Periscope

Class: First

Style: Modern design

Rooms: 21

There’s a lot more to Greece than just fine beach weather and whitewashed waterfront villas. One might expect that the birthplace of Western civilization would remain a forward-thinking, cosmopolitan city, and one would be right. Signs of sophistication are everywhere: restaurants, shops, galleries, and occasionally a very up-to-date boutique hotel on the order of the Periscope.

It’s located in the upscale neighborhood of Kolonaki, surrounded by quite a lot of the best Athens has to offer. And the hotel itself, while pursuing a bit of a submarine theme — vaguely naval chairs, a preponderance of grey, even an actual roof-mounted periscope — turns out to be a very understated and stylish little hotel. The rooms are somewhat minimalist, but not without personality, and come equipped with high-tech home theater systems, and the suites add balconies, baths, and a bit more space to spread out in.

A chic little restaurant and lounge is the center of the Periscope social life, serving casual fare (burgers, pasta, salads) and dressed-up cocktails (chocolate and orange martini, anyone?) in an environment that’s suitably stylish yet unpretentious. All told the Periscope is more pied-à-terre than pleasure palace, to be honest, but there’s a certain pleasure in a hotel that knows exactly how much is enough.