Άνω Πετράλωνα · district
Ano Petralona scores 31 out of 100 for violent crime — above-average crime, on a scale where 50 is the average for Greece. It is home to about 9,522 people at 16,579 people per km².
The score is absolute, not a ranking: 50 is the offence rate for Greece as a whole, 100 the safest end of the scale and 0 the least safe, and every doubling of the rate costs the same number of points wherever you are. Regional units are scored from Eurostat's police-recorded offence rates per 100,000 inhabitants. Greece publishes nothing finer, so municipalities and districts share out their region's measured rate by how built-up they are and by documented local reporting — treat those two levels as an estimate, not a count of reported crime.
Ano (Upper) Petralona is the half of Petralona above the Line 1 railway, climbing towards Filopappou hill. Low neoclassical houses, courtyards full of plants, narrow stepped lanes and the pedestrianised Troon street give it a village feel unusual this close to the centre. Mercouri Square is its social anchor and the mezedopoleia around Troon and Dorieon are why Athenians come over from other neighbourhoods. Visitors come for dinner and the Filopappou walk, not for sights.
Busy around the tavernas and on Troon until late, then quiet. The residential lanes empty out after midnight, and local guides suggest sticking to lit main streets and being ordinarily careful getting back to the metro.
A strong choice for repeat visitors and anyone who wants to eat where Athenians eat, with the Acropolis a twenty-minute walk or two metro stops away. Limited hotel stock, steep streets, and not the right call for a first, sight-packed trip.
Reputation against reality. Petralona is at the point Metaxourgeio reached ten years ago: still filed under 'working-class and a bit scruffy' by older guides, in practice one of the more desirable central neighbourhoods. Greek press has covered its shift from quiet laiki geitonia to a sought-after destination.
Streets and squares: Troon (pedestrianised) · Mercouri Square (Plateia Merkouri) · Dorieon · Kydantidon · Filopappou hill · Petralona metro station