The best Athens souvenirs run from olive oil, honey and worry beads to handmade leather sandals, Greek jewellery, ceramics and Korres cosmetics, found in Plaka, Monastiraki and the Central Market. Build your souvenir shopping into an easy city visit with skip-the-line sightseeing tickets and tours from My Greece Tours.
Bringing home a piece of Greece is part of the Athens travel guide. The sections below cover food and drink gifts, leather and olive wood, worry beads and evil eyes, jewellery and ceramics, cosmetics and modern gifts, and where to shop.
What are the best souvenirs to buy in Athens?
The best souvenirs to buy in Athens include food and drink such as olive oil, honey, herbs and ouzo; handmade leather sandals and olive-wood goods; worry beads (komboloi) and evil-eye charms; Greek gold and silver jewellery; hand-painted ceramics; natural cosmetics like Korres; and modern items such as Parthenon prints and tote bags. They range from edible treats to lasting keepsakes.
Athens is a wonderful city for souvenir shopping, offering an enormous range of authentic Greek gifts and keepsakes to suit every taste and budget, from edible treats to be enjoyed at home to beautiful objects that will last a lifetime. The best souvenirs reflect genuine Greek culture, craft and produce rather than mass-made trinkets, and the city’s old quarters are full of shops, stalls and markets where you can find them. Among the most popular and authentic choices are the country’s superb food and drink products, such as olive oil, honey, herbs and spirits; traditional handicrafts including leather sandals and olive-wood items; cultural keepsakes like worry beads and the famous blue evil-eye charm; fine Greek jewellery inspired by ancient designs; hand-painted ceramics bearing classical motifs; and natural Greek cosmetics. Modern, fun souvenirs such as Parthenon-printed bags and quirky shop finds round out the choice. Over the following sections, this guide sets out the best things to buy and where to find them, so you can bring home a meaningful piece of Greece. Thoughtful souvenirs make the trip last longer. They complement the shopping covered in the Athens shopping guide. Edible gifts are a favourite place to start.
What food and drink souvenirs should you buy?
The best edible souvenirs from Athens are high-quality Greek olive oil, often in beautiful bottles; local honey, often thyme or pine; herbs and spices like oregano and Greek mountain tea; olives and olive products; and drinks such as ouzo, tsipouro and Greek wine. Traditional sweets like loukoumi (Greek delight), baklava and pasteli also travel well and make delicious gifts.
For many visitors, the most enjoyable souvenirs from Athens are edible and drinkable, capturing the wonderful flavours of Greece to enjoy long after the trip. Top of the list is Greek extra-virgin olive oil, renowned for its rich flavour and quality and often sold in beautifully designed bottles and tins that make handsome gifts. Greek honey is another superb choice, particularly the prized thyme and pine varieties, along with herbs and spices such as fragrant oregano, sage and mint, and the beloved Greek mountain tea, all of which you can buy loose and inexpensively in and around the Athens Central Market and on the spice street of Evripidou. Olives and olive products, jars of preserved delicacies, and Greek spirits such as ouzo, the anise-flavoured aperitif, tsipouro and bottles of Greek wine are all popular drinkable gifts. For a sweet treat, traditional confections travel well, including loukoumi (Greek delight), sticky baklava, and pasteli, the sesame-and-honey bars. These authentic flavours of Greece are affordable, easy to pack and always welcome at home. Edible souvenirs are a delicious way to remember Athens. The food itself appears in the Greek dishes to try guide. Handmade crafts are equally tempting.
What about leather sandals and olive wood?
Handmade leather sandals are a classic Athens souvenir, found in Monastiraki and Plaka from around €30 or less, including famous workshops that have shod celebrities. Olive-wood products, such as cutting boards, bowls, spoons and ornaments, are beautiful and practical, each with a unique grain. Both are authentic, durable and quintessentially Greek gifts to take home.
Two of the most quintessentially Greek handicraft souvenirs are leather sandals and olive-wood goods, both authentic, practical and lasting reminders of Athens. Handmade leather sandals are a timeless classic, drawing on a tradition that stretches back to antiquity, and you can find them throughout the old town, especially in Monastiraki and Plaka, with budget pairs starting from around €30 or even less; some workshops are famous, including long-established sandal-makers that have crafted footwear for international celebrities and film stars, where you can have a pair fitted or even made to measure. They make a stylish, comfortable and characterful gift or personal keepsake. Equally appealing are products carved from Greek olive wood, the beautiful, hard-wearing timber of the olive tree, prized for its rich golden colour and distinctive swirling grain that makes every piece unique. Olive-wood cutting boards, salad bowls, spoons and utensils, and small ornaments are both decorative and genuinely useful in the kitchen, combining craft and practicality. Durable, natural and unmistakably Greek, leather sandals and olive wood are among the most satisfying souvenirs to carry home from Athens. They are easy to find in the old-town markets. The flea market is detailed in the Monastiraki guide. Cultural charms carry deeper meaning.
What are worry beads and evil-eye charms?
Worry beads (komboloi) are strings of beads, made from amber, coral, resin or olive wood, fingered for relaxation and a beloved part of Greek culture, making a meaningful keepsake. The blue-and-white evil-eye charm (mati) is believed to ward off bad luck and is sold as pendants, bracelets, keyrings and wall hangings. Both are authentic, affordable and culturally rich Athens souvenirs.
