It’s no secret that all of us at TMS are huge fans of Greece, so of course, a trip to the capital city of Athens is a must at least once in your life! It’s made even better when you can visit Athens on points and miles. That being said, you don’t need too much time in Athens. We recommend just a couple of nights, and then from there, heading off to visit the incredible Greek islands like Santorini, Crete, Mykonos, Paros, and more!

 

Getting to Athens on Points & Miles

Emirates offers a fifth freedom flight between EWR and ATH. Economy will cost you 38,750 miles and business is going to cost you 87,000 miles one-way. Keep in mind, if you book roundtrip saver award flights, you’ll spend less than booking two one-way flights. All the major banks transfer to Emirates making it super easy to rack up a lot of Emirates Skyward Miles. 

Turkish Airlines is another option. All three of us have flown Turkish Airlines to Athens, and it is one of our favorites! Economy tickets are 50,000 miles + $113 each way. For business class, you’ll be looking at spending 85,000 miles + $380 (which is on the higher side) but it’s such a great airline with great food, service, and great planes. You could also enjoy a free stopover in Istanbul! Both Capital One Venture miles and Citi ThankYou® points transfer to Turkish Airlines. Keep in mind, you could also fly to Istanbul for 60,000 miles in business class and less taxes and then look into taking a cheap cash flight on to Athens. 

 

 

Another option would be to use United Miles to fly to Athens. United offers direct flights from EWR, ORD, and IAD. For economy, you’re looking at spending around 40,000 miles and business class will cost you around 88,000 miles (assuming you can find saver awards). You can open up United Airlines credit cards to book these flights or transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards® points to United. 

There are plenty of other options available. American and Delta Airlines also each fly to Athens. Plus, there are other partner airlines you can book through. You can use an award flight search engine to help you find flights.

 

Athens Hotels on Points

Both Jess and I have visited Athens on points & miles and we each stayed at the Grand Hyatt Athens. This is a category 4 Hyatt property which means it will run between 12,000-18,000 points per night. You can also use your Hyatt free night certificate here, which is what I did. 

The hotel’s location isn’t the best. It’s about a 25-minute walk to most of the tourist sites, and it’s not very pedestrian-friendly. We recommend using Uber or having the hotel arrange a taxi. Uber rides are affordable and do not take too long. 

What I loved about this hotel were the breakfast and the Acropolis views, including a rooftop infinity pool with those amazing views!

 

 

This is where I would stay again if I were coming back to Athens, but if you are looking to stay in a more central area where you can walk everywhere, you might want to look into an Airbnb. We stayed in this one in 2018. The location was great, right near Monastiraki Square. It was also very affordable.

 

Activities in Athens

Of course, the number one thing you must do when visiting Athens is visit the Acropolis. We recommend purchasing your tickets ahead of time and picking the last time slot of the day. It will be cooler and less crowded then. We purchased our tickets from the official website. I downloaded a free audio guide from Rick Steve’s to listen to while we were there.

 

 

Another activity we enjoyed was an electric bike tour that we booked through Athens By Bike. The e-bikes were very easy to use, and you don’t need any prior experience or to be a great biker to do this. It was a fun way to see the city, and our guide was super cute and friendly. I’d highly recommend some sort of tour like this or a walking tour where you can get the lay of the land and see many of the main sites in a short time.

 

 

When Jess was last in Athens, she booked an Athens food tour via Airbnb Experiences. She raved about this tour with Julia. 

Another thing to do while in Athens is wander the Plaka neighborhood. Here you’ll find shops and restaurants. It really is super cute!

You’ll also want to visit the Panathenaic Stadium (you’ll visit this if you book a guided tour), home to the first modern Olympic games! 

 

 

Bottom Line

Athens is the perfect stop as you continue to explore more of Greece, especially the Greek islands! The city is rich in history, so if that’s your sort of thing, you are lucky! In our opinion, you only need a couple of nights, maybe one full day in Athens, to see the major sites and get a feel for the area. Will you be visiting Athens on points & miles?

 

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