Myself and my boyfriend spent 3 nights at the Fresh Hotel in mid-September and we really liked it.
The staff were really nice to us at the hotel – all of them, all of the time which is always a plus. The hotel itself has an ultra-modern style that is quite unique. It has a really simple but colourful design to it and little details like fully revolving doors on the toilet cubicles that make it really interesting. The rooms themselves are quite small by normal standards but nicely decorated and comfortable. The only issue I had was the lack of hairdryer, the lack of a shower door (which caused constant floods in the bathroom - more an issue for the cleaners than us) and the fact that the pillows were so thick that I couldn’t sleep on them without having a crick in my neck the next day!! But all in all, these were minor problems. The breakfast was fantastic – everything you could want from cereal to fruit to a full cooked breakfast (and we’re Irish so we know our cooked breakfasts!). Facilities-wise there is apparently a steam room, although we didn’t try it, and free internet access.
There is also an ice bar on the ground floor where the bar, seats, glasses etc. are all made of ice. It’s expensive and you can only go in there for 25 minutes but it’s another quirky aspect to the Hotel. The pièce de résistance, however, is the roof-top terrace bar complete with huge day-beds and table service for drinks and food. It stays open as long as there are enough people to serve which was about 2-2.30am most nights we were there. There is a view of the Acropolis which is amazing when floodlit at night although it is slightly diminished by the building beside the hotel which has two large aerials on it…that seems to be the theme of Athens planning laws from what I could see though! Overall, however, the view is still spectacular. The pool is also on the roof. It’s pretty small and quite cold but since the temperatures in Athens were in the mid thirties for the entire time we were there, it was lovely and refreshing.
Location-wise I think it is probably best to always turn left and left when you come out of the hotel!! We went to the left and then turned right one day and there seemed to be a lot of deals going down with a higher than average number of police around. This didn’t really bother myself or my boyfriend and we still felt safe but really to get to the centre of Athens the quickest way to go is left out the door of the hotel and left towards the Plaka (old town). We timed it and it took about 6-7 minutes on average to walk to the old part of the city. The bottom of the Acropolis is about 10 minutes walk from the Hotel (but another 10-15 to walk to the top). Like other reviews I’ve read we noticed that the area was a red-light district but it was the quietest I’ve ever seen! There were ladies in the ‘hotel’ next to us but they just hung out in the lobby and kept to themselves. It’s not in your face and it doesn’t feel threatening so it didn’t bother us in the slightest. The area around the Fresh Hotel seems to be a trading area for the most part. There are a lot of small shops, stalls and a huge daily fruit, veg and fish market that make the street to the Plaka a busy place during the day and (see above) much quieter at night. It is not really a touristy area but we felt that made it slightly more authentic. It was also extremely close to everywhere we wanted to go.
To get to the Fresh Hotel from the airport is easily done by Metro which is far cheaper, and probably just as quick, as a taxi. The Metro is only €5 one way to/from the airport and takes about 30 minutes. The Metro stop is Monastiraki or Omonia. When you arrive at the Metro stop the Fresh Hotel is a 5 minute walk up the road. You can get a taxi from the airport quite easily also but I can’t see how it is better as it is more expensive and takes just as long. We took a taxi one-way to the Hotel and the Metro the other way and I think the Metro was much better.
I’m not sure of the price of the hotel as I was lucky enough to be brought there for my birthday but an above average price would be more than reasonable for this lovely hotel. It was a comfortable, well located hotel with lovely staff. We would definitely go there again and would definitely recommend it to anyone going to Athens.
