How to get there
AIR FRANCE operates four daily services between Paris and Athens, using three-class Airbus A320 aircraft, including one Premium Economy flight. The French airline also connects the Greek capital with Marseille (three flights a week), Toulouse (one flight a week) and Nice (three flights a week in high season).
Tel.: 0820 320 820
Internet: www.airfrance.com
AEGEANvoted best European regional airline by Skytrax, connects Paris to Athens with two or three flights a day on Thursdays and Saturdays. A member of the Star Alliance, it also offers flights from Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes and Nice. From 30 May 2014, the airline will offer a direct seasonal service between Paris and Kalamata, in the Peloponnese.
Tel.: +30 210 6261700
Internet : en.aegeanair.com
For more information
Hellenic National Tourist Office
3, av de l'Opéra - 75001 Paris
Tel.: 01 42 60 65 75
Email: info@ot-grece.fr Internet: www.visitgreece.gr
Athens
Hotels
Hotel Grande Bretagne
Fans of very stylish palaces will be well served by this Grande Bretagne, which has been on the list of legendary hotels around the world since 1862. It's got it all: gilding, a vast lobby, antiques and huge bouquets of flowers, stylish staff and all the services you'd expect from an establishment 'specialising' in welcoming heads of state. The spa is state-of-the-art, and the swimming pool is on the roof. 321 rooms including 57 suites, 14 meeting rooms with a capacity of 800 p. Three restaurants, including one on the roof.
Syntagma Square.
Tel.: + 30 210 33 30 00
Email : info.gb@starwoodhotels.com
Internet : www.grandebretagne.gr
Electra Palace
Here's a palace in an unexpected neighbourhood that used to be popular: Plaka. And that's just as well, because bourgeois-bohemian life is just around the corner. Electra Palace has recently been completely renovated and refurbished, including the furnishings. It is, of course, perfectly adapted to the technical requirements of the 21st century. On the roof, with a breathtaking view of the Acropolis, there is a swimming pool and a restaurant. At night, it's sublime. 155 rooms and suites, seven meeting rooms for 25 to 280 people, two restaurants.
18-20, N. Nikodimou Str.
Tel.: + 30 210 337 00 00
Email : salesepath@electrahotels.gr
Internet : www.electrahotels.gr
New Hotel
It's not a hotel, it's a concept; a lifestyle proposition. Almost a work of art. Contemporary, that is. All the same, there's a lobby and a restaurant overlooking a street in Plaka. Their walls - especially those of the restaurant - are completely covered with chair legs, armchair arms, pieces of chest of drawers... In fact, they are the remains of old furniture, smashed up in the style of Arman or Arte Povera, and plastered vertically against all the walls. The work is by Fernando and Humberto Campana. The rooms are a little more sober, with themes that are an integral part of Greek culture, such as lucky eyes and shadow puppets. On the roof, a library offers more than 2,000 books exclusively on art. As you can see, the hotel is aimed at exclusive, arty groups. 79 rooms and suites, spa, two restaurants, four meeting rooms accommodating between 22 and 220 participants. Member of Design Hhotels.
16 Filellinon Str.
Tel.: + 30 210 327 30 00
Email : sflenga@yeshotels.gr
Internet : www.yeshotels.gr
Alexandros Hotel
Perfectly located close to the Opera House and the Congress Centre, at the foot of Lycabetta Hill, this hotel offers an unpretentious contemporary design. In fact, everything is cosy, uncomplicated and yet very comfortable. Curiously, this modern building is built in a mini arc around an ancient little Byzantine chapel, which adds to its charm. The restaurant serves Greek and international cuisine. 93 rooms and suites. A restaurant and three meeting rooms for 32 to 80 people.
8, Timoleontos Vassou Str.
Tel.: +30 210 643 04 64
Email : info@airhotel.gr
Internet : www.airotel.gr
Restaurants
Café Melina
Located right in the heart of Plaka, this gem of a little café is themed around the life of Melina Mercouri. In her films as in her private life, in the company of strangers or film stars, song stars or opera divas: her portraits are everywhere on the walls. The only exception to the rule are two portraits of sailors by Yannis Tsarouchis, the great modern Greek painter.
The place serves the best coffees in the area, which is something of a prodigy, given how many ways the Greeks take it.
22, Lissiou Str.
Tel.: + 30 21 0364 65 01
Old Tavern of Psaras
To be 'old', this tavern is so old that it's hard to imagine the geography of Plaka at the time... 1898: a different era for a Greece ruled by a king of the Habsburg family. A lot must have been said within its walls, which were frequented much later by Theodorakis, Bardot, Belmondo and Liz Taylor!
