kids love statues more than paintings (the Mycenaean gold is thrilling)

How to plan your museum days

Don’t stack too many heavy hitters

Athens museums can be intense. Do the National Archaeological Museum and the Acropolis Museum back to back with no breaks and you’ll start looking at ancient marble like it’s IKEA furniture. One big museum per day. One smaller museum plus a neighbourhood wander. That’s the rhythm.

Need help picking where to base yourself? Read Athens Neighbourhoods: Where to Stay and Where to Skip first.

Choose museums by location

The easiest way to reduce transport time:

Acropolis area and Koukaki: Acropolis Museum, Ilias Lalaounis Jewellery Museum, EMST

Syntagma and central: Numismatic Museum, Jewish Museum of Greece, National Historical Museum

Kolonaki and nearby: Museum of Cycladic Art, Benaki Museum of Greek Culture, Byzantine and Christian Museum

Always check hours and tickets on the official site

Hours change with seasons, holidays, strikes, and special events. It’s Greece. Plan for a little unpredictability.

If you’re building a full Athens plan around your museum days, keep these bookmarked:

Best Restaurants in Athens for 2025

10 Best Rooftop Bars in Athens

The Best Outdoor Cinemas in Athens

The Best Beaches in Athens

Go early

If you hate crowds, mornings are your best friend. Especially in peak summer. The Acropolis Museum at 9am versus 2pm is a completely different experience.

Budget for museum cafés

Some of the best breaks in Athens happen in museum cafés. A coffee and a sit-down between galleries can reset your brain. The Acropolis Museum restaurant has Parthenon views. The Benaki café is a local favourite.

Athens museums itineraries

One day of museums in Athens

One day, essentials only:

Morning: Acropolis Museum

Lunch: Koukaki

Afternoon: Museum of the Ancient Agora

Short stay? Start with our Athens Travel Guide 2025.

Two days for history lovers

Day one: National Archaeological Museum (give it the morning, at least)

Day two: Acropolis Museum, plus the Epigraphic Museum if you want something different

Two days for art lovers

Day one: National Gallery

Day two: Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation in the morning, EMST in the afternoon

FAQs

What are the best museums in Athens?

First trip: Acropolis Museum and National Archaeological Museum. Add the Museum of Cycladic Art if you want an Aegean focus.

How many days do you need for museums in Athens?

Two days is the sweet spot. One covers the essentials. Two lets you do one big museum per day and still enjoy Athens outside museum walls.

What’s the best museum in Athens for ancient history?

National Archaeological Museum is the heavyweight. For Acropolis-specific treasures, go to the Acropolis Museum.

What’s the best Athens museum if I only have a couple of hours?

Acropolis Museum or Museum of Cycladic Art. Both are strong, manageable visits.

Are Athens museums open on Mondays?

Some are, some aren’t. Hours shift seasonally. Check the official website before you lock in your plan.

What happened to the Parthenon Marbles?

Around half of the surviving Parthenon sculptures were removed by Lord Elgin in the early 1800s and sold to the British Museum, where they remain. Greece has formally requested their return since 1983. The Acropolis Museum displays the originals that stayed in Athens alongside plaster casts of everything held in London.

Will the Parthenon Marbles be returned to Greece?

Negotiations are ongoing. Public opinion in Britain has shifted in favour of return, and several institutions have already repatriated Parthenon fragments to Athens. The British Museum’s upcoming renovation has sparked speculation that momentum is building, but no agreement has been reached.

What’s the best museum in Athens for modern art?

National Gallery for modern Greek art. EMST for contemporary work.

Which Athens museums are good for kids?

Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology for hands-on learning. Benaki Toy Museum if you’re happy to travel a bit.

Is the Maria Callas Museum worth it?

Yes, especially if you like music, theatre, or interactive exhibitions. It’s designed to be experienced, not just looked at.

What’s the most underrated museum in Athens?

Numismatic Museum or the Epigraphic Museum. Not on every first-timer list, but genuinely fascinating.

How do I choose the right museums in Athens for my interests?

Simple filter:

Ancient history → National Archaeological Museum and Acropolis Museum

Islands and Aegean culture → Museum of Cycladic Art

Modern Greece → National Historical Museum

Jewellery and design → Ilias Lalaounis Jewellery Museum

Something different → Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology