Athens city and beach: The Dolli at Acropolis and Cape Sounio

Stylish European city or sunny Mediterranean beach? No need to choose if you head to Athens because, just 60 minutes from the ancient ruins and modern buzz of the Greek capital is the beautifully sun-soaked Athens Riviera. Even on a short break, you can combine city sights and coastal delights with epic ease.

In Athens itself, we stayed at The Dolli at Acropolis; on the Riviera, we chilled at Cape Sounio – both gems in the Grecotel luxury hotel portfolio, each with its own stunning views and signature style.

Why stay here?

The Dolli is a beautifully restored listed building right in the centre of Athens, and many of its 46 high-ceilinged, light-filled rooms and apartments look straight out on to the Acropolis.

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All of them have a gorgeous bathroom with a Grohe walk-in rain shower, a custom-designed traveller's wardrobe, and furnishings in wood and soft, natural fabrics. Thoughtful touches are everywhere – from carefully positioned artworks to a little sewing kit with pre-threaded needles.

The Travertine-marble-floored lobby has stunning moulded Macedonian-sun ceiling motifs. Its sills, shelves, mantels and nooks are filled with original art pieces from Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso and Les Lalanne, grouped, with exquisitely eclectic taste, beside ancient antiquities and rare editions.

Cape Sounio's family-friendly seaside setting is just as stunning. Looking out on the ancient Temple of Poseidon on the cape opposite, the newly renovated, pink-washed, single-storey bungalows, suites and villas occupy secluded spots on a pine-clad slope divided by stone walls and steps, like a (five-star) Greek village. All have floor-to-ceiling glass doors that lead on to a slatted-wood-roofed terrace, and many have a private pool, too. Furnishings are natural and neutral, with white sofas, beige rugs, stone floors and huge bathrooms, often with a dramatically freestanding bath.

The main building, with its columns, courtyards, fountains and vast white-sofa-filled lounges, sits next to a huge salt-water swimming pool in the palm and jasmine-strewn grounds.

Eating and drinking

There are four restaurants and four bars at Cape Sounio. Breakfast is in the main restaurant – where you can start the day off with everything from bread, pastries and seasonal fruit to deli meats, cheese, and eggs cooked to order.

Throughout the day, there are drinks and snacks at the Aegean Grill by the pool, where you can also order salads, grills and light lunches. Down on the beach, there's Yali, a waterside deck offering great Greek lunches – we swooned in the sun over lightly-fried freshly-caught anchovies, melitzanosalata and courgette fritters – as well as romantic sunset dinners with candles and white tablecloths.

The main restaurant serves a good-quality buffet dinner that's very family-friendly (highchairs, baby food, custom-made ice cream cones) and refreshingly varied, including sushi made to order. Or you can go a la carte at (the slightly confusingly named) The Restaurant, where, against the terrace backdrop of the floodlit Poseidon temple, we ate clean, elegant Greco-French dishes of scallops, lamb and syrupy slithers of galaktoboureko.

Food is a visual, as well as a gastro, delight at The Dolli – whether you're eating in the wood-panelled, art-filled Le Bar Secret, the glass-walled, glass-ceilinged Rooftop Restaurant or helping yourself to an exquisitely made patisserie snack in the lobby. Le Bar Secret has an all-day menu, featuring "canapés de luxe", sushi, sashimi rolls and salads: try the melt-in-the-mouth sea bass ceviche and the elevated avocado salad with lime and basil dressing. It does cocktails and a glorious line in afternoon tea, too, starring scones with clotted cream and Greek thyme honey.

Breakfast is served at the Rooftop Restaurant, if you can tear your eyes away from the view for long enough to fill your plate with teeny-tiny chopped fruits, honey, yoghurt, pastries and granola or order pancakes or strapatsada (scrambled eggs with tomato, feta and oregano). You can have a meze lunch here, too, but don't miss dinner on the terrace, watching the sun set on the Acropolis. We had prawns with tomato and feta, the most elegant (and tasty) beef souvlaki I've ever seen, and a glorious filo pastry, pistachio and ice cream millefeuille.

Things to do

From Cape Sounio, you can take a 10-minute taxi ride to the 2,500-year-old Temple of Poseidon: go early, before the coach parties arrive, gasp at the view, breathe in the calm and squint at Byron's graffitied name on one of the columns.

You can also arrange island-hopping catamaran cruises or scuba-diving, sea-kayaking, snorkelling or coasteering trips before returning to flop under a beachside pergola or chill in the Ploe Spa with an (excellent) post-sauna massage.

There's plenty for children to do, too, with a well-equipped kids' club, craft and cooking classes, laser tag, movie nights and a playground with swings and a climbing rock.

At The Dolli, book a private tour of the Acropolis in the early-morning cool and skip past the queues to marvel at the Parthenon. Spend the afternoon drinking in more ancient history at the astonishingly good Acropolis Museum, and then stroll back to the hotel through the shady ruins of the Greek Agora, where Socrates taught and Pericles roused Athenian hearts.

The Dolli's central location means other historical gems, like Hadrian's Library or the Tower of Winds are literally just round the corner, while the more modern Syntagma Square and Hellenic Parliament, with its super-tall, pompon-toed guards, are within an easy, 10-minute stroll.

And, when you're all tourist-spotted-out, you can recuperate in the hotel's gym and sauna or plunge into the infinity pool on the roof and feel, with each sun-kissed stroke, like you're swimming straight into the Parthenon.

The verdict

The Dolli and Cape Sounio have different settings but they share an aura of untroubled luxury. Everything is done with taste and style, and nothing is too much trouble for the smiley, attentive staff. This, together with locations so beautifully framed by ancient Greek monuments, makes staying in either a true gift from the gods.

Helen was a guest of Grecotel The Dolli at Acropolis Hotel and Grecotel Cape Sounio Boutique Resort