In the final days of December, Athens’ luxury hotel restaurants step into the spotlight. Christmas and New Year’s dinners here are less about spectacle than ritual: good food, generous hospitality, and the enduring Greek pleasure of lingering at the table – occasionally long enough to recover from the bill.
The city’s leading hotels rise to the occasion with menus designed for sharing, dining rooms that marry seasonal glamour with ease, and service attuned to evenings that unfold at their own pace. There is polish, but never pressure.
From historic addresses overlooking the Acropolis to contemporary dining rooms and Riviera resorts by the sea, these are places that understand celebration as something collective and unforced. What follows is a considered selection of Athens hotel restaurants that approach the holiday season with confidence, restraint, and a genuine sense of occasion. Bonus the festive (and uber complete) Spotify playlist of the Athens Capital hotel.
01
The Dolli at Acropolis
The Dolli’s festive dinners feel intentionally edited. Christmas is a limited-seating rooftop experience, opening with luxurious canapés before moving into chestnut soup with sweet-potato ravioli, salmon carpaccio with beurre blanc and caviar, and guinea fowl paired with foie gras and truffle gnocchi. Dessert arrives as “Planet Chocolate,” rich without excess.
New Year’s Eve expands into a seven-course celebration, with fireworks rising close to the Acropolis. Throughout the season, champagne-focused teas and a refined pop-up pâtisserie add lighter indulgences.
Christmas Eve dinner €320 per person. New Year’s Eve menu prices vary.
Mitropoleos 49, Plaka
02
Hotel Grande Bretagne
Christmas and New Year’s at Hotel Grande Bretagne are handled with a sense of ritual that never feels forced. At the Michelin-starred GB Roof Garden, Christmas dinner opens with roasted pumpkin soup sweetened by fir honey, followed by scallops paired with winter truffle sauce. The main course keeps tradition intact – turkey with nut stuffing or beef fillet finished with foie gras and chestnuts. Live music supports the mood without overtaking it.
New Year’s Eve leans fully into celebration, with crab and caviar, chestnut pasta in white truffle sauce, lobster confit with green curry, and American beef tenderloin. Fireworks over the Acropolis arrive right on cue, followed by DJ sets and late-night energy that carries the evening well past midnight.
Christmas Eve dinner €370 per person. New Year’s Eve dinner €650 per person.
Vasileos Georgiou A 1, Syntagma
03
King George
At King George, festive dining is quieter and more deliberate. Christmas dinner at Tudor Hall begins with tuna tartare and carpaccio dressed with tapioca, berries, hazelnuts, and truffle, followed by broccoli soup sharpened with Balik smoked salmon and horseradish. Instead of turkey, the kitchen opts for charcoal-grilled Ibérico pork, paired with pumpkin purée scented with mandarin and sage.
New Year’s Eve moves confidently into haute territory, with sea bass carpaccio topped with Beluga caviar, scallops with miso carrot purée and vadouvan sauce, and Wagyu tenderloin served with foie gras and smoked eel. Classical vocals and piano complete the setting, with the Acropolis framed through the windows.
Christmas Eve €360 per person. New Year’s Eve €580 per person.
Vasileos Georgiou A 3, Syntagma
04
Royal Olympic
Royal Olympic’s festive appeal is inseparable from its Acropolis view. Christmas and New Year’s dinners unfold in a formal dining room that favors classic European luxury, from seafood starters to confidently cooked meat mains and familiar, chocolate-inspired desserts.
Live music and polished service set a traditional gala tone, making this a reliable choice for guests who value landmark scenery and a composed dining experience.
Festive dinner pricing varies by menu.
Athanasiou Diakou 28, Makrygianni
05
Athens Capital Hotel
Athens Capital brings a contemporary, international polish to holiday dining. Christmas menus highlight lobster bisque, venison agnolotti with chestnuts and truffle, and a choice between roast turkey and herb-crusted rib-eye. A fully developed vegetarian menu culminates in celeriac Wellington.
New Year’s Eve introduces king crab and Beluga caviar, duck confit ravioli with foie gras, and beef fillet finished with truffle, accompanied by DJ sets and wide city views from the rooftop.
