Athens City Guide - Special Events

Apokries (Carnival)
February-March (depending when Easter falls)
Festivities and celebrations. Plaka, Moschato and throughout the city

Independence Day
March
Military parades celebrating the anniversary of the end of Ottoman occupation.
Syntagma Square and throughout the city

Easter
March-April
The Greek Orthodox faith's most important celebration sees candlelit processions, solemn masses and firework displays.
Churches throughout the city

Rally Acropolis
June
Car rally held on rough, rocky mountain roads around Athens.
Acropolis
Website: www.acropolisrally.gr

Athens Festival
June-September
International musicians, actors and dancers give open-air evening performances.
Herod Atticus Theatre and Lykavittós Theatre in the city centre, and the Epidaurus Amphitheatre
Website: www.greekfestival.gr

Rockwave Festival
June
A three-day, open-air rock festival.
Athens coast
Website: www.rockwavefestival.gr

Óchi Day (Patriotic Day)
October
Military parades celebrating Greece's decisive ‘Ohi' (‘No') to Mussolini during WWII.
Syntagma Square and throughout the city

Athens Marathon
November
Competitors run the original 26-mile (42km) marathon route, dating back to 490BC.
From Marathon on the coast to the Panathenaic Stadium in central Athens
Website: www.athensmarathon.com