View towards Acropois from our balcony. Copyright Gretta Schifano
I stayed in a HouseTrip apartment in central Athens with my husband and two children for four nights during the October half-term holiday.
HouseTrip
HouseTrip is an online holiday property rental service which puts guests in touch with property owners. HouseTrip is one of the largest holiday rental websites in the world and guarantees that every property listed has been checked by them. Guests pay at the time of booking but property owners don’t receive any money until 24 hours after guests arrive. This gives time for you to contact HouseTrip to resolve any issues if there’s a problem with anything. We stayed in a HouseTrip property in Sicily in August and were delighted with it.
Athens apartment
The Athens apartment which we stayed in is on the sixth floor (it’s OK, there’s a lift) of a modern block and overlooks the city’s vastly wooded park-like cemetery. The apartment’s position offers wonderfully airy views across the Greek capital towards the Acropolis, its most famous monument. It’s next to a busy road which means that the traffic noise is quite noticeable if you’re not used to it. Constructed in 2009, the apartment is decorated and fitted out in a modern, contemporary style and has everything that we needed for a comfortable stay, including free wifi.
Main bedroom, Athens Housetrip apartment. Copyright Gretta Schifano
Bedrooms
There are three bedrooms which meant that the kids didn’t have to share, hurrah! Each bedroom has a double bed, although one of the beds is a small double. There are also a couple of z-beds available. The wifi didn’t work in the main bedroom but that wasn’t a problem for us. There were fitted wardrobes giving lots of storage in the two larger bedrooms. Strangely, there were some random pipes sticking out of the wall above the door in the smallest bedroom. My son was concerned about these when we first arrived but he soon forgot about them.
Bathroom, Athens apartment. Copyright Gretta Schifano
Bathrooms
There are two decent bathrooms, which is always a bonus if you have a teenage girl in your midst. One bathroom has a shower enclosure, the other a large bath and both are sleek and modern. There was always enough hot water for the four of us and there were white cotton towels provided for us to use.
Kitchen, Athens apartment. Copyright Gretta Schifano
Living area
The open-plan kitchen, dining and living area worked well for us. There’s a large, flat-screen TV in the living are but the only channel which we could find in English was BBC news (which is perfect as far as I’m concerned). The living area has two sets of wide, full height sliding glass doors and so feels light and airy and has great views. At one end of the living area is a dining table and at the other are two large sofas and a low, wooden table. The kitchen is well-equipped and the dishwasher was much appreciated. There’s a washing machine in a tiny room between two of the bedrooms but we didn’t need to use it.
Balcony, Athens apartment. Copyright Gretta Schifano
Balcony
The glass doors in the living area lead to a huge balcony with a table and chairs and fantastic views across the city. It wasn’t warm enough to sit outside when we were there but this would be an amazing place to enjoy the views on a summer evening. You can also access this balcony from the third bedroom. I wouldn’t like to stay here with very young children because I’d worry about the balcony. Lovely as it is, it’s edged with railings which look very climb-able. There’s another balcony with clothes airers outside the kitchen.
Host
The apartment owner, George, was friendly and helpful both before and during our stay. He mailed us directions and public transport information before we arrived and left a list of tips and recommendations for us at the apartment. On our last day we were due to check out at 11am but he let us stay until 5pm because we had an evening flight.
Living room, Athens apartment. Copyright Gretta Schifano
Location
The apartment is about 10 minutes’ walk from the nearest Metro station, Aghios Ioannis. There’s a supermarket, a convenience store, a pharmacy and a bakers about three minutes’ walk away. The location is a little way from the city’s main sights but not too far out. Depending on where we were going, we either walked, took the Metro or hailed a taxi.
The verdict
This apartment is great for families with older children – mine are 16 and 11. It has everything that you need for a comfortable stay, as long as you don’t mind some traffic noise. I wouldn’t recommend it for families with toddlers because of the balconies.
Family travel lowdown
The apartment sleeps up to eight people and costs from £112 per night. Thank you to HouseTrip for arranging our four-night stay at this apartment.
To read more about our trip….
Random acts of kindness in Athens
Top things to do in Athens with kids
Have you stayed somewhere recently which you’d recommend for families? If you have and if you’d like to write a ‘Room report’ for Mums do travel then please contact me via the links on the sidebar or the ‘Contact’ page.
This looks great! I hadn’t heard of House Trip before – I’ve stayed at other apartments that are run by similar companies. Good to have options. We definitely prefer to stay in a flat with children. Easier all around when they are tired if they can have some space to lounge around.
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It definitely works better with kids if you stay somewhere with home comforts like a kitchen and a washing machine! Even if you don’t use them, you know they’re there if needed!