Is Exarchia Safe?

Before coming to Athens, a lot of people told us that the city started to be less and less safe few years ago. After visiting some online forums and reading some Tripadvisor’s reviews, we started to understand that there was more than just a problem in this city: drugs, refugees, a weak government, a lot of corruption and poverty. Unfortunately, these problems are not related only to Athens, but to all the biggest cities in Greece. On the contrary, we found that the Attica region was much more paradisiacal than Athens itself.

When we arrived in Athens, we discovered that not far away from the city center and the Acropolis, in Exarchia (or Exarcheia), there was the highest concentration of problems of the city. In the years of the crisis this place started to be filled with squats and the anarchist movement of Athens became stronger and stronger. Before arriving in Greece, we documented ourselves about anarchy and the story of the city of the last 10 years reading this book. This helped us to better understand what was going on in Athens and prepared us regarding what we could have find in town. In fact, in the last years Exarchia became way less safe, until the point that police stopped entering in this area. On the main square of Exarcheia, drug dealing is done under the light of the sun 24 hours on 24. This situation started few years ago and this part of the city, before dangerous for anarchism, became dangerous and a lot less safe due to drug deal and use. Exarcheia, once a paradise for families and children, is today the paradise of syringes. 

If you are planning your travel and you are searching for a hotel for your stay in Athens, Greece, delete Exarchia Square from your research. Even if it’s not far away from the Acropolis and it’s well-connected to the airport, you will not feel safe in any hotel in this area, especially if you are traveling with your children. Just imagine that the police is not even crossing the borders of Exarchia. We saved 25$ booking our apartment with Travala and thanks to it we stayed in a beautiful and safe neighborhood. If you are planning your stay and want some extra advice about the best Athens neighborhoods and the level of safety of Athens, we wrote these articles for you.

But is Exarchia really bad? During our hotels and apartments research, we almost took an apartment there, but luckily we found the right apartment thanks to Travala in the neighborhood of  Kypseli. Nowadays, after exploring every corner of Exarchia, we don’t know if we made the best choice. Why? Exarcheia can be really full of life, you can have interesting debates with people and, even if it there isn’t the Acropolis, it can be a nice place. 

If one day during your trip in Athens, you’re tired about the more mainstream Plaka, reach Exarchia by metro or foot and drink a coffee with the view on the omnipresent street art. Even if the government of the Attica region forget about it, we found some hidden gems. This article is for all of you typing on forums “Is Exarchia safe?” We lived it, we explore it and now we are writing this content to tell you everything about it.

When we first decided to visit Exarchia it was night and we were coming from the North of the city, from the neighborhood of Kypseli. We passed in front of Pedion Areos Park and we arrived right in Exarchia Square. In the last years, this area became less safe because of refugees tragic situation and the huge drug dealing. We passed in front of gypsy families, burned buildings, squats and a lot of despair. We saw at first sight that the neighborhood wasn’t filled with museum and nice hotels, but more with inappropriate tags on the walls and a lot of squats. Honestly, you will regret not having a thief-proof backpack. We use this backpack since 2 years and we feel 100% safe with it in every situation.

Once we arrived, we took a beer to see if the infamous square was really dangerous. We spent there some time, and we really didn’t feel safe. In 30 minutes we saw a crazy traffic of drugs and many fights between the different gangs. It was the first time we were facing something like this in Greece.

Even if from our first impressions, this wasn’t the pride of Greek society, we decided not to give up and to see if the neighborhood had some nice hidden posts. We went then on the southern part of Exarcheia and we find another world: beautiful restaurants (our favourite was a really good Greek tapas restaurant called Rararou) and bars everywhere. We definitely said to ourselves that it was the perfect place for a night out. After dinner, we decided to have a walk around Exarchia and we came across a group of people seated around a table in the middle of the street: what a beautiful view! We found out later that was a communist neighbourhood associations. We had a really nice talk with them and we appreciated a lot their spirit: they were sharing everything, like a real community. Moreover, the atmosphere was the same as in ancient Greek forums. They were meeting every week to make Exarchia a better place. After the nice restaurants and bars, that was the first real contributor to make this area a better place.

Between decadence and anarchy, we still find Greek traditions. And we all know that one of the fundamental pillar of Greek culture is their simple – but yet delicious – food.

And since we are foodies, we couldn’t miss a culinary experience in Athens! We did this one when we just arrived in the lively Greece capital and we loved being in touch with locals, know more about their daily life and what they think about Athens. 

If you want to quickly merge into Athens culture by meeting locals – this experience is made for you! We also discovered you can book it online, so start organizing your trip in one of the most interesting country in the world!