Kallithea, Athens: the coastal and cultural sweet spot

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center is the reason most visitors first look at this side of Athens, and it is seven minutes from our front door. The park climbs gently to a roof terrace with an open view over the Saronic Gulf on one side and the Acropolis on the other — the best free sunset in southern Athens.

Kallithea is one of the few Athens neighbourhoods where you can spend the morning under the Acropolis and swim in the afternoon. Flisvos Marina, with its yachts, ice cream kiosks and long seafront promenade, is a short ride away, and the tram line along the coast takes you on to Alimos, Glyfada and Voula.

Kallithea is not a tourist neighbourhood, and that is the point. Mornings start at the bakeries on and around Andromachis and Davaki with fresh tiropita, spanakopita and bougatsa, and the queue of people on their way to work tells you which one is the good one.

There is no metro station inside walking distance, and that keeps the streets quiet, but the bus network more than covers it. Line 910 stops two minutes from the apartments and connects to Syngrou-Fix on the metro's red line, which puts Acropolis, Syntagma and the airport line within easy reach. Line 040 runs directly to Syntagma Square and runs through the night.

Many of our guests are not tourists at all. The Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center and REA Maternity Hospital are both about eight minutes away by car, and families visiting a patient need something a hotel rarely gives: a kitchen, a washing machine, quiet nights and a host who answers the phone.