Athens, Off-Season

As a content editor for the travel app Stay.com, I get to dream about travel all day, every day. From my desk, I stumble upon what we call “hidden gems”—that locally-owned bar on the corner, the secluded beach with no sign. The places that you won’t always find in a glossy guidebook, but the ones that give a truer taste of the local culture.

For me, a big part of discovering the real character of a city is not having to fight the crowds for that experience. And this is where off-season travel can become your best friend—a time when the lines are shorter, the “touristy spots” aren’t so touristy, and the locals can finally catch their breath long enough to tell you about their beloved city. When I traveled to Athens at the end of October, I got just that.

The skies were blue when we arrived late-afternoon, but clouds soon circled and threatened overhead. We knew rain was coming the next day, so we headed straight to the Acropolis, the crown jewel of Athens. The hilly area around it closes to visitors at 8:00pm, so we paid for our tickets (no line!) and hurried to the top, where just a few people lingered for the sunset. The air was still warm and the darkening skies swirled with dusty shades of pink and blue, washing the whole city in a secretive glow. I tried to imagine this place on a hot summer day, and that version seemed boring, expected. This moody autumn sky was the perfect welcoming to the birthplace of Greek drama, and I couldn’t imagine it being any more beautiful than this.

We lingered until darkness fell, and then hiked down to a little restaurant at the bottom of the hill. We were starving, and even though the area obviously catered to tourists during the high season, we immediately got a table at a top-recommended taverna. A family-style dinner of Greek mezes and jugs of local wine on a cozy terrace completed the perfect first night in this magical city.

On our second day, it rained—a lot—meaning that it was perfect weather for some of the finest museums in the world. We headed first for the New Acropolis Museum, a bright and beautiful collection, and after a lunch of meatballs and olives, spent the afternoon at the sprawling National Archaeological Museum. Where I was expecting hoards of tourists, I didn’t find them. To be somewhere as famous as these museums and not have to wait in line, craning my neck to see one tiny work of art (I’m looking at you, Mona Lisa) was a rare pleasure. We wandered among the ancient relics for hours, taking our time with the meticulous carvings, hypnotized by art and unbothered by of the rain that drummed on the roof above.

That night, too tired to wander far from our hotel, we stumbled upon a neighborhood taverna where students and friends gathered over ouzo and fresh, authentic, made-to-order Greek specialties. The tiny place was filled with antiques, candlelight, and the chatter of locals, and the bartender told us about the history of his bar in broken, animated English. It was foggy and chilly outside, but warm and happy in here, so we relaxed in the wooden booths for hours, passing around plates and enjoying each other’s company—one of those travel moments that you didn’t expect, but that you’ll never forget.

Our third day—cloudy and cool but with no rain— took us to some other historic sites, and later on a ferry to the nearby island of Aegina. We were greeted with another dramatic sunset, and the next day, much sunnier skies. The little village felt almost like a ghost town, and its peacefulness overwhelmed me. The restaurants and shops were still open, with mostly Greek patrons. The sparkling Mediterranean was warm enough for us northerners, so we swam and sunned our-selves, and laughed with locals who told us we were crazy (to them, it was freezing—to us, it was a mild summer day). After renting a car and driving around the island, we dined on fresh octopus at one of the best local restaurants, and slept in a cozy whitewashed hotel right in the heart of the village—which was even more delightful because of its off-season rate. We returned to Athens the next day, where we visited a bustling food market and few more ancient sights, and then boarded our plane to return home.

I didn’t leave Greece with much of a suntan, but I saw far more in a weekend than I ever would have done in the popular summer season. Whether you go in autumn like I did, or in the earlier springtime months, this is a city worth exploring during shoulder-seasons. Without tourists to wade through, and without hot weather tempting me to abandon world-class museums for a spot to sunbathe, the city’s treasures welcomed us with quiet, open arms. We lingered longer over meals, captured more beautiful photos of the ancient structures, and were able to get to know Athens not as a vacation spot, but as a living, vibrant city—and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.