Athens

Hi Helena,

I don't know how you define "reasonable," but we got reservations on Orbitz for the Lotus Hotel in Athens for an upcoming trip. The price was $110/night (yes, USD, not euros) including breakfast and all taxes if we prepaid, with no cancellation possible. Very good reviews on Tripadvisor. The other one we were considering is Centrotel. I believe the better location of Lotus is what decided us, though Centrotel also has very good reviews; and its regular price is lower.
Besides the blockbuster sights, I have scoped out the following for us to see (probably way too much):
Jewish Museum and Greek Folk Art Museum in Plaka, Benaki Museum east of Syntagma Square, and Popular Musical Instruments Museum and Kyriazopoulos Ceramic Collection in the Anafiotika area.

Helena

The Attalos is a safe bet, often recommended here

http://www.attaloshotel.com/reservation.html

A reasonable position for the main sites and easy access by metro from the aiport, plus an excellent view from the roof garden.

A couple of more downmarket but perfectly serviceable options are the Tempi - http://www.tempihotel.gr/ - and the Phaedra - http://www.hotelphaedra.com/.

Be warned that the first of these two doesn't have a lift. (A fact I'd forgotten until we turned up a couple of weeks ago at a time when my partner had a bad back. Our room was on the third floor!)

In terms of sites I would add the Keramicos to the obvious places. Some great statues, a brilliant view of the Acropolis, and a nice little museum.

As well as the Acropolis itself I would make time to go up Philopappou, the hill directly to the south west. Some of the best views in the city are from here.

You can see both on this map, kindly provided by Matt Barrett, who has a brilliant site with lots of information about Athens.

http://www.athensguide.com/map/athens.htm

Have a great time

Alan

We chose Attalos for both reasons Alan mentioned, and it looked nice. Probably the only part I didn't like about it was no complimentary breakfast. To purchase breakfast is 8 Euro, which I feel is a little steep.

Last fall we stayed at the Marble House Hotel which is just below the Acropolis and close to the Metro with lots of restaurants and a supermarket nearby. We walked everywhere except when we went to the National Museum by Metro.The hotel is in a quiet cul de sac and for a double room with ensuite we paid 45 Euros a night.