The other Attica — three fir-clad mountains ringing the basin and a quiet vine-and-olive plain behind them. Forty-five minutes from the Acropolis, a thousand metres up.
Athens sits in a basin closed by three mountains: Parnitha to the north, Penteli to the north-east, and Hymettus to the east. Drive up any one of them and the temperature drops ten degrees, the city disappears, and you are in a fir or pine forest with a monastery, a cave or a quarry as the destination at the top.
Behind the mountains, the Mesogeia plain opens out — a quiet country of vines, pistachios and olives that has been Attica’s breadbasket since antiquity, and is now its winemaking heart. Eleven appellation cellars within a half-hour drive of the airport: Savatiano, Malagouzia, Assyrtiko in their northern home. And on the inland edge, the Marathon plain — flat, quiet, the site of the 490 BC battle and the start of the modern marathon course.
Hover the map or the list — they're linked. Numbered roughly the way you'd drive them.
The most isolated archaeological site in Attica — the temple of Nemesis on a cliff above the Euboean Gulf, twenty minutes north-east of Marathon. You will be alone.
The site of the 490 BC battle and the start of the modern race. The burial mound of the Greeks, the small museum, the rowing lake — a quiet, flat, surprisingly moving day.
The vineyards of Markopoulo, Spata and Koropi — eleven cellars between the airport and the south coast. Savatiano, Malagouzia, Assyrtiko, all by appointment.
An 11th-century domed monastery in a pine grove on the western slope of Hymettus. Ten minutes by taxi from central Athens; the most Athenian of the Byzantine sites.
The east wall of the basin — 1,026 m, lower and drier than Parnitha. The Kaisariani Monastery sits in pines on its lower slopes; sunset over Athens from the summit ring road.
The quarries that supplied the Acropolis — ancient open-cuts on the northern face of Penteli, still partly worked. A short drive and a remarkable, cinematic landscape.
A 16th-century working monastery on the south slope of Mt. Penteli, with walls built from the same marble that built the Parthenon. Quiet, walled, frescoed.
The former summer estate of the Greek royal family on the southern slope of Parnitha — pine woods, riding stables, the chapel and graves. Quiet weekend country.
A 300-square-kilometre fir forest above the city — cable car from the suburb of Acharnes (or drive to 1,000 m). Walking trails, a refuge with rooms, the vultures of Attica.
Parnitha covered in cyclamen, anemones, irises. Snow can still hold on the summit. Clear long-distance views; the Saronic visible from Hymettus.
Eighteen to twenty-five degrees on the summit; wildflowers turning to thyme and fennel; the long evenings start. Best month for the mountain trails and country tavernas.
Athens at thirty-eight, Parnitha refuge at twenty-three. Locals come up for the weekend. Wineries quiet; book ahead to be sure of a tasting room.
The Mesogeia harvest — Savatiano picked late August, Malagouzia mid-September, Assyrtiko at end of September. The cellars are at full work; visits possible.
Black truffles in the Penteli forests; chestnut roasting; the Athens Classic Marathon runs from the plain to the Panathenaic Stadium on a Sunday in early November.
The fir-clad mass of Mt. Parnitha closes the Athens basin to the north — 1,413 metres at the summit, a 300-square-kilometre national park, one of the last large stands of Abies cephalonica (Greek fir) in the country. Sixty kinds of orchid grow here, golden eagles still nest. The cable car from Acharnes lifts you to a thousand metres in twelve minutes.
The Mesogeia (“middle land”) is the inland plain of Attica — vines, olives, almonds, pistachios — the kitchen garden that fed Athens for three thousand years. It is also the original home of the Savatiano grape, the white that built retsina; eleven AOC cellars work the plain today. The new Athenian generation — Papagiannakos, Mylonas, Markou, Mygdanis — are making serious unresinated single-vineyard Savatiano alongside the old retsina.
The Pentelic quarries on the north face of Mt. Penteli are the source of the Acropolis: a fine-grained, faintly cream-tinted white marble that takes the carve and weathers honey under the Attic sun. Quarried since the sixth century BC, still partly worked. Drive up to the southern shoulder for the working monastery of Penteli (16th C, frescoed, walled).
Attica Mountains eats lamb, cheese and pulses; the plain eats vegetables, olive oil and wine; the slopes give you honey and pine resin. The cooking here is the cooking of country tavernas, an hour from town and a world from the Acropolis.
Whole lamb on a horizontal spit over coals — the Easter ritual of every village in Attica, served year-round at the country tavernas of Spata, Markopoulo and Varybobi. Two hours' cooking, salt and oregano only.
Single-flower thyme honey from the western slopes of Mt. Hymettus — dark, herbal, peppery. Beekeepers since antiquity; the Anastasiou family still works the same slope as their great-grandfather. A spoon over fresh yogurt.
The Greek workhorse white grape, native to Attica. Drink it as modern unresinated Savatiano (Papagiannakos, Mylonas) for fish and salads, or as old-style retsina for grilled lamb and feta.
Six or seven kinds of bitter and sweet wild greens — vlita, radikia, stamnagathi, glystrida — boiled and dressed with olive oil and lemon. The first course at every country lunch in Attica.
Aegina is half an hour by ferry from Piraeus and the pistachio of the Saronic basin — small, intensely sweet, AOC-protected. Eaten salted with ouzo, ground into Easter cookies, scattered over yogurt.
Black truffles and pine mushrooms come out of the Penteli and Parnitha forests in November and December. Three Athens chefs (Spondi, Hytra, Aleria) build a winter menu around them.
What to expect in each — Attica Mountains has a more idiosyncratic set of stays than most places in Greece.
The Bafi refuge at 1,150 m, half-board, plain rooms, a wood stove and a long communal table. The original mountain Greece, an hour from the city.
A handful of small inns and rented stone houses on the southern slope of Parnitha — horse-riding, walking, the Tatoi royal forest at the door. Quiet weekends.
Two or three working agritourism rooms attached to the Mesogeia cellars — vine-side dinners, breakfast under the olive trees, a tasting at sunset. Best for slow-paced trips.
Small family hotels on the Schinias bay below the battlefield — long pine beach, the rowing lake, the Marathon mound a five-minute drive. Off-radar coast.
Most of the Attica Mountains is car-only — rental from the airport (in the Mesogeia) or from central Athens. The Parnitha cable car runs from Acharnes (suburban train + 10-min taxi). Marathon is one hour by car from the centre, less from the airport.
Cellar visits in the Mesogeia are by appointment, generally Tuesday–Saturday, 11:00–18:00. Three cellars in a day is the comfortable maximum; budget 60–90 minutes per visit and an hour for lunch.
Parnitha summit is ten degrees cooler than the city in summer; bring a layer. Snow is possible on the summit December–March; the cable car continues to run. The walking trails are well marked but unsignposted at junctions — take the OREB map.
Kaisariani, Daphni and Penteli are open generally 09:00–16:00; closed Mondays. Modest dress required (covered shoulders and knees). Daphni has limited ticketed entry to control the frescoes — book the day before in summer.
The classic marathon course runs from the Marathon Tomb back to the Panathenaic Stadium — 42 km, mostly road, one significant climb. The route is signposted; runners can do segments of it any day.
Tell us a little about the trip you want — pace, who's coming, how you'd like to spend your mornings. We'll build the days.
