Lycabettus Hill
Lycabettus Hill features on the Gingerguide audio walk through Athens. Give it roughly ~60 min: enough to look, hear a two to three minute story on the spot, and ask the AI guide whatever the story leaves open.
- Type nature
- Suggested visit ~60 min
- Athens Athens guide
About Lycabettus Hill
The tallest hill in Athens, climbed by a tunnel funicular to a whitewashed chapel, hands you the whole city, the Acropolis and the Saronic Gulf at sunset.
Lycabettus is the tallest hill in central Athens, its summit most often given as 277 metres above sea level, though some sources round it to about 300 metres. Once largely bare rock, it was planted with pines during a reforestation over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and now offers sweeping views across the city toward the Acropolis and the Saronic Gulf. A small whitewashed nineteenth-century chapel, Agios Georgios (St George), crowns the summit.
A funicular railway, inaugurated in 1965 by the Greek Tourist Organisation, climbs from a lower terminus on Aristippou Street in the Kolonaki district to the summit chapel, running almost its entire length through a tunnel bored inside the hill. The hill also hosts the open-air Lycabettus Theatre, a venue for concerts and performances. In legend the hill was formed when the goddess Athena let fall a great crag she had been carrying.
Did you know? Lycabettus has its own concert stage. An open-air theatre set into the hill's flank draws crowds on summer nights, so the tallest hill in Athens doubles as one of the city's most dramatic places to hear live music.
How long is a visit to Lycabettus Hill?
Set aside roughly ~60 min for Lycabettus Hill. That covers a good look and the narrated story, and because you set the pace you can always stay on.
Is Lycabettus Hill worth your time?
Lycabettus Hill is among the 35 narrated highlights the Gingerguide team chose for Athens, so it is worth a look. Hear the story for the context, then ask the AI guide for anything more.
Nearby stops in Athens
Sources and further reading
Where to check the facts about Lycabettus Hill and read more:
Day 2 of the Athens in 2 days itinerary →Day 3 of the Athens in 3 days itinerary →
Updated:
Hear the story of Lycabettus Hill
Preview the Athens tour free in the Gingerguide app.