Best Vegan spots in Athens: Local Favorites + Map

Athens is far more vegan-friendly than it gets credit for. It’s not a city where every taverna has plenty of plant-based choices, and traditional Greek cuisine still leans heavily on meat, fish, cheese, and yoghurt, but over the last decade, vegan cafés, bakeries, brunch spots, and casual street food places have quietly multiplied across the city.

Neighbourhoods like Exarcheia, Koukaki, Kolonaki, and parts of the centre now have enough options that eating vegan isn’t difficult at all.

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Athens Vegan Map

Before going through the list, make sure to save this map with all the vegan spots mentioned below.

1. Falafelo str. Food

When I first went to Falafelo Str. Food in Exarcheia, I didn’t expect to find some of the best falafel I’ve ever had. Falafelo opened in August 2023, but the story behind it started long before that. Nitche, the owner, is Kurdish and originally from Syria. He left the country in 2006, moved to Canada, learned the art of cooking, and later came to Greece with the dream of opening his own place.

The shop is small, but it has character. From the outside, it almost looks like a food truck, which was actually part of the original idea, Nitche wanted to open a travelling canteen, but Greek regulations made that difficult. So his wife painted the exterior to look like one instead, and it gives the whole place a very personal feel.

The menu is compact and focused, falafel wraps, falafel bites, fries, and sauces, but everything is made with care. What makes the place stand out is the bread. They use a traditional Kurdish technique for the pita, made without yeast and with black sesame, which gives it a slightly deeper, but very interesting taste. The falafel itself is made in the Syrian style, using only chickpeas.

Their motto is “From scratch to street,” and it fits. I tried the whole menu, and there wasn’t anything I didn’t like.

The falafel was crunchy on the outside, soft inside, and aromatic in a way that falafel often isn’t with falafel. My favourite was the Zucchini Zing wrap, with falafel, deep-fried zucchini, tomatoes, pickles, iceberg, tahini sauce, and mint. The mint made the whole thing feel fresher and lighter.

I also loved the Falafel Explosion, which absolutely lives up to its name.

The fries were fresh, the garlic cream sauce was my favourite, and the portions were huge for the price.

Nothing on the menu cost more than €5 when I visited, which is honestly rare for this kind of quality in Athens now.

What I liked most, though, was how much soul the place had. You can feel that there is a story behind it, and there is real care in the food.

For me, Falafelo Str. Food is one of the best food spots in Athens, vegan or not.

2. Peas Vegan & Raw Food

Peas Vegan & Raw Food is one of those places where the noise drops the moment the door shuts.

It’s a small, cozy, tucked-away place in Koukaki, and it also happens to be one of the city’s earlier fully vegan spots, having opened in 2017.

The space has plants, paintings, hammocks, and a very relaxed atmosphere without feeling forced. The food is fully vegan and made from scratch.

They don’t rely heavily on processed meat substitutes, which I appreciated, and they also try to reduce waste, avoid plastic, and offer a filtered water refill station.

The menu has a mix of vegan Greek dishes and internationally inspired options. For something fresh during a hot summer day, the Tempeh Sunshine salad is a very good choice. For something closer to Greek flavours, the “Greek Me” salad is the best pick.

But the dish I’d really suggest trying is “Two Peas in a Pod,” their vegan version of skepasti.

Skepasti is basically a Greek-style quesadilla, usually made with gyros, potatoes, sauce, and vegetables between two pitas. Their version uses homemade seitan and smoked tofu, and it really works, filling, fresh, and comforting in the way skepasti should be.

For dessert, I tried the “Avocado Bloom,” a chocolate tart made with avocado. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was excellent. Peas also sells handmade vegan deli products, including fillet, sausage, and pepperoni, all available to take home.

It’s a place I could visit for lunch, dinner, or just to sit for a while with a laptop and something sweet.

3. Veganaki

Veganaki does something most vegan spots in Athens don’t even attempt, a full menu of Greek classics, veganised, without cutting corners. Moussaka, pastitsio, soutzoukakia, gyros, and souvlaki all show up here in plant-based form, alongside vegan tzatziki and feta, and everything is baked rather than fried, since the whole kitchen runs gluten-free by design, not as an afterthought.

They mill their own dough for the pita and pizza bases in-house too, which is the kind of detail that marks this out from places chasing a trend.

The location works well for anyone covering the Acropolis-Koukaki side of the city, right by the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Arch of Hadrian, and an easy stop from Koukaki or Syntagma.

It’s a busy sit-down spot rather than a grab-and-go counter, so booking ahead is a good idea at a normal dinner hour.

4. Avocado

Worth being upfront about this one, Avocado is vegetarian first, not strictly vegan, but it’s been serving a substantial vegan menu since 2010, long enough that people who’ve lived in the neighbourhood for decades still treat it as their go-to.

