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A favourite of students and artists, Marble House has clean, simple rooms and a friendly attitude. It offers discounted tours and monthly rates in the off season. Guests pay extra for air conditioning and private bath.

The priciest of the budget options, but the hotel offers nice wooden floors, art in every room and a short walk to the Acropolis and several good restaurants. There are low monthly rates in the off season. No breakfast served.

This 120-year-old house right in the middle of Plaka is a favourite with artists and professors, who enjoy the quiet, historic location and the original frescoes in the entryway. Rooms are basic and clean, though most have ugly linoleum floors and only half have air conditioning – for which guests pay extra.

It’s central, cheap and clean, and if that’s all you require then the Attalos is fine. But the rooms are far from suave, their style taking the form of lino, fluorescent lights and dorm-quality furniture. It’s located halfway between the colourful Central Market and the anarchic Monastiraki Flea Market.

Just down the street from the Attalos, in the same colourful-cum-seedy district. Quite a different interior, though, in this renovated Neo-Classical mansion, with polished wood floors, high moulded ceilings and bright, cosy furnishings. Still fairly basic, but a cheerful atmosphere prevails.

Excellent value. The Rooms and services are much nicer and more modern than you might expect from the budget bracket, and guests have high praise for the helpful, friendly service. Though not in a tourist neighbourhood, it’s still an easy walk to several sights and good restaurants.

Similarly turned out sibling of the Jason Inn, so rooms are stylish as well as clean and comfortable. The bar and restaurant are cheerful and pleasant, thankfully, as the run-down neighbourhood doesn’t offer much in the way of sustenance.

Almost exclusively inhabited by students and backpackers, the Carolina has a perpetual international-party vibe. It’s a fun place to meet people, but can get noisy at night. Current renovations will provide comfortable new beds.

A fixture on the international backpacking circuit for years. Rooms are spare but well kept, prices are cheap, the staff is young and friendly and the small outdoor bar is in the centre of lively, student-filled Plateia Exarcheia.

Similar to The Exarcheion in terms of value and the level of facilities, but Hotel Dryades is less central and therefore quieter. It’s also located near several modelling agencies, who frequently use the hotel to put up models.