Christmas Eve dinner €240 per person. New Year’s Eve dinner €380 per person.
Panepistimiou 4, Syntagma
06
Titania Hotel
Titania’s Christmas Day buffet is built around Greek holiday traditions, from stuffed turkey and lamb with quince to wild boar with celery root, avgolemono soup, vine-leaf rolls, and a substantial carving station. Desserts include galaktoboureko, baklava, loukoumades with thyme honey, and a chocolate fountain.
New Year’s Eve comes in the form of a composed gala dinner, opening with buffalo fillet and lobster tartare accented by winter truffle, followed by partridge consommé and Wellington-style beef. Chocolate crémeux with Aegina pistachio rounds things off.
Christmas Day buffet €95 per person. New Year’s Eve dinner €210 per person.
Panepistimiou 52, Omonia
08
Grand Hyatt Athens
Grand Hyatt treats the festive season as a full production. Christmas brunch ranges from asparagus velouté with bottarga powder to chestnut-stuffed turkey, porcini-sauced beef, and grouper finished in champagne sauce. Christmas Eve is more focused, with pumpkin velouté and smoked duck, citrus-marinated crayfish carpaccio, and Black Angus fillet with foie gras and lobster emulsion.
New Year’s Eve expands into an international buffet of seafood risotto, ossobuco in Merlot sauce, porcini pasta with white truffle, and an extensive dessert spread.
Christmas Eve dinner €155 per person. New Year’s Eve dinner €260 per person.
Andrea Syngrou 115, Neos Kosmos
09
Divani Caravel
Divani Caravel balances scale with polish. Christmas Eve at JuJu Bar and Restaurant moves from beetroot macaron and cauliflower soup with brie to seafood ravioli with king crab and lobster sauce, finishing with pavlova layered with chestnut and bitter chocolate. The Christmas buffet is expansive and international, with multiple carving stations.
New Year’s Eve takes place at Horizon, where lobster ravioli, Black Angus fillet, and champagne sabayon are served alongside wide city views.
Christmas Eve dinner €125 per person. New Year’s Eve dinner €190 per person.
Vasileos Alexandrou 2, Pangrati
10
The Margi
At The Margi, festive dining feels calm and assured. Christmas highlights include tuna tataki with tonnato, slow-cooked beef croquette on confit celeriac, and grouper paired with Oscietra caviar.
New Year’s Eve raises the intensity with blinis topped with caviar and salmon, lobster with white asparagus and sherry sabayon, monkfish with Jerusalem artichoke purée, and a classic Tournedos Rossini. Chocolate mousse with hazelnut praline and black truffle completes the menu.
Christmas Eve €135 per person. New Year’s Eve €250 per person.
Litous 11, Vouliagmeni
11
Four Seasons Astir Palace Athens
At Four Seasons Astir Palace, the holidays unfold with space and restraint. Christmas Eve at Michelin-starred Pelagos features signature caviar pasta and Beef Rossini, accompanied by live strings and sea views. New Year’s Eve expands into a seven-course tasting with a chamber-music atmosphere.
Elsewhere, Mercato offers Italian-leaning comfort with seafood, truffle, Wagyu, and Mont Blanc desserts, while Taverna 37 hosts a convivial Greek table built around sharing and live music.
Christmas Eve at Pelagos €220 per person. New Year’s Eve at Pelagos €480 per person.
Apollonos 40, Vouliagmeni
12
Divani Apollon Palace & Thalasso
Divani Apollon closes the festive circuit with Riviera abundance. Christmas Eve unfolds as a composed tasting menu, moving from blue crab tartare in gyoza pastry and pumpkin cream with smoked eel to turkey roulade with morels and maple-glazed vegetables.
New Year’s Eve becomes a grand international buffet featuring sushi, oysters, Iberico ham, Dover sole, Angus tagliata, multiple carving stations, and a wide-ranging dessert finale that includes Mont Blanc, Saint Honoré, and traditional Greek sweets.
Christmas Eve dinner €150 per person. New Year’s Eve dinner €210 per person.
Agios Nikolaos 10, Vouliagmeni
