BIG Bar on Falesias off Iera Odos in Votanikos is the Athens bear bar, a warm welcoming gay-leaning room with reasonably priced drinks, themed nights and the occasional drag show across two evenings into the weekend.
Tip: Closed Mondays; doors from 20:00, weekends to 03:00. Kerameikos Metro L3 is a 5-minute walk; the room is small, queue forms before midnight.
Address: Falesias 12, Athina 118 54, Athens
Spiti Art Bar on Evpatridon in Kerameikos is the listening-and-live-music room programming jazz, gypsy jazz, flamenco and the occasional rebetiko night across a five-year run, with vinyl between sets and art exhibitions on the walls.
Tip: Live concerts most nights, ticketed via the venue; arrive 30 minutes before the set. Kerameikos Metro L3 is three blocks. The room is small, book ahead.
Voulkanizater on Odysseos Androutsou in Koukaki is the hi-fi bar and restaurant in a former tyre workshop, with car parts and wheel rims as decor, an analog-led sound system and a Mediterranean carte alongside the cocktail list.
Tip: Walk in for the bar; reservations help for the kitchen at peak. Sygrou-Fix Metro L2 is three blocks; the back room is the music seat.
Telion on Ithakis in Kypseli is the audiophile bar inside the former Telion patisserie, with an elegant wooden interior, a vinyl and CD listening programme and cocktails by Popi Sebastou worked without a shaker.
Tip: Closed Sunday and Monday; the music programme leans jazz, afro and disco. Victoria Metro L1 is the nearest stop; the room is small, arrive early.
Okupa on Psaromiligkou in Kerameikos is the ground-floor listening bar of the Okupa urban hub, with vintage 70s decor, an analog sound system spinning afro-funk and world disco and a cocktail programme built for the room.
Tip: Walk-in for the bar; the outside terrace runs in summer with a live band. Kerameikos Metro L3 is two blocks. The DJ programme runs late on weekends.
Spiti Art Bar on Evpatridon in Kerameikos is the listening-and-live-music room programming jazz, gypsy jazz, flamenco and the occasional rebetiko night across a five-year run, with vinyl between sets and art exhibitions on the walls.
Tip: Live concerts most nights, ticketed via the venue; arrive 30 minutes before the set. Kerameikos Metro L3 is three blocks. The room is small, book ahead.
Brettos on Kydathineon in Plaka has run since 1909 as Athens' oldest distillery and one of Europe's oldest bars, with a backlit wall of multi-hued bottles and house-made ouzo, brandy, cherry and mastic liqueurs from old Smyrna recipes.
Tip: The back-bar wall of glowing bottles is the photo seat; order the house ouzo or the cherry liqueur on ice. Open daily 10:00 to 02:00; walk in.
Au Revoir on Patision Avenue in Kypseli has run since 1958 as the city's oldest cocktail bar, an Aristomenis Provelegios interior unchanged through the decades and the room that drew Frank Sinatra on a 1960s Athens visit.
Tip: Cash-only bar; the green-leather banquettes and the original 1950s decor are intact. Victoria Metro L1 is the closest stop; the room is small, arrive early.