From sesame-crusted koulouria at dawn to late-night souvlaki, this is how to graze your way through the city.

Athens is a walking city. The historic centre is compact, the streets are pedestrianised, and half the pleasure is in what you stumble across between destinations. Which makes it the perfect city for eating on foot.

Greek street food isn’t an afterthought—it’s a parallel dining culture. Office workers lunch standing at souvlaki counters. Teenagers queue outside pie shops. Grandmothers buy koulouria from street vendors without breaking stride. The food is cheap, fast, and often genuinely excellent.

Here’s how to navigate it.

Morning: The Koulouri Sellers

Start early, before the crowds. The first thing you’ll notice is the koulouri vendors—older men, usually, with glass-fronted carts or pretzel-like racks hung on bicycles. They’re stationed outside metro stops, on busy corners, anywhere commuters pass.

Koulouri is a ring-shaped bread crusted with sesame seeds. It’s the Greek equivalent of grabbing a croissant in Paris—not breakfast exactly, more a physical declaration that the day has begun. Greeks eat them with coffee, often standing on a street corner, always quickly.

Cost: About €0.50-€1. Look for vendors whose stock is moving; fresh koulouri has a satisfying chew, while stale ones go hard.

Where: Outside Monastiraki or Syntagma metro stations, any time after 7am.

Mid-Morning: The Bakeries

By 10am, the bakeries (fournos or artopoieio) are in full swing. The glass cases fill with pies, pastries, and breads that make Northern European bakeries look embarrassed.

The essentials:

Tiropita – Cheese pie. Flaky filo pastry stuffed with feta. There are regional variations (some use a coiled phyllo, some a thicker dough), but the basics are constant: salty, rich, perfect.

Spanakopita – Spinach and feta pie. The vegetarian’s friend. When made well, the spinach is earthy, the feta is tangy, and the pastry shatters.

Bougatsa – This is divisive. The sweet version is custard-filled filo, dusted with cinnamon and icing sugar. The savoury version swaps custard for cheese. Thessaloniki does it best, but Athens bakeries hold their own.

Kourou – A heavier, butter-based pastry often filled with feta. Less flaky than tiropita, more substantial. Good for lining the stomach.

Where: Ariston (Voulis 10, near Syntagma) has been baking tiropita since 1910. The queues at lunch speak for themselves.

Lunchtime: The Souvlaki Run

Souvlaki is Greece’s national street food. It’s also the most misunderstood.

What tourists call “souvlaki” is usually gyros—meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie, shaved off in ribbons, stuffed into pita with tzatziki, tomatoes, onions, and chips. It’s delicious, filling, and costs around €3-4.

Actual souvlaki refers to small skewers of grilled meat—pork or chicken, usually—either eaten on sticks or wrapped in pita with similar accompaniments. A kalamaki is the same thing by another name.

The distinction matters if you’re ordering, less so if you’re eating. Both are good. The quality varies wildly.

Signs of a good souvlaki joint:

  • Busy at lunch (Greeks don’t eat bad food)
  • Meat grilled to order, not sitting in trays
  • Pita warmed on the grill, not from a stack
  • Tomatoes that taste like tomatoes
  • Chips fried fresh, not from a bag

Where to go:

Kostas (Plateia Agias Irinis) – Tiny, always queued, only two options: pork or lamb souvlaki. No gyros, no complications. The lamb is exceptional. Cash only.

O Thanasis (Mitropoleos 69) – A Monastiraki institution, known for kebabs rather than souvlaki. More touristy but genuinely good.

Bairaktaris (Plateia Monastirakiou 2) – Open since 1879. The terrace views the flea market; the souvlaki is reliable; the atmosphere is lively.

Elvis (Plateia Agias Irinis) – The chain that started in Nea Smyrni. Fast, consistent, good fries. Popular with locals who want quality without fuss.

Afternoon: Market Grazing

The Varvakios Market (Central Market) isn’t strictly street food, but eating your way through it is one of Athens’ great experiences.

The main hall is overwhelming—sides of lamb, glistening fish, vendors shouting—but the surrounding streets offer immediate gratification:

Pastry shops selling galaktoboureko (custard pie), baklava, and kataifi (shredded filo with nuts)

Nut vendors with bins of roasted almonds, pistachios from Aegina, and dried figs

Spice merchants where you can smell the oregano from the street

Delis with olives, feta by the kilo, and cured meats sliced to order

Buy a €2 cone of pistachios and wander. This is research.

Late Afternoon: The Sweet Stop

Greeks love sweets, but they generally eat them as a separate occasion rather than after meals. A coffee shop visit in the afternoon often comes with something syrupy.

Loukoumades – Fried dough balls, traditionally doused in honey and cinnamon. Modern versions add chocolate, Nutella, or ice cream. Purists stick to honey.

Where: Lukumades (Aiolou 21) in the centre does the traditional version well. Expect a queue.

Galaktoboureko – Semolina custard between crisp filo, soaked in light syrup. Less sweet than it sounds.

Where: Any zaharoplastio (patisserie) will have it. Aristokratikon (Voulis 7) is a classic.

Greek yoghurt with honey – Not street food exactly, but increasingly available from specialty shops. The yoghurt is thick, tangy, and nothing like the pots you buy at home.

Evening: The After-Hours Circuit

Street food doesn’t stop when the sun goes down. If anything, it intensifies.

The late-night souvlaki joints—open until 2am or later—are their own ecosystem. After the bars close, the queues form. This is hangover prevention as civic tradition.

Where: Hoocut (Plateia Iroon) is the current favourite for night-shift eating. Order the pork gyros with the lot.

For something less meaty, the Lebanese and Middle Eastern places in Psyrri stay open late: falafel wraps, shawarma, creamy hummus scooped with warm pita.

Practical Notes

Eat standing. Many souvlaki joints have no seating. You eat at the counter, on the street, in a square. Don’t wait for a table—there isn’t one.

Order simply. “Ena gyros me pita, me ola” = one gyros pita with everything. “Horis kremidi” = without onions. That’s all the Greek you need.

Follow the queue. If locals are waiting, it’s worth waiting.

Don’t skip the chips. Greeks put chips in everything—including inside the pita wrap. It sounds wrong. It isn’t.

Carry napkins. Souvlaki is not clean eating. The places that hand you one thin napkin are testing your resolve.

The best way to experience Athens street food isn’t to plan it. Walk, notice what smells good, queue where locals queue, and eat whatever appears. The city will feed you.