Ergon Bakehouse Athens

Spoiler: the breakfast is excellent at Ergon Bakehouse Athens. This downtown boutique hotel is attached to a bakery, not the other way around, and it’s clear from the outside that the owners are passionate about sourdough first and foremost. The street-level storefront is a stylish, sun-filled café where tempting pastries are artfully displayed and the air smells like artisanal loaves rising in the oven. The aroma wafts upstairs into the hotel’s rooms and suites, and each room is thoughtfully stocked with house-baked treats and a Nespresso machine in anticipation of sudden cravings. Room service from the bakery is also available nearly around the clock.

The in-room aesthetic matches that of the bakery below: sleek and modern, yet warm and approachable, outfitted in earth tones and full of natural light. Some of the decor, like sliding wooden and glass doors that separate living and sleeping areas, look Japanese-inspired, while the bathrooms’ cool subway tiling feels lifted out of a chic coffee shop in New York. Amenities vary: some rooms have freestanding tubs, and others have private balconies overlooking the street scenes below.

A rooftop terrace with a restaurant is in the works, but for now, there's the all-day café and bar connected to the ground-level bakery. Whatever the time of day, and no matter what the pastry chefs are whipping up — from sourdough toast slathered with handmade preserves in the morning to piping-hot focaccia and pizza into the afternoon and evening — there’s hardly a more inviting spot to linger over a coffee or a glass of local wine, before or after exploring the Greek capital.