athens hotels

Hi,
Well, I've just spent the last couple of days checking out Athens
accomodation and can't believe just how pricey it's gotten since I was
last there. It doesn't seem to matter the quality of the
acccomodation, for what you get it all seems very over-priced, from
the Grand Bretagne down to what used to be laughingly called budget
accomodation. Istanbul, by comparison, is a treasure trove of
excellent accomodation at great value, in a city that leaves Athens
for dead in terms of color and atmosphere - and I say that as someone
of Greek parentage!

Of the stuff on offer, the hotels that seemed to represent best value
for what is on offer are the Cypria, Austria, and King Jason, each a
little less costly then its predecessor. I had initially included the
Alma, Ionis, and Cecil, but scratched them due to some poor reviews
I've heard/read. The Attalos isn't bad, but it's really gone up in
price in recent times and isn't really budget at around 90 Euros a
night - one wonders if they're getting carried away by being so highly
featured on Matt Barrett's sites. It was only a few years ago they
were around $40 US a night.

Bottom line, does anyone out there have any reccomendations for hotels
in the 50 Euro range or less? There are a few listed, but none that
really grab your attention as representing great value for money. What
happened to all that stuff about Athens accomodation suffering a
severe downturn in the aftermath of the Olympics and the surfeit of
new hotels littered across the landscape?

As things stand we'll probably be booking into the Cypria so we can
sit on the balcony in the evening and sip a wine whilst looking up at
the Acropolis. My question is therefore more academic than anything
else as I'm curious to know whether Athens truly has any good quality
budget accomodation left these days around the city center.

Cheers.........Tim