Cafeography
Athens · Kolonos & Sepolia

Cafés in Kolonos & Sepolia

A kafeneío beside Plato’s Academy, an all-night counter by Attiki station and Sepolia’s market street, Dyrrachiou.

Photo: Wendy Wei, Pexels License

Kolonos (Κολωνός), where Sophocles set Oedipus at Colonus, was rural until the 1960s, with farms, olive trees and the Cephissus running through it.1 Sepolia (Σεπόλια) once held Athens’ Great Olive Grove, more than 150,000 trees.1 Both filled up in the 1960s and 1970s as people came to the city for work, many settling near the central railway station.1

The coffee here is residential: cafés on Lenorman, Liosion and Dyrrachiou, which have the most, and kafeneía (coffeehouses) on the side streets, such as Καφενείο Ο Μύθος (Kafeneio O Mythos) on Astrous. LiFO’s 2015 piece on Sepolia puts it about five minutes from central Athens, with railway lines forming a boundary that is hard to cross by car.2

Local tip: Pair a walk around Plato’s Academy, at Kratylou and Tripoleos, with a coffee further along Tripoleos at Modesto Coffee.1

At a glance

76Cafés listed
1With opening hours
–Earliest opening
–Latest closing
  • Most common features: outdoor seating (5%), card payment (1%), 24 hours (1%).

Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in Athens.

Coffee chains in Kolonos & Sepolia

Plato’s Academy, Lenorman and a kafeneío

Plato founded his Academy around 387 BCE, and it ran until Justinian ordered it closed in 529 CE; the site is at Kratylou and Tripoleos.1 Modesto Coffee is on Tripoleos, the street that gives the site its address.1 To Kafeneio Stin Akadimia Platonos (the kafeneío at Plato’s Academy) is at Monastiriou 140, and it appears on the site of European Village, a non-profit, alongside a farm, a nomadic kitchen and an alternative bookshop.3

Lenorman, named after the French archaeologist Charles Lenormant, cuts through Kolonos.1 The Old Tobacco Factory at no. 218 opened in 1925, reopened in 1930 after a fire, and since a 2021 restoration by NEON has housed the Library of the Greek Parliament.1 The Kolonos Theatre is at Kapaneos and Ioanninon, on the street where you will also find Lili’s, at no. 62.1

Sepolia and Dyrrachiou

Sepolia had orchards and vacant lots until the late 1980s, then apartment blocks and supermarkets; old houses and abandoned workshops survived thanks to low building density and the nearby hills.2 Dyrrachiou has a commercial strip that starts at the National Road bridge, and its cafés include Artisti cafe at nos. 4–6 and BEat Σεπολια at no. 50.2

LiFO’s 2015 piece found Ismini Street informally pedestrian, with children playing football in the evening, and noted that the public courts at Tritonas are where the Antetokounmpo brothers started.2 A 2017 mural of Giannis led to the renovation of the Sepolia sports center court.1

Liosion through the night and Lofos Skouze

Streat cafe, next to Attiki metro station, opened in 2008 and runs 24 hours a day.4 The coffee is Buondi, and the kitchen covers burgers, club sandwiches, pizza, Caesar salad, omelettes, crepes and desserts, with delivery at set hours.4

People from the Cyclades, especially Mykonos, settled in the area just before World War II, and banker George Skouze planted trees and vines on the hill that bears his name in the early 1800s.1 Local protests helped stop development of his land after it changed hands in 1918, and the church of Saint Emilianos, completed in 1976, stands on top.1

Sources

  1. Sepolia & Kolonos neighbourhood guide, This is Athens, accessed November 2026
  2. Πώς κυλούν οι μέρες στα Σεπόλια; (Dimitris Kyriazis, 20 May 2015), LiFO, accessed November 2026
  3. European Village, European Village, accessed November 2026
  4. Streat Cafe, Streat Cafe, accessed November 2026
Keep exploring

More of Athens

Monastiraki & Psyrri

76 cafés

Thiseio & Petralona

61 cafés

Syntagma & Plaka

142 cafés

Koukaki & Makrygianni

97 cafés

Exarchia

176 cafés

Kolonaki

69 cafés

Pangrati

103 cafés

Kerameikos & Gazi

52 cafés

Metaxourgeio & Omonia

81 cafés

Kypseli

202 cafés

Ampelokipoi

179 cafés

Ilisia & Zografou

127 cafés

In Kolonos & Sepolia, also browse: Outdoor seating Open by 6am

FAQ

Kolonos & Sepolia cafés: questions

Where can you have coffee near Plato’s Academy in Kolonos, Athens?

Modesto Coffee is further along Tripoleos from Plato’s Academy in Kolonos. To Kafeneio Stin Akadimia Platonos, at Monastiriou 140, appears on the site of European Village, a non-profit, alongside a farm, a nomadic kitchen and an alternative bookshop.

Which café is open all night near Attiki station in Sepolia, Athens?

Streat cafe, next to Attiki metro station on Liosion, opened in 2008 and runs 24 hours a day. It serves Buondi coffee with burgers, club sandwiches, pizza, omelettes, crepes and desserts, and it also delivers at set hours.

What is the history of Sepolia and Kolonos in Athens?

Sepolia once held Athens’ Great Olive Grove, with more than 150,000 trees, and Kolonos was rural until the 1960s, with farms and olive trees. Both filled up in the 1960s and 1970s as people came to the city for work. Sepolia kept orchards and vacant lots until the late 1980s.

For café owners

Own a café in Kolonos & Sepolia?

Free listings are free for good. A featured page gives you photos, a menu and your own URL, in your café's own design, for less than a coffee a day.

Get listed, free See a page in its own design