For our final night in Greece, having returned earlier in the day back to Athens, we’d chosen the Periscope Hotel, having been assured of its upscale, more local location away from the tourist madness – and with very respectable perks available as a result of booking through our travel advisor, including early check-in from 12pm that we immediately made use of.

At first glance, you could nearly miss the hotel as it’s so discreetly tucked in from the road. A few steps (not advisable with scandalous amounts of luggage for a 4-night trip) led us up into the reception area and adjoining lounge, and we were quickly checked in with – again, thanks to booking through a travel advisor – an immediate upgrade to a junior suite, as well as a reminder that we could check out until 2pm.

The lounge in this hotel was a surprisingly tremendous benefit, and is kept topped up with water and soft drinks, as well as light bites and snacks throughout the day – so there’s no reason to be wandering Athens dehydrated or starving. We rarely took any snacks, but we did help ourselves to a bottle of water or two nearly every time we headed out, especially with the temperatures as soaring as they were.

Our rate didn’t include breakfast, but that wasn’t really a problem; it’s available to buy at check-in if you want, but there’s a range of cafes at the far end of the street, including Queen Bee, that was recommended to us and quickly became the firm breakfast favourite (despite the crowds, which probably tells you everything you need to know).

Our junior suite was clean, bright, and quiet. First impressions suggested it was still a little on the tighter side, and I can only imagine how much more compact the standard rooms are, but overall it was plenty for our one-night stay.

The bed sat at one end of the suite, while at the other end was the hallway, a sofa and coffee table, along with the entrance to the bathroom.

The bathroom, similarly, was relatively compact, with a sink, toilet and shower arranged more or less in a straight row, segregated by glass. Water pressure and temperature was good at all times – although oddly, the window beside the shower opened up to face a steel pipe, which was a little strange at first, but we quickly learnt to only use the window for ventilation and not necessarily views.

Undoubtedly the highlight of the suite however was the double-size balcony, which had views up and down our residential street and was the perfect place to decant outside after a long day (or the next day, late in the morning) and enjoy a glass or two.

Despite being located very conveniently in a lively part of town, the discreet location on a side-street meant that noise was no issue whatsoever, and sleep was easily attained.

We used the late check-out the next day, and even then parked our luggage for a few hours, and the friendly staff didn’t bat an eyelid over either – before collecting our luggage later in the day, helping ourselves to a few more bottles of water for the long jaunt out to the airport, and heading on our way to fond farewells.

It’s always hard to get worked up into a frenzy of excitement over a one-night stay in a city, when you’re outside exploring for most of it, but Periscope Hotel was a lovely, compact, charming affair with friendly staff and everything you could need for a wonderful city break stay.