Hotel Grande Bretagne

The honest review

The Hotel Grande Bretagne occupies the building on Syntagma Square that has faced Athens' political and cultural life since 1874 — Winston Churchill stayed here during World War II, and the rooftop view of the Acropolis has been the same since the restaurant opened. For families visiting Greece specifically to bring children to the Parthenon, the strategic value of this location is clear: the Acropolis Museum (one of the best archaeological museums in the world, built to display the Parthenon frieze in context) is a 10-minute walk; the Plaka neighborhood (labyrinthine streets of neoclassical houses, the oldest continuously inhabited neighbourhood in Athens) is 5 minutes; the Agora and Temple of Hephaestus (the best-preserved ancient Greek temple in the world) is 15 minutes.

The rooftop restaurant and bar is the specific family dinner experience: the Parthenon is lit dramatically after sunset, the city spreads across the Attic plain in every other direction, and the dinner menu is contemporary Greek rather than tourist-generic. Eating dinner watching the 2,500-year-old temple lit against the night sky is an experience that stays in family memory for decades.

Athens is genuinely less expensive than Rome, Paris, or London for equivalent hotel quality — a meaningful consideration for families planning a multi-stop Europe trip. Greece in general rewards the family that takes it seriously: Delphi (2.5 hours), Mycenae (90 minutes), Cape Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon (45 minutes) — the day trip circuit from Athens covers more concentrated ancient history than any equivalent in Europe.