The outdoor yard
Aircraft, guns and tanks up close — free.
Archaeaoris — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jean Housen — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jean Housen — CC BY-SA 4.0 · George E. Koronaios — CC BY-SA 4.0
Greece's national army museum, in a Brutalist concrete building of the 1970s on Vasilissis Sofias, between the Benaki Museum and the Museum of Cycladic Art. Its span is very wide: it begins with the **wars of ancient Greece** — weapons, armour and models of Marathon, Salamis and Thermopylae — passes through the Byzantines and Ottoman rule, then the nineteenth-century **Greek war of independence** with its arms, banners and portraits of its leaders. Its strongest sections concern the **twentieth century**: the Balkan wars, the First World War, then the **Second World War**, which occupies a large area — the Greek resistance, the occupation, and the great famine in Athens in the winter of 1941–42, in which tens of thousands starved. In the **outdoor courtyard** are fighter aircraft, guns and tanks you can walk up to and inspect closely — and that part is **free and open**, and children love it in particular. ⚠ The indoor display is **conventional and text-heavy** and has not been fully modernised — don't expect an interactive museum.
Aircraft, guns and tanks up close — free.
Resistance, occupation and the 1941–42 Athens famine.
Marathon, Salamis and Thermopylae in miniature.
Rizari 2 & Vasilissis Sofias, 10675 Athens
The Byzantine & Christian MuseumThe Byzantine Museum carries the thousand years the antiquities route drops: pag1 minute walk4.5
Museum of Cycladic ArtAn elegant private museum in the **Kolonaki** district, holding one of the most 3 minutes walk4.6
National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST)Greece's national museum of contemporary art, known by its Greek acronym **EMST*4 minutes walk4.3
The Benaki Museum of Greek CultureThe Benaki is Greece's only unbroken story: Stone Age pottery to the 1821 indepe5 minutes walk4.6
National GalleryGreece's principal museum of **modern Greek art**, reopened in **2021** after an6 minutes walk4.7**The outdoor yard, very much so** — real fighter aircraft, guns and tanks they can stand beside and photograph, and it is **free** with no ticket needed. Indoors is less successful: the display is conventional, text-heavy and behind glass, and anyone under ten will tire of it. ⚠ Note too that the **Second World War section** deals with occupation, resistance and the **Athens famine** in which tens of thousands died — heavy content needing explanation with older children. The practical summary: the yard for everyone, the interior for those interested.
This street is **Athens's museum row**, all of them minutes apart on foot: the **Benaki Museum** (Greek art and history across the ages, in a handsome mansion), the **Museum of Cycladic Art**, the **Byzantine and Christian Museum**, the **National Gallery**, and the War Museum among them. **Evangelismos** metro serves them all. ⚠ Don't try to do them all in a day — pick **two** and take a break in the **National Garden** or at a Kolonaki café in between.