Don’t assume that Athens is just a transport hub. It may be a teeming metropolis of 4 million souls (and its fair share of soulless urban jungle), but the 2004 Olympics have granted it a rebirth which was long overdue: not just in terms of infrastructure (though the new ring road, metro lines, tram link, museum- and hotel refurbishments are a godsend), but also in terms of culture and high life. Syntagma and Plaka, now partly pedestrianised, brim with shoppers, flaneurs and new-found confidence. Kolonaki is a boutique-lined, poodle-walking Nice-in-Greece. Psiri is a gritty neighbourhood of meze bars and music clubs. Even the cuisine is inching towards the haute. Sure, spend a day in the Acropolis and Archaeological Museum (you can’t not), but consider an extra day or two for the lesser sites (Kerameikos, Pnyx hill), the smaller museums (Benaki, Cycladic Art) and the out-of-centre monasteries of Kaisariani and Dafni. And keep plenty of time spare for strolling the streets of historic Plaka, with their outdoor tavernas, crumbling houses and churches, and no end of jewellery / clothing / carpet / souvenir shops.
If you want to combine Athens with a taste of island life, the Saronic islands – Hydra, Spetses, Aegina – are an hour or two by hydrofoil, yet retain the painterly beauty and the slow pace of the remotest archipelago (Hydra and Spetses are largely traffic-free). Four days here and three in Athens would make a wonderful week’s break from northern Europe, especially in spring or autumn.

Apart from the Acropolis and the revamped National Archeological Museum, which hopefully need no introduction, there are some lesser-known antiquities and collections which are worth a visit:
The ancient agora (market) on its slopes, which contains the small but perfectly formed temple of Hephaistos, one of the best-preserved in Greece.
Kerameikos cemetery - the principal cemetery of ancient Athens is still being excavated, and you can wander along its sacred ways and interpret tombstones.
Filopappos Hill faces the Acropolis and has marvellous views of it and of the city, as well as a grandiose monument to the Roman senator after whom it's named.
The Tower of the Winds is the most intriguing of the remnants of the Roman forum, near Monastiraki metro station, in the heart of Plaka.
Benaki Museum near Kolonaki Square is an eclectic but fascinating private collection ranging from Ottoman ceramics to Mycenean jewellery, Egyptian palace art to 19th-century Greek folklore (including a room on the War of Independence from the Turks).
Museum of Cycladic Art also in the Kolonaki area has excellently displayed and labelled finds from the 2nd millennium BC, some of whose forms influenced Moore and Picasso.
Lykavitos Hill is a fun excursion, especially for kids, who will love the funicular running up inside the bowels of the hill to the chapel and cafι on the summit. If you want to tire them out, you can walk down afterwards.

Hotel Fresh - Athens
Amidst the sizzling hustle and bustle of downtown Athens, the Fresh Hotel is nothing short of a spacious and calm sanctuary, allowing its guests to attain an instantaneous state of inner well-being in an environment of clear stylish lines and vivid yet balanced colors. At the onset of the summer season 2004, the sleek, 133-room Fresh Hotel came into being, adding a hip – and yes, fresh – location with subtle, state-of-the-art contemporary lifestyle design to the diversity of the city's hotel and nightlife scene