It has to be said that, situated at the top of Plaka, it is away from the crowds. Today, it is made up of three old houses, with a few tables right on the marble-paved alleyway, others on restored balconies and still others - and there are many others - on a huge private terrace overlooking the hill. It's charming and the food, mainly traditional, is delicious.
16, Erechtheos & Erotokritou Str.
Tel.: + 30 210 31 87 34
Email : info@psaras-taverne.gr
Internet : www.psaras-taverna.gr
Taberna Baïraktaris
At all hours of the day and night, the venue is packed.
The waiters, trays overloaded and raised high, flit between the tables. Traditionally, souvlaki is king at Baïraktaris. And we know all about tradition, having been open since 1879. The whole of Athens flocks here, has flocked here and will flock here in the future, as evidenced by the plethora of photos of celebrities posing with the owner, who has become a star in the process.
2, Monastiraki Sq.
Tel.: + 30 210 32 16 969
Nafplio
Hotels
Hotel Grande Bretagne
The elegant neoclassical building stands at the end of the harbour, just opposite the islet where the Venetian fort of Bourdzi is perched. And has been since 1878, when Nafplio was the capital of the Greek state. As a result, the hotel has played host to all the bigwigs of the time, and still retains the decor in which the gotha enjoyed moving about. The recent renovation is perfect - a little cold perhaps - and the sea views are extraordinary. 20 rooms and suites, restaurant, bar. For exclusive groups.
Filellinon Sq.
Tel.: + 30 275 209 62 00
Email : info@grandebretagne.com.gr
Internet : www.grandebretagne.com.gr
Amphitryon Hotel
Perched high above the town of Acronauplia, next to the Venetian fortress, the hotel has a very contemporary decor. At sunset, its cosy bar-lounge offers an unforgettable view of the island of Bourtzi. The hotel is a member of Leading Small Hotels of the World. It has 45 rooms and suites, a conference room for 30 to 40 people and a restaurant serving excellent Mediterranean cuisine.
3-5 Spiliadou St.
Phone: + 30 27520 707 07 00
Email : nlh@helioshotel.gr
Internet : www.amphitryon.gr
Messinia
Hotels
The Romanos Resort
The place is huge, but the resort has been designed with such talent by Alexandros Tombazis that you never feel overcrowded. You can even be totally isolated if you wish. And not just in the suites and villas, which have their own private pools. After passing the impressive reception hall overlooking the sea, you walk through lavender-scented gardens dotted here and there with Zen pools, swimming pools, gazebos... all very well finished, with reminiscences of the vernacular style of the southern Peloponnese as a common thread. The colours used in the rooms and public areas are in shades of stone, earth, beige, eggshell... in short, ultra-relaxing, without the slightest visual aggression. As you can see, The Romanos is all about cosy chic. 321 rooms, 32 suites and nine villas, three outdoor and two indoor swimming pools, fitness centre, spa, 21 restaurants ranging from the very chic to the more casual, bars and cafeterias, and above all, for business groups, 12 meeting and conference rooms that can accommodate up to 2,000 people.
Navarinos Dunes, Costa Navarino.
Tel.: 30 272 309 60 00
Email : info.navarino@luxurycollection
Internet : romanoscostanavarino.com
Skafidia
Hotels
Olympian & Royal Olympian
The resort spirit in all its splendour, with all that that implies: the sea is blue, the sky is blue, the beach is blonde and the sun is almost always shining. The Olympian & Royal Olympian is perfectly suited to incentives - it welcomes 30 or 40 groups a year - and offers a host of ad hoc activities: water sports, basketball and football pitches, parasailing, treasure hunts inside the resort itself... In fact, in places it's a sort of recreated traditional village where you can even take a buggy ride. One of the six swimming pools is simply immense; gala dinners for 1,000 people are held on its banks.
562 rooms, seven restaurants, 21 semi-private pools and six private pools. Four tennis courts, fitness centre, three meeting rooms for a total of 500 participants.
Skafidia. 271 00 Ilia.
Tel: +30 262 10 82 000/54 640
Email : ov@aldemarhotels.com
Internet: www.aldemarhotels.com
Agencies and receptives
imt Travel Services
46, El. Venizelou Ave. 17 676 - Kallithea, Athens
Tel.: + 30 210 95 78 441
Email : j.casulli@imtservices.gr
Internet: www.imtservices.gr
Pam Tours DMC
52, 28 Oktovriou (Patission) str. 106 82, Athens
Tel.: + 30 210 922 92 94
Email : sales@pamtours.gr
Internet : www.pamtours.gr
Practical guides
CARTOVILLE Athens (Gallimard).
CONTINENTAL GREECE, Ionian Islands (Lonely Planet).
CONTINENTAL GREECE (Geoguide).
CONTINENTAL GREECE, Ionian Islands (Le Routard).
CONTINENTAL GREECE (Petit Fûté).
