Review: Intercontinental Athens Athenium Hotel

Book the Intercontinental Athens Athenium Hotel here.

Introduction

Athens city center is the area with the view towards the Acropolis.

The Intercontinental is a 5 minute taxi drive away but it has good reviews and with under EUR 100/night for a non-refundable room in high season it was too good a deal to pass up for me.

Location (Sightseeing, Airport, Business)

Athens has introduced a 35 EUR flat fee for taxis from the airport to the city center. The Intercontinental just lies 0.1 miles outside of it. Of course this guarantees endless haggling and ideas by your fellow taxi driver to milk you for money. I ended up paying EUR 40.

At night the fee is EUR 50. The return driver organized by the hotel was friendly and did not try to throw me off halfway because I wanted to pay just the official rate.

Check-In (Friendliness, Efficiency)

Very friendly check-in in fluent English.

I was upgraded one level (not sure what that was) and escorted to my room by a cheerful agent.

Rare to find such friendly people not being jaded by mass tourism really.

Thanks to the Platinum status the Internet was free and it was fast.

Common Areas (Lobby, Restaurants, Pool, Gym)

The lobby is huge. It's from the 80s but it's well maintained. There is a big coffee shop in the lobby as well.

Since I was just there for a night I just shot some pictures of the pool area. I never got to use it.




























Rooms (Cleanliness, Space provided)

The room was larger than expected and was really functional. It was certainly not new but very well maintained. It did not feel luxurious but certainly not cheap or old.

It was really clean.

The bathroom also showed its age but was very functional.





























Sleeping (Mattress, Comfort level, Noise)

I came to love the beds in most Intercontinental hotels and so I did here. The AC worked well and quiet. The street in front of the hotel is rather quiet (a long as you do not end up of facing the highway).

Food (Breakfast, Executive Lounge, other food & drinks)

I did not have access to the lounge and did not eat the hotel. Instead I trusted the concierge's recommendation for Thanasis which has fantastic Greek food which I really enjoyed.

My departure was too early to get breakfast in the hotel unfortunately.

Overall

This is hotel is certainly not a stunner. However it works very well, has very friendly staff, is clean and situated not far from teh city center. At rates as low as EUR 80 in mid-season it's a steal.

Given those parameters I'd love to come back.

Book the Intercontinental Athens Athenium Hotel here.