For more information and to book please visit www.mrandmrssmith.com or let us arrange your whole trip, by calling +44 (0)20 8987 4312 or from the USA dial 1 866 610 3867.
Fresh Hotel
- Style
- Breath of fresh flair
- Setting
- Downtown Athens
The cool-white and bright-neon interiors of Fresh Hotel are a world away from the fast-paced fracas of the Athenian streets, and the rooftop pool offers some of the most marvellous views in town.
Need to know
- Rooms
- 133, including three suites.
- Rates
- Low season, €140–€390; high season, €160–€390, including breakfast and taxes.
- Check-out
- Midday. Later check-out may be available on request.
- Facilities
- Sauna, steam room, gym, in-house travel agency, WiFi throughout (€10 a day), valet parking, underground car park. In rooms: flatscreen TV, CD player, minibar, Korres toiletries. The suites have DVD players.
- Poolside
- Fresh Hotel’s oversized plunge pool sits invitingly open to the elements on the ninth floor rooftop.
- Children
- Cots can be provided free and the hotel can arrange a babysitter if necessary. The pool is permanently manned by a lifeguard, and the restaurant can provide high chairs, packed lunches, heated milk and a children’s menu.
- Also
- Small pets are allowed, but do check with the hotel in advance.
In the know
- Our favourite rooms
- The views get better and the street noise gets quieter the higher up the hotel you go, so ask for a room on the eighth or ninth floor. Nab a Junior Suite if you can, especially if you’re here for a few nights – there’s space to sprawl in and separate sitting rooms. Fresh Hotel’s rooms put the ‘funk’ into ‘functional’, with a white-on-white colour scheme flashed with neon, and stylish Perspex bucket seats and low-slung modernist sofas.
- Packing tips
- Glitzy sunnies for poolside posing; dark shades for the morning after.
- Also
- The rooftop bar and pool area is the father in Fresh’s crisp white cap. From here you can practically tour the monuments of ancient Greece without leaving your lounger, admiring fabulous view of the Acropolis, the Parthenon and the city itself.
Food & drink
- Hotel restaurant
- Named after the huge Corian bar counter at its centre, the Orange Bar serves a mixed Mediterranean menu (largely sourced from Athens’ central market) in an informal walnut-walled environment.
- Dress code
- Hip, youthful and carefree.
- Top table
- Go for a table by the full-length plate-glass windows onto the street for maximum people-watching potential, both inside and out.
- Last orders
- Orange satisfies midnight-feasters, doling out dishes until 1am. The Air Lounge provides drinks until 2am, but will often keep serving for as long as you’re still standing.
- Room service
- Food and drink can be brought to your room until 2am.
- Hotel bar
- Up on the ninth floor and open to the sky, Air Lounge spreads over several levels and is dotted with uplit olive trees. It’s the hotel’s bargroovy social centrepiece, and is as popular with locals as guests ¬– largely for the incredible skyline views
Smith card offer A choice of a bottle of champagne or welcome cocktails in either of the hotel’s bars
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Smith concierge
If you'd prefer to talk to someone, or don't want to book online, call our travel team on 1 866 610 3867. We guarantee you’ll get the best available rates, and we don’t charge a booking fee.
Local restaurants
Psarra’s on Erechtheous (+30 210 321 8733) is a pretty taverna with outdoor seating on the slopes of Plaka where you can savour traditional Greek food washed down with a glass or two of retsina. Vintage-style Mommy’s on Deflon (+30 210 361 9682) serves fine fusion fare, and hosts exhibitions by modern artists. On Persephonis, Mamacas (www.mamacas.gr) delivers a contemporary spin on taverna favourites in cute all-white surrounds.
Local bars
Combining a bar with a gallery space and a music venue, Bios at 84 Pireus (www.biofighter.com) provides Athens with a unique injection of cutting-edge culture.
Worth getting out of bed for
You’d be hard pushed to find more history per square inch than on the area on top of the outcrop that forms the Acropolis. And if you’re a real sucker for a panoramic view you’ll want to catch the funicular up Lycabbetus Hill; here you can take in the whole of the city from sea to each of Athens’ surrounding hilltops. Once the city's gasworks, Technopolis (100 Pireus) has found a new identity as Athens' all-in-one cultural quarter, with an industrial museum, exhibitions, concerts and some of Europe's best gigs.