The World's 33 Best Places to Visit

Athens, Greece

Athens often gets a bad wrap for being dirty, unorganised and not tourist-friendly. But the plain fact is that Athens has history like no other – so it is certainly worth a couple of days in your itinerary, if even only en route to the nearby Greek islands. Athens is the capital of Greece. It was also at the heart of Ancient Greece, a powerful civilization and empire. The city is still dominated by 5th-century BC landmarks, including the Acropolis, a hilltop citadel topped with ancient buildings like the colonnaded Parthenon temple. The Acropolis Museum, along with the National Archaeological Museum, preserves sculptures, vases, jewelry and more from Ancient Greece.