Will you visit Athens for your vacations, are you a keen jogger and you want to keep up with your running routine? Or are you a resident of the Greek capital and you don't know where you can find a quiet place to make your favourite exercise? Well, there is a solution. In Athens, you can find many places for jogging, and some of them are located in a lovely landscape. Parks and areas near the sea are waiting to be explored by you. But what you have to keep in mind is that you should run early in the morning or late at night because especially in summer, the weather is hot in Athens. Furthermore, you should avoid running on the street because the Greek drivers are not as careful as they should be, and the sidewalks are not wide. If you don't like weaving in and out of people, it is better to avoid pedestrians in Athens Center or other districts, where tourists and other people stroll around, and you don't have space for your fitness exercise.
In the area around Syntagma and Plaka, the safest place to jog is inside the National Garden, which is a lovely and big park with great pathways with shadow. In this district, is also located the pedestrian Street Dionisiou Aeropagitou with an interesting jogging route around the Acropolis Hill that ends to Monastiraki square. If you don't mind running on rugged terrain, you can try the hills of Pnyx, Filopappos or Lycabettus, which is situated in the nearby district of Kolonaki.
In the areas of Pagkrati and Mets, Kallimarmaro is definitely worth a visit. The route above Panathenaic Stadium is one of the best- kept secrets of Athens running. The classic marble landmark is a stop on many tourist visits, but only a few people know that a path runs along the top of the stadium and that there is also a park on the neighbouring hill with an incredible view of Athens.
Outside the centre of Athens, a great place is Mountain Imittos that you can access from Kaisariani, Papagou or Agia Paraskevi. You will have a stunning view of the entire city, its suburbs, the Port of Piraeus and the islands of the Saronic Gulf. On this mountain, you will feel like jogging inside a forest, far away from the large city. The fresh air is the ultimate boost for your exercise! In the northern suburbs, near Marousi and Kifisia, you can also find the Alsos Syngrou, which is a wooded park with many trails to get lost in among the trees.
In the southern suburbs, it is great to run by the sea along the Athens Riviera from Voula towards Kavouri all along up to the Vouliagmeni Peninsula. The sidewalk there is wide enough, and you can feel the aura of the sea while jogging. Exercising on a beach is also very interesting, but running on the sand is quite difficult.