Among the most meaningful and characterful souvenirs from Athens are two cultural keepsakes deeply woven into Greek daily life: worry beads and the evil-eye charm. Worry beads, known as komboloi, are short strings of beads, traditionally made from materials such as amber, coral, resin, bone or olive wood, that Greeks finger, click and roll through their hands as a way to relax, pass the time and relieve stress, a charming and very Greek habit. A set of komboloi makes a tactile, affordable and authentic gift, and specialist shops in Athens offer beautiful examples in a range of materials and prices, with knowledgeable sellers happy to explain their use. Equally iconic is the mati, the blue-and-white evil-eye charm, a powerful symbol in Greek folk belief thought to protect the wearer against bad luck and the envious “evil eye”. You will find the eye everywhere, fashioned into pendants, bracelets, rings, keyrings, wall hangings and decorations, in everything from cheap trinkets to fine jewellery, making it one of the most popular and recognisable souvenirs of all. Both the komboloi and the evil eye carry genuine cultural meaning, making them keepsakes with a story. They are sold throughout the old town. Jewellery and ceramics offer lasting beauty.
What about jewellery, ceramics and cosmetics?
Greek jewellery inspired by ancient and Byzantine designs, from gold laurel-wreath pieces to silver evil-eye pendants, makes a beautiful, timeless souvenir. Hand-painted ceramics with classical Greek motifs, such as plates, vases and tiles, are lovely keepsakes. For modern gifts, Greek natural cosmetics like Korres, made with olive oil, honey and herbs, are popular and easy to pack, with a flagship store on Ermou Street.
For souvenirs of lasting beauty, Athens excels in jewellery, ceramics and natural cosmetics. Greek jewellery is both timeless and symbolic, drawing on the rich traditions of ancient and Byzantine design, so you can find everything from elegant gold pieces echoing the laurel wreaths and motifs of antiquity to delicate silver evil-eye pendants and meander-patterned rings, available across a wide range of prices from museum shops, designer boutiques and the workshops of Plaka and Monastiraki. Hand-painted ceramics make another timeless keepsake, with plates, bowls, vases and decorative tiles bearing classical Greek motifs such as the meander key pattern, ancient figures and the blue-and-white of the islands, beautiful to display at home. For a more modern and easily packable gift, Greek natural cosmetics are hugely popular, above all the well-known brand Korres, whose skincare and beauty products are made with Greek ingredients such as olive oil, honey, yoghurt and herbs and which has a flagship store on the main shopping street of Ermou, alongside other Greek natural-beauty brands. These elegant, high-quality souvenirs combine Greek heritage with everyday usefulness and appeal. They make especially thoughtful gifts to bring home. The best are found across the central shopping districts. Knowing where to shop completes the picture.
Where should you buy souvenirs in Athens?
The best places for souvenirs in Athens are Plaka, with its craft, jewellery and gift shops; the Monastiraki flea market for sandals, evil eyes and antiques; Ermou Street for cosmetics and brands; and the Central Market and Evripidou street for food, herbs and spirits. Shop a few blocks from the busiest spots for better value, and look for genuine handmade, local products.
Knowing where to shop helps you find the best and most authentic souvenirs at fair prices, and Athens conveniently concentrates its souvenir shopping in a few central, walkable areas. The picturesque old quarter of Plaka, beneath the Acropolis, is full of charming shops selling crafts, jewellery, ceramics, leather sandals, worry beads and gifts, making it the most pleasant place to browse, though prices on the busiest lanes can be higher. Adjoining Monastiraki, with its famous flea market and the lanes around Ifestou Street and Avissinias Square, is the classic spot for sandals, evil-eye charms, olive wood, antiques and quirky finds, often at keener prices and with room for gentle haggling. The main shopping street of Ermou is the place for cosmetics brands like Korres and high-street shopping, while for edible and drinkable gifts, the Varvakios Central Market on Athinas Street and the spice-and-deli shops of nearby Evripidou street offer olive oil, herbs, spices, teas, olives and spirits at local prices. As a general rule, walking a few blocks away from the most crowded tourist spots brings better value and more genuine goods, and seeking out handmade, locally produced items ensures a souvenir worth keeping. With this guidance, souvenir shopping is a pleasure. The old town is profiled in the Plaka guide. The questions below cover the points visitors ask most.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I buy as a souvenir in Athens?
The best souvenirs in Athens include Greek olive oil, honey, herbs and ouzo, handmade leather sandals, olive-wood goods, worry beads (komboloi), evil-eye charms, Greek gold and silver jewellery inspired by ancient designs, hand-painted ceramics, and natural cosmetics like Korres. They range from edible treats to lasting, authentic keepsakes.
Where is the best place to buy souvenirs in Athens?
The best places to buy souvenirs in Athens are Plaka for crafts, jewellery and gifts, the Monastiraki flea market for sandals, evil eyes and antiques, Ermou Street for cosmetics and brands, and the Central Market and Evripidou street for olive oil, herbs, spices and spirits. Shopping a few blocks from the busiest spots gives better value.
What is a traditional Greek souvenir?
Traditional Greek souvenirs include worry beads (komboloi), the blue evil-eye charm (mati), handmade leather sandals, olive-wood products, and food and drink such as olive oil, honey and ouzo. Greek jewellery inspired by ancient and Byzantine designs and hand-painted ceramics with classical motifs are also classic, authentic keepsakes.