Athens
Alone

PRACTICAL SAMPLE

Practical Safety: The Tactical Side

Phones and apps: FREE NOW is the taxi app Greece runs on, and licensed yellow street taxis work too. After midnight, take one of them rather than walking back alone through quiet streets.

The metro: three lines that reach most of what you will visit. Pickpockets work the crowded cars at rush hour, so keep your bag in front of you and closed.

Neighborhoods: Syntagma and the Acropolis area, Plaka, Psyrri, Thissio, Anafiotika and Gazi are busy and lit into the late evening, with pickpockets in the crowded stretches. Exarchia, a student and political quarter, is busy by day and early evening; after midnight, take a taxi out rather than walking. Avoid Omonia Square itself after dark; by day the market streets just south of it are fine. Metaxourgeio, between Omonia and Gazi, has dark, empty streets late at night, so go home from dinner there by taxi. In practice you will spend your time in the triangle from Syntagma south to Thissio and from the Acropolis west to Psyrri, which is busy and well lit at the hours you will be using it.

A free excerpt from Athens Alone.