Novotel Athenes

cleanliness, friendly staff, breakfast, terrace restaurant with a view on Acropolis

location: many abandoned shops and houses, far from tourist attractions, ventilation noise in the room

Ok, but a few issues.

Decently large rooms by European standards, nice view from the rooftop pool. Decent price, and comfortable bed.

Pool hours are very limited, I figured I could go for a swim after being out for the day only to be told the pool closes around 1830. Presumably, they don't want to sacrifice the bar ambiance around the pool by people actually using the pool. And it didn't reopen until 9am in the morning, too late to be useful before needing to run out for the day. Typical terrible Greek hours. Very disappointed that the pool, one of the main reasons I booked the hotel, was 100% useless. You should consider it for show only. The hotel isn't in a bad area (by comparison to the rest of Athens), but the walk to the metro is not the most enjoyable and I kept an eye out for unsavory people. I was surprised to find a Novotel in such a residential area - nothing close by that you'd want to walk to (except the metro to head to a more interesting area). The view from the roof could be Lebanon or the Gaza Strip if you didn't see the Acropolis way off in the distance.