Time Out

Athens

## Nightlife

From Bond-era elegance and Manhattan cool to ethnic chill-out and space-age minimalism, Athens glows with temptation and the promise of excess. It’s no wonder ‘hedonism’ is a Greek word.
Athens’ social scene is largely clustered in areas. Twenty years ago, the winding streets of Psyrri were a pocket of iniquity littered with brothels and prowled by the underworld. Tidied and trendied up, these days the area retains only a hint of its illicit past - just enough to add a decadent edge to its bar-lined, labyrinthine streets.
Above Psyrri glows the tower of Gazi, within the area of Rouf. Gazi was formerly the city’s gasworks but has now been converted into an arts centre. Around this imposing structure are secret streets lined with eclectic bohemian gems and all-out boisterous hangouts, which are positively heaving at the weekend.
On the other side of Platia Omonia lies Exarchia. Home to anything alternative, this area was (and to some extent still is) the centre for left-wing and radical student-led politics. Although the anarchist bookshops have now made way for pulsating student-friendly nightlife, Naomi Klein’s No Logo should still make for a great conversation starter. Not so in Kolonaki. Lined with more-money-than-sense boutiques, its sloping city-centre streets make up Athens’ uptown and are filled with cool and ultra-glamorous, fashionable bars, interspersed with the odd buried, chilled-out den.
The summer months see Athenians decamp en masse tothe islands. Those who can’t flee head for the suburban beaches of Glyfada and Vouliagmeni and their sharp-dressing, palm tree-lined superclubs for a heavy dose of glitz to the tune of pounding house and Euro pop.

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