Brazil Square, and what is actually on it

Brazil Square is not a square most visitors to Athens will have heard of, and it does not appear on the walking routes that run from Syntagma to the Acropolis. It sits in Ilisia, a residential quarter east of the centre, and its defining feature is that people live around it. That is the whole character of the place. At nine in the morning it is dog walkers and pushchairs. At one in the morning it is people leaving somewhere slowly.

It is also five minutes on foot from the Hilton and five from the Megaron, which means a great many people pass within a street of it without ever turning down it. This is a guide to what is there if you do.

The square itself

The square has a park in it. Not a landscaped civic garden, a real neighbourhood park with trees, benches and enough shade to sit through an Athens afternoon without planning your route around the sun. In a city where summer shade is a genuine amenity rather than a pleasant extra, that is most of why the square works.

The mix of people is residential rather than touristic. You will hear more Greek than English. Nobody is selling anything on the pavement. If you have spent a day in the centre and want an hour that does not feel transactional, the difference is immediate and slightly startling.

Where it sits, and what is near

The useful landmarks are the Hilton and the Megaron Mousikis, both about five minutes away on foot. If you are coming out of a concert at the Megaron and want somewhere that is still open and still serving, you are closer than you think.

Ilisia itself runs into Pangrati on one side, and the two neighbourhoods share a certain quality: they are places Athenians eat in on a Tuesday, not places they take visitors on a Saturday. That is meant as a recommendation.

Our corner of it

Iguazu is on the corner of the square, at Laodikias 16 and Nimfeou 1. The courtyard opens straight onto the park, which is the part that matters in the morning, and the room behind it is built on two levels with a hanging garden on the upper terrace.

The character changes completely across a day, and it is worth knowing which one you are arriving into. Early it is quiet and the courtyard has the light. Late there is live music and a DJ booth, the back of the room gets louder than the front, and the terrace becomes where people go to hear each other. Same address, two different evenings.

If you want the quiet version, the all-day side of the room is the one to aim for, and earlier is better than later.

The hours that actually matter

We are open every day from 08:00 until 03:00 the following morning. That is nineteen hours, and it is unusual enough in Athens to be the main practical reason to know about the place: there are not many rooms in the city where you can have a coffee at half past eight in the morning and a drink at half past two the next.

The kitchen opens at 09:00, an hour after the door. That hour gap is deliberate and it catches people out, so it is worth stating plainly: if you arrive at 08:15 you can have a coffee, not breakfast.

One thing we will not tell you is what time the kitchen takes its last order, because we do not publish one and inventing a time would be worse than leaving the gap. If you are planning to eat late, telephone and ask. Delivery, which is a different thing with different hours, runs from 09:00 to 23:30.

Getting here, and the car

On foot from the Hilton or the Megaron is five minutes and pleasant. If you are driving, the nearest car park is the garage at Papadiamantopoulou 26 and Michalakopoulou, about 80 metres away and open 24 hours.

It is an independent business with no arrangement with us, so we cannot tell you what it charges and we are not going to estimate. What we can tell you is that it is 80 metres and it does not close, which are the two things that usually decide it.

If you would rather check the exact corner before setting off, the map on our directions page opens the junction rather than the street, which on a square with four sides is a meaningful difference.

When to come

For the square at its best, a weekday morning between about nine and eleven. The light is on the courtyard, the park is busy in an unhurried way, and the kitchen is open.

For the room at its best, late, and preferably not the first night you are in Athens, because it is a long way from a first-night sort of evening.

For something in between, the weekend, when brunch runs and the courtyard is the busiest part of the place. Expect it to be full and expect nobody to hurry you.