Easter in Athens 2027: Orthodox Easter on Sunday 2 May, the Good Friday Epitaphios, the Holy Flame, the midnight Anastasi and what is shut

💡 The Short Version: Orthodox Easter is Sunday 2 May 2027, five weeks after Western Easter on 28 March. The state sites are closed on Easter Sunday and on 1 May, which is Holy Saturday. Good Friday, 30 April, is the Epitaphios: each parish carries a flower-covered bier through its streets in the evening. Holy Saturday, 1 May, ends with the midnight Anastasi, the bells and fireworks above the Acropolis. The Holy Flame goes first to Agioi Anargyroi in Plaka. The Ministry of Culture’s 2027 hours are published in March. Or book a walk: the Athens: Night Walking Tour with Local Guidead is from €18 for 2 hours.

⚠️ Easter Sunday and 1 May are closed days at the state sites. In 2027 that is Sunday 2 May and Saturday 1 May: the Acropolis, the Ancient Agora and the National Archaeological Museum are shut on both.

The dates

Good Friday to Easter Monday, 30 April to 3 May, are public holidays. Labour Day, 1 May, falls on Holy Saturday, and the Greek press expects the holiday to move to Tuesday 4 May. Many Athenians go to the islands or to their family villages for Easter, according to the City’s guide.

What is open

The Ministry of Culture sets the Easter hours of the state sites and museums each year. The 2026 decision (Government Gazette B 1615 of 23 March 2026) gave these hours, and the 2027 decision is published in March 2027:

The National Archaeological Museum’s own page gives the same four days for 2026. The sites also close on 1 January, 25 March, 1 May and 25 and 26 December: see what to book before you go to Athens and Acropolis tickets. The Acropolis Museum is closed on Easter Sunday and 1 May, and on Good Friday it opens from 12:00 to 18:00: see Acropolis Museum tickets.

Good Friday: the Epitaphios

During the day the women of each parish decorate a wooden bier with fresh flowers as the symbol of Christ’s coffin. In the evening the faithful gather at the church and walk round the neighbourhood behind the priest and the pallbearers, each carrying a beeswax candle, and sing a Byzantine lament for the sorrow of the Virgin Mary. The City’s guide says the procession begins around 21:00.

Times differ by parish, so ask at the church. In 2026 one Plaka church began its service at 19:00 and its procession ended around 23:00 (Monopoli, a Greek news site). The procession of the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral is accompanied by the municipal philharmonic and meets the processions of the other central parishes on Syntagma Square at about 21:30, according to the same article. The candle-lit procession from the church of Agios Georgios on Lycabettus Hill is in Lycabettus Hill.

Holy Saturday: the Holy Flame and the Anastasi

The ceremonies begin with the flame of the Resurrection, which arrives from the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It goes first to Agioi Anargyroi church on Erechtheos Street in Plaka, then to the Metropolitan Cathedral and to churches throughout Attica. Plaka and its churches are in Plaka and Anafiotika.

Crowds fill every church from 22:00 or 23:00, and the rest gather outside nearer midnight, each holding a white candle. At midnight the lights go out, the priest lights a candle from the holy fire and announces “Christos Anesti”, and the flame passes from person to person. The bells ring across Athens, and fireworks burst above the Acropolis. The City’s guide names the church of Agios Georgios at the top of Lycabettus Hill as a dramatic place to watch the candles wind down the hill afterwards. A Plaka church’s service starts at about 23:00 and lasts about two and a half hours, according to Monopoli.

Candles at the Easter Vigil in the Church of the Transfiguration in Kallithea, Athens. Photo: Magnus.chronicles, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Easter food

Families break the fast after the midnight service with magiritsa, a soup made from the offal of the next day’s lamb, spring onions, dill and rice, thickened with beaten egg and lemon, and then crack red eggs tip against tip. The biscuits are koulourakia and the bread is tsoureki, a braided brioche. On Easter Sunday the lamb is roasted whole on a spit, and kokoretsi is lamb or goat intestines wrapped round seasoned offal. Good Friday is the strictest fast, and families eat lentil soup without olive oil.

The City’s guide says many restaurants in Athens serve a traditional Easter meal. Book your table. The tavernas and the market are in where to eat in Athens.

Red eggs, Easter candles and a tsoureki loaf. Photo: ManosHacker, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Planning the days

• Daylight and weather. On 1 May 2027 the sun rises at about 06:30 and sets at about 20:14. The clocks go forward on Sunday 28 March. At the Elliniko station the mean daily maximum is 19.6°C in April and 24.4°C in May. The other months are in the best time to visit Athens.
• Getting there. Syntagma, on metro lines 2 and 3, is the station for the square, and Monastiraki, on lines 1 and 3, for Plaka. The Metropolitan Cathedral is on Mitropoleos Street. Fares are in Athens public transport.
• Day trips. Delphi, Cape Sounion and the other trips are in day trips from Athens.

Where to stay

The links go to the hotel on Hotels.com. Plaka and Mitropoleos Street are beside the churches. Where to stay in Athens compares the areas, and hotels near the Acropolis lists the closest.

Electra Metropolis Athens

Mitropoleos · 216 rooms and suites · about 250 m from Syntagma Square · Hotels.comad

A five-star hotel at the start of Mitropoleos Street, with the ruins of the wall of Themistocles and a 16th-century chapel built into its foundations. Some rooms and the roof garden face the Acropolis, according to the hotel.

Electra Palace Athens

Nikodimou, Plaka · Hotels.comad

A neoclassical five-star hotel in Plaka, with an outdoor pool in season facing the Acropolis and the Electra Roof Garden restaurant on the eighth floor, according to the hotel.

Plaka Hotel

7 Kapnikareas and Mitropoleos · 71 rooms · Hotels.comad

A three-star superior hotel redecorated in 2019, with a roof terrace bar and restaurant looking at the Acropolis.

Next

Christmas in Athens covers the other festival of the year, and Athens in one or two days fits the sights round the closed days. Where to stay in Athens compares the areas. Catholic Holy Week in Rome is in Easter in Rome.