Museums for Kids in Athens: the Planetarium and 11 More

Museums for kids at a glance

Which museum for which age

The table sums up what you’ll find below. Prices are from October 2026 and do change, so check each museum’s website before you set off.

🌌 The Eugenides Foundation Planetarium

The Eugenides Foundation is at 387 Syngrou Avenue in Palaio Faliro, with the public entrance on the side street, Pentelis 11. The building with the white dome houses the digital Planetarium, one of the largest in the world. The lights go down and the whole sky opens up above the children’s heads.

The programme changes with the seasons. In autumn 2026 it includes, among others, “T.REX”, “The Astro-Explorers”, “Myths of the Starlit Sky”, “We Are Stardust” and “Journey to the Galaxy”. The Foundation’s calendar shows the language and the recommended age for every show, so take a look before you choose.

The same building is home to the Science and Technology Centre, with hands-on exhibits on physics, chemistry, biology, maths, computing and robotics, plus weekend workshops for children. In October, for example, there’s a “disgustingly scientific” Halloween for kids aged 6 and up.

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Inside and outside the Eugenides Planetarium

387 Syngrou Avenue · you can see the dome from the SNFCC park too

🌌 Digital dome 🧪 Science Centre 👶 Not under 5

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🚗 Hellenic Motor Museum: right next to the apartment

The museum fills the top three floors of the shopping building on the corner of Ioulianou 33-35 and 3is Septemvriou 74-78. From the door of Ioulianou 50 it’s a 3-minute walk. It shows more than 110 cars from the 19th and 20th centuries, from the first “horseless carriages” to sports cars of the 1970s.

For kids, it’s a museum that needs no explaining. The cars stand in the open, not behind glass, and the colours alone keep them interested. An hour is enough, so it fits easily into a morning before lunch, or an afternoon when you don’t want to go far.

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Inside the Motor Museum

Ioulianou 33-35 · 200 metres from Angels Athens

🚗 110+ cars 👶 Ages 0-5 free 🚶 3 minutes on foot

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⚙️ Kotsanas Museum: ancient machines that work

At Pindarou 6, on the corner with Akadimias Street, researcher Kostas Kotsanas has assembled hundreds of reconstructions of ancient Greek inventions. They’re the result of more than 30 years of research, and almost all of them work. Visitors get to set many of them in motion themselves.

Here kids can see Plato’s alarm clock, Philo’s automatic servant, Heron’s automatic theatres and a wooden bird, the “flying pigeon” of Archytas. There are fire beacons that sent signals with flames, an odometer and a model of the Antikythera Mechanism. For primary-school children, it’s the most “hands-on” museum in Athens.

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Inventions at the Kotsanas Museum

Pindarou 6 & Akadimias · open every day

✋ The exhibits move 🕙 10:00-18:00 daily 🎟️ 7€

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🧸 Hellenic Children’s Museum: free, up to age 12

From 1994 to 2017 the Children’s Museum was in a neoclassical house on Kydathineon Street in Plaka. Today it’s on the ground floor of the Athens Conservatoire, at Rigillis and Vasileos Georgiou B 17-19, with the entrance on Vasileos Konstantinou Avenue. It’s made for children up to 12 and the grown-ups who come with them.

This isn’t a museum of glass cases. Children cook in “The Kitchen”, look after animals at the “Pet Care Clinic”, play with soap bubbles and learn letters at “The Museum of the Greek Alphabet”. There’s also “The Attic”, a maps corner, a road-safety space, the “Hello Pythagoras!” section and the Playspace for babies aged 0-3.

✈️ War Museum: aeroplanes in the courtyard

The Athens War Museum is on the corner of Vasilissis Sofias Avenue and Rizari 2, 2 minutes from Evangelismos station. Kids remember it for its courtyard, where real Hellenic Air Force jets stand, such as an F-104 Starfighter and an F-86D Sabre, along with cannons and field guns.

Inside, the halls cover the whole of Greek history, from ancient weapons to the 20th century. For little ones the courtyard is enough. Older kids, from 9 or 10, enjoy the scale models and replica aircraft. The museum is 300 metres from the Children’s Museum, so both visits fit into one morning.

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The War Museum courtyard

Vasilissis Sofias & Rizari 2 · next to Evangelismos metro

🇪🇺 Free up to 18 (EU) 🌙 Saturdays until 22:00

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🪞 Museum of Illusions: photos and giggles

At Astiggos 12, a side street just above Ermou in Monastiraki, the Museum of Illusions fills up with kids every afternoon. There are rooms that change people’s size, mirrors that never end and pictures that move while you look at them. Children from about 6 or 7 laugh the most, because they get the trick.

