First ‘MICHELIN Guide Athens’ Launches, Boosts City’s Status as Culinary Destination

The first edition of the MICHELIN Guide Athens, a selection of restaurants in the Greek capital that offer unique experiences, as recognized by the guide’s inspectors, was officially presented on Tuesday.

Published since 1933, the Michelin Guide is an exclusive star rating system that awards the most esteemed culinary establishments in the world. The guide already covers some 40 destinations across Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America.

The guide for Athens was presented during a special event at the city’s DELTA restaurant on occasion of World Tourism Day 2023 by Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni and Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) Secretary General Dimitris Fragakis.

Opening the event, Kefalogianni said that World Tourism Day highlights the need to “promote policies and investments” that lead to sustainability, environmental protection, but also fair and inclusive tourism development.

“The central axes of our policy include the promotion of forms of tourism that contribute to the sustainability, diversification and enrichment of our tourism offering. Highlighting resources such as Greek gastronomy and our contemporary culinary offer is one of the most important tools for achieving our goals as it creates opportunities to enhance both the travel experience and the special identity of our destinations while at the same time ensuring numerous benefits for local communities and economies,” the minister said.

Constantly observing the evolution of culinary destinations around the world, the Michelin Guide is considered an international point of reference for highly educated and informed tourists.

The MICHELIN Guide Athens

According to the GNTO, the Michelin Guide chose to release a guide for Athens due to the originality, diversity, sustainability and creativity of the Greek capital’s new culinary scene, which can be a selection criterion for high-income travelers in search of a city break destination.

The Michelin Guide for Athens includes 9 restaurants awarded with Michelin stars and recommends 18 additional restaurants, for the quality of the ingredients and their simple but distinct culinary identity.

The new guide for the Greek capital highlights the authentic flavors of Greece and the rich culinary profile of Athens and also strengthens the country’s position among the top tourism destinations.

The launch of Michelin Guide Athens follows an agreement signed between the GNTO’s secretary general, Dimitris Fragakis, and the European Director of the Michelin Experiences department Tommy Maussin. The agreement included a broad plan to promote Greek gastronomy internationally through Michelin.

“I am pleased that World Tourism Day coincides this year with the official presentation of the Michelin Guide for Athens,” Fragakis said, highlighting that the collaboration with Michelin Guide creates the conditions for Greece to boost its presence in the gastronomy tourism sector.

“Athens as a tourism destination gains another strong advantage in the international competition. This cooperation paves the way for Greece to play a leading role in the international culinary scene,” he said.

On the sidelines of the event, Fragakis informed journalists that the GNTO is looking to expand its cooperation with Michelin Guide to release guides for two Greek islands and either a mainland destination or a Greek region. A meeting is expected to take place in Paris soon.

As announced by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), this year’s theme for World Tourism Day is “Tourism and Green Investments”, emphasizing the need to invest in projects for the benefit of people, the planet, and prosperity.

The Michelin Guide has launched the MICHELIN Green Star that is awarded to restaurants in its international selections that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to more sustainable gastronomy.

In Greece, the restaurants DELTA and SOIL have a MICHELIN Green Star.