Luckily for visitors to Greece and Athens, experiencing the home of Ancient Greek culture can be surprisingly high-tech. If you’re equipped with a smartphone, it can be even easier to find the best things to do in Athens, and make the most of your vacation in Greece. Here are some apps to help you have the best travel experience possible!
“Greek Museums” application
All the museums of Greece are now available in the “Greek Museums” application that allows you to search for more than 400 museums all over Greece with a radius of 50km, providing information such as distance from your current location, the opening hours, address, email, contact details, website and map with directions. It can even display all available museums in relation to your current position. It provides an Augmented Reality Camera View, map view and list view. You will find especially helpful the “take me there” feature. It is available on Android & iOS for free!
“Virtual Tourist Guide” application
Virtual Tourist Guide is the most complete tourist guide for Greece. This application helps you find the most popular sites throughout Greece and it alerts you when a sight is in close proximity also providing detailed information for the current sight. It offers travel proposals for a variety of cities in Greece. For the main cities are also available lists of hotels, means of transport, airports and sea ports with a photo and map location. Use the auto-speak feature and enable the virtual guide assistant to automatically read out the descriptions of all near-by points of interest. The Greek Virtual Tourist Guide is a must for every traveler to Greece! It is available on Android for free!
“Foursquare” application
If you’re a foodie, Foursquare is an essential app to help you find the best Greek food wherever you are. Build on our guide to healthy eating and make sure you taste the divine Greek food by reading reviews left by locals and visitors alike. The app is best for cafes, restaurants and snack bars, and you can search by meal, cuisine, time of day or price. It also includes photos submitted by users, to whet your appetite. It is available on Apple, Android & Windows for free!
“Greek Gods” application
Exploring the top landmarks of Greece may raise some questions about who is who among the pantheon of ancient gods – and we get it, there were a lot of them. This app helps you make sense of everything, and is a fun guide to have in your pocket when exploring some of the best museums or any ancient sites. You can search through mythological creatures by name, and read a short snippet of their story to get up close and personal with Greek mythology. It is available on Apple for free!
“AthensBook” application
This is the best app for the most basic needs you might have during a trip to Athens – it will help you find anything from the nearest supermarket, the closest bars and pastry shops, reports on local traffic and what films are playing at local cinemas. AthensBook also includes information on the closest open pharmacy. AthensBook also includes information on transport – the nearest metro/tram stops, and any possible strikes. It needs the internet to find what it closest to you at the moment, but if you have a Wi-Fi or data connection it will find the answer to nearly any query. It is available on Android & iOS for free!
“Taxibeat” application
Uber does exist in Greece, but Athens is still a hardcore taxi city, and Taxibeat combines the best of both. The app finds your location using GPS, and allows you to call any of the nearby drivers based not only on their location but also on their rating from other passengers, and other criteria such as whether they speak other languages or if their car is smoke-free (unfortunately not always a given). You can set up your account to pay via PayPal, and then review the driver when you’re finished. Similar to Uber, expect you can also hail a Taxibeat cab – they have stickers on the side of the car – and that way you know you’re in safe hands. It is available on Android & iOS for free!
“ATH Airport” application
The official Athens airport app is useful not just for checking your flight status and arrivals and departures, but also for getting up to date information on how to get to the airport, parking information and even special offers for the fantastic airport shopping. The weather section of this app is also a great place to find up-to-date information in English – and in case of a heat wave or rain, we’ve got you covered with our rainy day and heatwave guides! It is available on Apple, Android & Windows for free!
“OASA Telematics” application
The Greek public transport industry is trying to keep up with the technology, and luckily it has become a lot more user friendly – so if you’re up for tackling the extensive Athens bus system, never fear. This app pinpoints your location and will show you nearby bus stops, along with which buses stop there, their schedule and their route. Unfortunately its live updates in real time seem to struggle a little bit with the traffic variations, but the app shows you where the bus is that moment and an estimated arrival time. It is available on Apple, Android & Windows for free!
