Solo Female Travel in Athens: Is It Actually Safe?

Solo Female Travel in Athens: What a Week Alone Actually Felt Like

I am a bit of a travel princess. I love the planning, the research, booking the flights and the restaurants, all of it and I love doing it with my husband, JK. It's "our" thing. I have travelled without him before, but there has always been someone else there, whether that's our daughter or family in Athens or Thessaloniki. This trip, because I needed more time for guide research and JK had a conference to get to, I had to do it properly on my own.

The logistics I can handle. Aisle seat for the long haul, window seat for the short one to Athens, a car pickup company waiting on arrival so there's no stress before I've even landed. Athens was different though. That was the first time I was properly alone, alone on a trip in a big city.

Is Athens safe for solo female travellers?

If there is one city where I personally feel safe travelling alone, it's Athens. Greeks have a word, filoxenia, love of the stranger and you feel it constantly. We're loud, we're dramatic, we complain about everything and yet we will still give you the last piece of food on the table even if we're hungry ourselves. We are very hospitable as a nation.

I usually stay around Syntagma, which is central, busy and an area of Athens where I feel very safe. Athens is a walkable city and people walk it freely, so being surrounded by strangers all day and into the night never made me feel unsafe. It just felt like Athens.

Eating alone in Athens

Now eating out on my own was the real challenge and it came in two parts.

First, Greeks do not believe in small serves. At Taverna Ermou I ordered a horiatiki and a prawn saganaki. The salad that arrived was a mountain, tomatoes, cucumber, feta, easily enough for four to six people. The waiter looked confused when I hadn't ordered bread for the saganaki sauce, because why on earth wouldn't I want to mop it up?

There was no way I could finish either dish. The salad went back three quarters full, the saganaki half eaten and I copped a look for it.

The same thing happened at Krinos, the loukoumades place. I asked for just one, they were huge more ring doughnut, than little balls. I was happy to pay for six but only wanted one. They brought me six, drowned in honey. I ate one, because that's what I asked for and all I wanted, and the woman serving me couldn't work out why I'd only had one. Love, I only wanted to order one two minutes ago!

The second part was sitting alone. I don't have that effortless confidence some people have, reading a book, sipping wine, completely at ease in their own company. I'm far more self conscious than that.

At Via Maris I'd booked at 7pm, Melbourne dinner time, because the 9pm sitting was full and thankfully, the restaurant was almost empty when I arrived. The staff were at my table constantly, asking about life in Australia, talking me through the food and bringing extra things to try. It was one of the best nights of the week.

What surprised me most was how much I actually noticed. No one to talk to and no one to be distracted by meant I saw the city differently. I people watched, noticed the different behaviours of tourists around me and paid far more attention to what was happening around me.

I could also do exactly what I wanted, when I wanted. JK and I both love walking, but there were moments where, alone, I just Ubered instead. No negotiation, no compromise, just my own decision. And I could order whatever food I wanted because there was no one else to take into account. That part I actually really enjoyed.

In saying that, I have never been more relieved to see JK when he finally arrived. He was shocked at my reaction because he'd been worried I would enjoy solo travel too much and would want to do it more often.

A hard no for this gal!

My advice for women travelling alone in Athens

For anyone thinking about doing this themselves, there are a few honest things I'd tell you.

I personally wouldn't stay near Omonia Square and I don't walk around there alone at night. Every city has its dodgy areas and Omonia is Athens version. For some reason, probably price, a lot of travel agents book people in Omonia and then they are shocked and make videos of how bad Athens is. Athens is not bad, Omonia is.

From Athens Airport I use a car service, order an Uber or have my hotel organise a transfer. Within the city I use Free Now or Uber rather than flagging down cabs. I've had two situations over all my years coming here that still stick with me and doing it this way avoids the small stuff, being taken the long way or worrying about cash if the card reader is “down”.

And the best advice I've ever been given came from my mum, if something doesn't feel right, it isn't right. Trust that anywhere, not just Athens. Stall, walk into a shop, change direction or ask someone. Greeks will help you.

Planning your own trip to Athens? My Athens Guide has the restaurants, neighbourhoods and practical detail behind everything above. Athens Guide Here

And I’d love to know, are you someone who loves travelling alone or, like me, do you prefer having someone there to share it with?