Skip to content
Menu
Hidden gem3rd – 6th c. ADFree

Roman Baths at Zappeion

Roman Baths in Athens

bath · Central Athens, Greece

What it is
The Roman Baths at Zappeion are a late Roman bath house, built after the incursion of the Heruli at the end of the 3rd century AD and in use into the 6th, found during the building of the Athens metro and now shown under a glass roof beside Amalias Avenue, at the edge of the National Gardens (the Ministry).
What you’ll see
The bath house was so well preserved that the metro's air shaft, which its discovery interrupted, was moved further south so that the remains could stay where they were found.
Worth the trip?
As a five-minute stop on the way between Syntagma Square and the Temple of Olympian Zeus, yes: it is seen from the street, at any hour (the Ministry; OpenStreetMap). It is not a destination in itself.
Getting there & cost
The baths lie inside the National Gardens by the Zappeion, along Amalias Avenue (the Ministry). Buses and trolleys stop at "Zappeio" about 80 m away (OpenStreetMap).Free · checked 9 October 2026Hours, tickets and parking
Excavated walls of rubble and squared stone, with a small brick arch, in a pit below street level, under a modern glass and steel roof edged by a railing.
The bath house under its protective roof, seen from the street. · Photo: Tomisti · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A small round-headed arch of thin red bricks set in a wall of stone and mortar, opening into a dark chamber.
A brick arch in the walls of the baths. · Photo: George E. Koronaios · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The Roman Baths at Zappeion are a late Roman bath house, built after the incursion of the Heruli at the end of the 3rd century AD and in use into the 6th, found during the building of the Athens metro and now shown under a glass roof beside Amalias Avenue, at the edge of the National Gardens (the Ministry). You can see them at any time from the pavement and from a path around them (the Ministry).

What is there today

The bath house was so well preserved that the metro’s air shaft, which its discovery interrupted, was moved further south so that the remains could stay where they were found. It was conserved, roofed and opened to the public in 2003–2004 (the Ministry). What you see from the railings are the walls of the bath rooms in stone and brick, below street level under the modern roof (the photographs).

Is it worth the trip?

As a five-minute stop on the way between Syntagma Square and the Temple of Olympian Zeus, yes: it is seen from the street, at any hour (the Ministry; OpenStreetMap). It is not a destination in itself.

Getting there

The baths lie inside the National Gardens by the Zappeion, along Amalias Avenue (the Ministry). Buses and trolleys stop at “Zappeio” about 80 m away (OpenStreetMap). The site is always open, and the baths are seen from the avenue and from a path around them (the Ministry, read 9 October 2026).

Visiting details

Opening hours
Always accessible; the baths are seen from Amalias Avenue and from a path around them.
Tickets
Free
Parking
Inside the National Gardens by the Zappeion, along Amalias Avenue (the Ministry); bus and trolley stops "Zappeio" about 80 m away (OSM node/3162720298). A car park is mapped about 170 m away (node/3483488253), but in central Athens the metro or a walk is easier.

Hours and prices checked 9 October 2026 on the operator's own site. Confirm before travelling.

History

The area lay outside the city walls until Hadrian’s time and had been inhabited since prehistory and used for burials from the Geometric period. With its springs and thick vegetation it was a place of worship of many gods. When the city grew under Hadrian, with the completion of the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the building of Hadrian’s Gate, the area came inside the city, and new sanctuaries, houses, public buildings and baths were built. These baths followed the Herulian invasion of the late 3rd or early 4th century and were repaired and enlarged in the 5th and 6th centuries (the Ministry).

Nearby

  • A broad flight of marble steps rising from a wide paved forecourt to the stumps of columns and piled blocks of a ruined gateway, with a rocky hillside and a cave mouth on the right.

    Photo: Davide Mauro · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons

    19 km · site · West Attica

    Eleusis

    The visit follows the Processional Road, the end of the Sacred Way from Athens, through the Greater and the Lesser Propylaia to the Telesterion (the operator).

Straight-line distances.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from the records below, each used under the licence noted.

SourceLicence
Wikidata Q38279567CC0
OpenStreetMap node/4267892358ODbL
Ministry of Culture and Sports (Odysseus) — Roman Baths at Zappeionlicence not recorded
Ministry of Culture and Sports (Odysseus) — Roman Baths at Zappeion, informationlicence not recorded
Wikipedia (en) — Achaia (Roman province)CC BY-SA 4.0