Ankara vs Athens

Turkey · Middle East

Ankara

is Kavaklıdere
Greece · Europe

Athens

is Kerameikos

Kavaklıdere is comfortable and knows it. Embassy staff and civil servants take long afternoons on Tunalı Hilmi, families circle the swans in Kuğulu Park, and the bar strip on Bestekar is dense but tidy, two blocks of meyhanes and fasıl singers you can cover on foot in ten minutes. Kerameikos runs later and rougher. The old gasworks are venues now, graffiti covers the neoclassical blocks, and dinner on Plateon Street starts at 10 with an ancient cemetery crumbling across the road. Ankara gives you a pleasant evening; Athens gives you a night that gets away from you. Pick by how much sleep you want.

The Brooklyn of

Ankara is Kavaklıdere.

Kavaklıdere is where Ankara goes to sit down. Tuesday afternoon, Tunalı Hilmi Caddesi fills with embassy staff, students and civil servants moving between patisseries and pavement tables, while families watch the swans at Kuğulu Park. Saturday night moves one street over to Bestekar Caddesi and Tunus Caddesi, two dozen bars in two blocks, fasıl music coming out of the meyhanes. Turkey's first private winery opened here in 1929.

Kuğulu Park was laid out in 1958 on the poplar-and-stream land that named the district, and the swans on its pond were gifts from Vienna.
The Brooklyn of

Athens is Kerameikos.

Kerameikos is where Athens quits putting on a show for tourists. Old gasworks turned cultural spaces, street art crawling up neoclassical facades, and cocktail bars with names that sound like bad poetry. The ancient cemetery is right there, crumbling alongside new restaurants on Plateon Street. Dinner at 10pm, drinks at midnight, nobody in a rush.

The 11-acre Kerameikos Archaeological Site - one of the ancient world's most important cemeteries - sits near the bars and restaurants that have colonized Plateon Street and Avdi Square in the last decade.
The numbers

At a glance.

Ankara Athens
Region Middle East Europe
Country Turkey Greece
Neighborhood Kavaklıdere Kerameikos
Currency TRY EUR
Language Turkish Greek
Cost level $$ Moderate $$ Moderate
Best months May and September May and October
Local time - UTC+3
Plug EU plug EU plug
Emergency 112 112
Vibe overlap

What they share, and what they don't.

Both

Nightlife

Ankara only

Coffee cultureLaid-backLive musicNatural wineWalkable

Athens only

Street artGalleriesGrittyEmergingLGBTQ-friendly
The verdict

It depends on the weekend.

Ankara Unhurried afternoons, walkable streets, and live fasıl in a compact bar strip that never feels like work.

Athens Late dinners, street art on old facades, and a rougher, gay-friendly scene that runs past midnight.

Read Ankara in full → Read Athens in full →
If you like this

Try one of these.

Ankara vs Belgrade

Middle East · Europe

Ankara vs Istanbul

Middle East

Athens vs Catania

Europe