Explore Acropolis & Acropolis Museum, Athens

Meet your guide at the Athens Walks offices just next to the Acropolis, and begin heading up the gentle slopes to the Theater of Dionysus, built in the sixth century BCE and with an original capacity of 17,000.  Afterward, have a look at the Asklepieion, a healing temple purportedly built in response to a plague. Carry on to the Odeon of Herodes Atticus—a Roman theater—before reaching your first major monument on the Acropolis hilltop: the Temple of Athena Nike. 

Hear interesting historic facts and contemporary myths as you wind your way around the Propylaea, and the Erechtheion's Porch of the Caryatids, whose famous female figures are now in the Acropolis Museum. Finally, move on to the site's crowning glory: the Parthenon, an imposing temple dedicated to the goddess Athena and built in the fifth century BCE. 

Once you've finished your exploration, head back down the hill and complement the sites you've seen with a walk through the Acropolis Museum—an imposing modern building designed by Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi. Under the museum's glass floors, you'll catch a glimpse of the ruined ancient city. Within its walls, you'll find thousands of important artifacts, from the intricate friezes that once adorned the Parthenon, to statues of Greek gods, bronze sculptures, and red-figure pottery.