The menu leans Mediterranean with real Asian and Middle Eastern influence, chickpea pancakes, wild greens, kibbeh, alongside beet salads, pumpkin soup, and a very good veggie burger.

Given the location, a five-minute walk from Syntagma Square and close enough to Plaka to slot into an afternoon of sightseeing, it’s one of the easiest vegan-friendly stops to actually fit into a normal day in the city.

5. Mama Tierra Acropolis

Mama Tierra Acropolis is the smaller, more casual version of the original Mama Tierra, which has since closed.

This branch opened in 2022 and sits right next to the Acropolis Museum, which makes it one of the easiest vegan spots to fit into a sightseeing day.

The space is small but nicely decorated, and the menu is more street-food focused, with dishes inspired by Greek, Middle Eastern, and Asian cuisines, all made from fresh, mostly Greek ingredients.

I also had the chance to speak with Xenofon, one of the co-founders, who left his job as a physicist to work in food. Another co-founder, Polash, is an Indian chef who has cooked in the United States, India, the Middle East, and Greece, which explains why the menu is so mixed, in a good way.

For something lighter, the vegan Caesar’s salad is a good choice. It comes with vegan “chicken” nuggets and vegan parmesan, and it has the rich, cheesy taste a Caesar’s should.

For something more Greek, try the vegan souvlaki with mushroom gyros and vegan tzatziki.

The mushroom gyros was excellent. Fresh, well-seasoned, and probably some of the best I’ve tried in Athens.

The Greek Burger is also worth trying, particularly for olive lovers, since the patty is built around olives, which gives it a completely different flavour from the usual vegan burger

My favourite, though, was the Pulled Jackfruit Bao Buns. They were juicy, full of flavour, and easily the dish I’d order again first.

Mama Tierra Acropolis is a great stop near the Acropolis Museum for something vegan, quick, and more interesting than another tourist-area meal.

6. Holy Llama

Before getting into this one, I want to thank Eleni, an amazing Greek creator, for the photos. She creates beautiful content about Greece and is well worth a follow.

Holy Llama is the best-known vegan pastry shop in Athens, and for good reason. It’s located near Syntagma Square, so it’s easy to fit into a day of sightseeing, shopping, or walking around the centre. The space is small, cozy, and nicely designed, but the real reason to come is the food. Vegan pastries, sandwiches, bowls, desserts, and drinks.

I’ve visited plenty of times, and the mushroom steak open sandwich is one of my favourites. I’ve also tried many of their pastries, and I don’t remember having anything bad there. Their matcha latte is also a strong choice.

Holy Llama isn’t the cheapest vegan spot in Athens, so I wouldn’t call it budget-friendly. But as a vegan bakery near Syntagma with reliable food and excellent sweets, it’s one of the easiest places to recommend.

7. Cookoomela Grill

I’ve mentioned Cookoomela in a few other guides on this site, because it’s my favourite vegan souvlaki spot in the city, and it felt wrong not to give it a proper write-up here.

It’s tucked into Exarcheia on Themistokleous Street, and it was one of the first places in the world to build an entire menu around vegan souvlaki, long before mushroom gyros became a thing every vegan-friendly city seemed to want.

The menu keeps things simple. Mushroom gyros, lentil kebab, and a handful of colour-coded souvlaki wraps built around different sauces, yellow with mustard mayo and herby grilled mushrooms, and a few others worth working through over repeat visits.

The mushrooms do the heavy lifting here. They’re marinated and grilled until they pick up a bite and umami depth, which is exactly what makes the “meat” argument fall apart, in the best way. Portions are generous and seating is limited, mostly outside.

For one vegan souvlaki place in Athens, and I don’t say that lightly, make it this one.

8. Wild Souls

Wild Souls is a vegan concept café built around house-made nut butters and halva, with two locations, one on the corner of Irodotou and Karneadou in Kolonaki, and another on Voulis Street closer to Syntagma and Plaka.

Both share the same clean-eating, no-artificial-sugar approach, and both have become genuine neighbourhood fixtures rather than just tourist stops.

The menu focuses on breakfast and brunch, with scrambled tofu wraps, savoury bagels, herb pies, and grain bowls, alongside their own halva and nut butters, also sold to take home.

It’s a good option from Kolonaki (which comes up more than once in my guide to where to stay in Athens), or for a vegan breakfast that doesn’t feel like a compromise before a long day of sightseeing.

Final Thoughts

Writing this guide reminded me how much the vegan food scene in Athens has changed. It’s still small compared to other European cities, but it has personality, variety, and a lot of people behind it who clearly care about what they’re building.

Some places are best for a quick street food stop, others for a slower meal, coffee, pastries, or something sweet after walking around the city. Either way, eating vegan in Athens is much easier than it used to be, and it keeps getting better.