Athens in a day, from the rock first thing to the floodlit Parthenon from the hill opposite.

If you only have one day in Athens, start at the top. This plan climbs the Acropolis in the first slot of the morning, when the marble is still cool and the cruise groups have not arrived, goes down to the Agora where the Athenians gathered, crosses Plaka to eat on a rooftop with the Parthenon in front of you and leaves the museum for the afternoon. It ends where the rock looks best: on Filopappou Hill, with the sun falling on the Parthenon. It is all done on foot.

Tickets, before you leave home

Acropolis tickets are bought only with a day and time, at hhticket.gr, the Ministry of Culture's official portal. General admission costs €30. EU citizens under 25 and under-18s from outside the EU enter free, but they must also get their ticket with a time slot and carry ID or a passport, because it is checked at the gate. The slot marks the entry time, not the exit: once inside you stay as long as you like. The 8:00 slot sells out days ahead in season: buy it as soon as you have a date. The Agora (€20) and the Acropolis Museum (€20) can also be bought online.

The day, hour by hour

8:00 · The Acropolis. Enter by the west access, the main one, climbing from the pedestrian street Dionysiou Areopagitou. The Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Erechtheion with its caryatids and the Parthenon. Allow two and a half hours with the slopes. Bring water and shoes with grip: the marble of the steps is slippery.

10:45 · The Ancient Agora. You go down past the Areopagus rock and in a quarter of an hour you are in the public square of classical Athens, with the Temple of Hephaestus, the best preserved in Greece, and the museum in the Stoa of Attalos. During the works you enter from Thiseio square. An hour and a half in the shade of the trees.

13:00 · Lunch in Plaka. You cross Plaka along Adrianou Street, among shops and neoclassical houses, to the Electra Roof Garden, on the roof of the Electra Palace hotel: Mediterranean cooking with the Acropolis opposite. It serves lunch from 13:00 to 17:00; book by phone. If you want something cheaper and it is not Sunday, Fanis' Karamanlidika, next to the central market, has mezedes and cured meats.

15:00 · The Acropolis Museum. At the foot of the rock, next to Akropoli metro. You walk on a glass floor with an ancient street beneath, see five of the original caryatids and, on the top floor, the Parthenon frieze mounted with its real orientation and the rock on the other side of the picture window. Two hours. Mind: in winter, Monday to Thursday, it closes at 17:00; on Friday it opens until 22:00 and at weekends until 20:00.

17:00 · Sunset on Filopappou. From the museum door you cross Dionysiou Areopagitou and climb Pikionis's cobbled paths among pines. In twenty minutes you have the Parthenon in front of you, at your level. In winter the sun falls around five; in summer, go up after eight.

If it rains or you have children

In the rain, swap the Agora for the National Archaeological Museum, under cover and with the Mask of Agamemnon. With small children, the Acropolis works if you go up early and without hurry; the museum, with its glass floor, they like more than the rock. The loukoumades at Lukumades, honey doughnuts, make a good mid-afternoon reward. If you already know Athens, swap the morning for the Greek cooking class with Alternative Athens.