Are there neighborhoods to avoid in Athens?
Athens is generally safe for tourists, and the city's reputation for danger is overstated. That said, Omonia Square and the streets immediately surrounding it — particularly toward Metaxourgeio's rougher western edges — see concentrated drug activity and street-level crime, especially after dark. The same applies to Victoria Square, which has grown more chaotic in recent years. Neither area is a no-go zone, but wandering through them late at night without a clear destination is unnecessary risk. Exarchia, the anarchist neighborhood northeast of the National Archaeological Museum, gets dramatic press; in practice, it's fine during the day and genuinely interesting, but protests and occasional police-vs.-demonstrators incidents happen there with enough frequency that you should know what you're walking into. Everywhere else tourists typically go — Monastiraki, Psyrri, Koukaki, Kolonaki, Pangrati — is straightforwardly safe. Standard precautions apply on the Metro (Line 1 in particular) and around Monastiraki flea market, where pickpockets operate at the level you'd expect in any crowded European square.
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