Summer in the city comes with scorching temperatures in Athens but also great pleasures. For a change I’m not talking food, but the gorgeous screens you can find all over Athens:therino, our open air cinema!
Open air cinemas are just the thing to take your mind off of everything. You walk out of the house, breathe in the slightly cooler evening air and just as dusk sets in the screens will open up to envelope us in their magic.
What’s on the list? It could be anything really. Most likely it’s films that came out last winter, a great way of catching up with any films you missed. Luckily our screenings are never dubbed, except for children movies, so you can enjoy them in their original language.
The best though is that you can watch great classics. Fancy a bit of a Peter Sellers in pink panther? It’s going to roll out in the big screen this Friday at Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center. Yes, in the middle of the park. Oh yes, and these specific screenings are for free as many other activities at this wonderful park.
Important things to know about our therino
Upside: you can grab popcorn, nachos and cheese and other snacks depending on the cinema.
Downside: mosquitos, tiny vampires await for their dinner so get a mosquito repellent with you.
Be warned: these are not smoking free areas, being open air many people will smoke which can make for a very atmospheric screening or really annoy you.
I’m only sharing a few very central & easy access screens. The picture above is my local, cine Kipos in Moschato. Unless you’ve come by for dinner, it’s unlikely to have come to the area as it’s very residential and nothing fancy goes on.
Every neighbourhood has its own little gem like this one. So seek out your closest. The list below is certainly not inclusive. My personal favourites are the last two in Exharheia, mainly for the quality of their movies. Ambient wise, they all compete with each other 😉
Open Air cinemas in central Athens
Check out their respective websites for the latest screenings and offers
- Thissio (guess where: Thisseio)
- Cine paris in Plaka
- Cine dexameni , Kolonaki
- Cine Psiri at Psiri, to the other side of Monastiraki/Plaka
- Cine Aigli, at Zappeio, next to the National garden
- Cine Floisvos, Athens riviera
- Cine Riviera, in Eksarheia district if you are into classics
- Cine Vox, a movie theatre that has been entertaining Athenians since 1938
Do you have a favourite open air cinema in Athens? Maybe one a bit out of the way? Let me know in the comments.
from Athens with love,
Eugenia





Such fun! Wish we had something like this here. 🙂
Yes, it’s really something – and with such hot temperatures impossible not to have them 😉
The open air cinemas in Greece are a neat experience, especially in the summer. There’s nothing quite like watching a movie outdoors while feeling the gorgeous weather of Greece!
That’s so true! the best bit of our Greek summers 🙂