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The entrance at Astiggos 12

Monastiraki · 4 minutes from the metro station

🦖 Goulandris Natural History Museum: dinosaurs in Kifisia

The Goulandris Natural History Museum was recently designated Greece’s National Museum of Natural History. Its public exhibitions are at the GAIA Centre, Othonos 100, in Kifisia. Kids go for the dinosaurs and head straight for the Triceratops skeleton. There are also stuffed animals, including a life-size giraffe, plus the exhibitions “Biodiversity: Everything Is Connected” and “Climate Change and Us”.

At weekends the museum runs family workshops. In November 2026, for example, there’s a dinosaur programme for ages 4-6 and one for ages 2-4 called “Triceratops Tri Tri”. The museum’s Dome screens films with a separate ticket.

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The Goulandris Museum collections

GAIA Centre, Othonos 100, Kifisia

🎟️ Free on the first Saturday of the month 🚇 Line 1 to Kifisia

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🏛️ Hellenic Cosmos: the Tholos and virtual reality

The Hellenic Cosmos cultural centre of the Foundation of the Hellenic World is at Pireos 254 in Tavros. Its big draw is the Tholos, a virtual-reality theatre with a hemispherical screen. On its interactive tours, the audience “walks” through Pericles’ Acropolis, the Ancient Agora or Delphi.

For kids, the Tholos has films such as “Journey to the World of Dinosaurs” and “The Alien and the Cave Children: A Journey to the Light!”. With VR headsets, the “From the Earth to the Moon” programme turns children into astronauts for a few minutes. On Saturdays there are workshops for ages 3-5 with a parent, and on Sundays for ages 5-8.

🪀 Benaki Toy Museum in Faliro

The Benaki Museum’s Toy Museum is housed in a tower-like mansion at Poseidonos Avenue 14 and Tritonos 1 in Palaio Faliro, across the road from the sea. The collection covers toys from antiquity to the 20th century, from many countries: dolls, spinning tops, puppet theatres, toy boats and board games. Parents will recognise quite a few from their own childhood.

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From the Toy Museum’s showcases

Poseidonos Avenue 14, Palaio Faliro · 200 metres from the Trocadero tram stop

📅 Thursday-Sunday 🚫 Closed in August

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🎨 Museum of Greek Children’s Art in Plaka

At Kodrou 9 in Plaka, the Museum of Greek Children’s Art shows paintings by children and runs workshops. On Sundays, kids aged 6-12 paint inspired by a great artist, such as Renoir or David Hockney. For the little ones, aged 2.5-5, there’s “Painting together with parents”.

The big museums, with kids

Archaeological museums aren’t made for children, but they work if you cut the visit in half. At the Acropolis Museum kids love the glass floor above the excavation. The museum often runs family activities and from time to time lends out themed backpacks with games, so ask at the Information Desk as soon as you arrive. From Ioulianou 50, it’s 15 minutes with Line 1 to Omonia and Line 2 to Akropoli station.

The National Archaeological Museum is a 10-minute walk from the apartment. With kids, pick three or four highlights: the golden “Mask of Agamemnon”, the Poseidon of Artemision, the “Jockey” of Artemision and the Antikythera Mechanism. If you’ve been to the Kotsanas Museum first, the Mechanism will mean a lot more to them.

🌳 Not museums, but great for kids

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) has a park with free entry, a playground, a water canal and a rooftop with views all the way to the Acropolis and the sea. It’s 300 metres from the Planetarium and often runs free family activities, mostly at weekends. From Ioulianou 50, take Line 1 to Faliro and the tram to the Delta Falirou stop, 400 metres from the SNFCC.

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The SNFCC park and rooftop

Syngrou Avenue 364, Kallithea · free entry to the park

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The Attica Zoological Park is in Spata, near the airport. You’ll need a car or taxi and a whole day. Closer to home, Pedion tou Areos has playgrounds 7 minutes from Ioulianou 50. For more ideas beyond museums, see our guide Athens with kids.

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At the Attica Zoological Park

Spata · a full day out, by car or taxi

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Three ready-made family plans

• Half a day, little ones (2-6): the Motor Museum in the morning, lunch in the neighbourhood and an afternoon at the Pedion tou Areos playgrounds. No metro at all.
• Weekend, kids aged 4-10: the first slot at the Children’s Museum, a walk round the War Museum courtyard, lunch in Kolonaki.
• A full day, kids aged 7+: the Kotsanas Museum in the morning, then down to Faliro, the SNFCC park and an afternoon show at the Planetarium.

With kids, one museum a day is plenty. Save the second for tomorrow, and the ice cream for the end. 😉💙
— Kathy