Museum Cafés & Restaurants in Athens

With the most spectacular view of the Acropolis, the restaurant located on the second floor of the museum offers the perfect setting for a romantic dinner, especially if you’ve made sure to make your reservation on a full moon night. The restaurant is open from 9am every day and until 12 noon it serves a traditional, Greek breakfast. Then until the afternoon, the restaurant’s main menu includes dishes based on traditional recipes, while every Friday and Saturday night the restaurant stays open until midnight serving a separate dinner menu. On Sundays the restaurant is open until 8pm, but does not accept reservations in advance.

Extra tip: To enter the second floor restaurant, a zero ticket is required at the museum’s ticket office. Alternatively, you can also sit in the café on the ground floor of the museum, in a glass-floored space that brings important archaeological digs under your feet.

Read more at https://theacropolismuseum.gr/en/cafe-restaurant

At the Goulandris Natural History Museum in Kifissia (a lavish suburb in the north of Athens), the Natu restaurant, whose name is inspired by the word Natura, brings you in contact with nature in the most delightful way. With respect to the architecture of the building and the philosophy of the museum, Natu seems to be a continuation of the visitor’s experience at the museum, as you can enjoy your meal in a lush garden, among laurels, myrtles, lavenders and other aromatic plants of Greece, next to the water lily pond.

The restaurant’s menu is based on Mediterranean flavours. It is worth accompanying your meal with a cocktail from the restaurant’s extensive list.

Extra tip: You can extend your night out, as Natu is open until 2:00 midnight.

More information at https://natu.gr/en/

The Cycladic Café, the sophisticated café-restaurant of the Museum of Cycladic Art, is one of the best meeting points for a relaxing outing in the otherwise bustling centre of Athens. First of all, it wins you over with its aesthetics. Then it’s the menu’s turn, with Cycladic Café offering breakfast, brunch or lunch options – here you’ll find classic egg dishes and traditional pies to accompany your morning coffee, while the lunch menu includes salads, pasta and meat dishes, among others.

The Cycladic Café is closed on Tuesdays.

More information at https://cycladic.gr/en

At the Goulandris Museum of Contemporary Art (in the very trendy neighbourhood of Pagrati), you will find a stylish urban garden. Hidden between the ground and first floor, the B&E Goulandris Café – Restaurant is ideal for coffee, brunch, lunch or early drinks. For brunch, you’ll taste everything from an omelette with graviera greek cheese and Florina peppers to an acai bowl, while the restaurant’s main menu offers dishes with a focus on Mediterranean flavours, which you can accompany with a bottle of wine from the wine list.

B&E Goulandris Café – Restaurant is closed on Tuesdays.

More information at https://goulandris.gr/en/cafe

In the renovated building of the National Gallery, apart from impressive exhibitions, you will find two dining areas – a restaurant and a café. The Parthenis restaurant – named after the iconic Greek artist Konstantinos Parthenis – is located on the third floor of Building B, with glass walls all around offering unobstructed views of the city. Here, you can come early for breakfast or brunch, followed by a light lunch. At the same time, Café Ilissos is located on the ground floor, imaginatively placed above the bed of the river Ilissos -which used to run through Athens- in the garden with the canal and the scattered sculptures. The café moves in a more relaxed all-day rhythm, offering drinks, sandwiches, desserts and salads.

The café is closed on Tuesdays and follows the Gallery’s opening hours, while the restaurant is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

More information at https://www.nationalgallery.gr/en/buildings/national-gallery-central-building/

A stone’s throw away from the Syntagma Square and the shopping pedestrian street of Ermou, the impressive residence of the archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, designed by the German architect Ernst Ziller and built between 1878-1879, now houses the Numismatic Museum of Athens. In its idyllic garden, you can sip your coffee amidst replicas of ancient Greek statues and countless flowering plants and trees, completely forgetting that you’re right next to the bustling Pamepistimiou Street. The café of the Numismatic Museum is mainly offered for coffee or drinks and light snacks, such as salads and sandwiches, but special mention should be made of the music nights it organizes every Thursday, with an emphasis on Jazz. You can follow upcoming events via the café’s social media accounts.

More information at https://www.nummus.gr/en/refreshment-room-cafe/

In Klafthmonos Square, downtown Athens, you will find the museum that reveals the history and life of the city of Athens, which is housed in the “Old Palace” as it was often called by the Athenians (it was the first residence of King Otto and Queen Amalia). In fact, the palm tree that Amalia once planted in its garden survives to this day. You can sit in its shade to enjoy your coffee, lunch or drink in the Black Duck Garden.

Read more at https://blackduck.gr/en/black-duck-garden-2/

The Benaki Museum of Greek Culture is housed in one of the most beautiful neoclassical buildings in Athens and hosts a unique exhibition on the course of Greek culture. Its restaurant is considered one of the hidden secrets of downtown Athens, overlooking the National Garden and the Acropolis. You can start your day here for breakfast or brunch, or enjoy a meal with many choices of traditional Greek cuisine. Alternatively, in the afternoon, you can watch the sunset from its balcony, cocktail in hand.

The Benaki Museum of Hellenic Culture restaurant is closed on Tuesdays.

More information at https://www.benaki.org/index.php?option=com_buildings&view=building&id=11&Itemid=523&lang=en

The famous Mansion of the Duchess of Plakentia in the centre of Athens, or Villa Ilissia, today hosts one of the most important museums for the art and culture of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods. You can visit it to see its rich collection or for an outing at the Ilissia café-restaurant, which spreads its tables in the garden. You can visit it from early in the morning. Its environment will make you forget that you are in the city centre.

More information at https://www.byzantinemuseum.gr/en/

The café at the National Archaelogical Museum hosts works of artists, offering visual stimuli and insights to the public, while, at the same time, in the renovated with 700 new kinds of plants garden-patio, musical performances take place integrated into the established annual events of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports (Museums Day, August Full Moon et al.). It is also worth visiting for a morning or afternoon coffee accompanied by traditional sweets.

More information at https://www.namuseum.gr/en/episkepsi/