Tip of the day 12/2/2026 – Tsiknopempti: a popular Greek custom!

• February 28, 2022

Tsiknopempti, or “Smoky Thursday,” is celebrated on the second Thursday of the Greek Carnival season (Kreatini). On this day, the irresistible aroma of grilled meat fills the air as families and tavernas across Greece fire up their grills. The name comes from tsikna—the delicious smoky scent of roasting meat.

The most popular way to… celebrate this  day is to book  a meat restaurant (yes, probably if you haven’t booked some days before, it will be hard to find a place in a restaurant – otherwise, probably you will spent the  day at your nearest souvlatzidiko with a souvlaki at your hand after a long queue, it’s  not so bad idea at all in the end). Some very well-known meat restaurants in Athens that you could spend this day, according to TripAdvidor are below.

1. O Telis (86 Evripidou Koumoundourou Square, Athens 105 53 Greece)
2. Ilias’ Haunt (To steki tou Ilia), Eptachalkou 5 Thissio
3. Basegrill Athens (Konstantinoupoleos 64 Peristeri, Athens 12132 Greece)
4. Vasiliki (Markora 25, Athens 11141 Greece)
5. Meraklides (60 Agias Zonis, Athens 113 64 Greece)
6. Ladokolla (Various locations, such as Dafni, Kallithea, Chaidari,  Peristeri, Kesariani, Piraeus)
7. To Paradosiako (Kolokotroni 59, Athens 105 60 Greece)
8. To Remoutsiko Tavern (120 Leoforos Agiou Dimitriou, Agios Dimitrios 173 41 Greece)
9. Thanasis 1948 (Kavafi 48, Athens 11143 Greece)
10. Kyra  Ourania (Iroon Polytechniou 85, Ilioupoli)
11. Stelios (Ionias avenue 198, Alimos)
12. Ramona (Minoos 11-13, Kallithea)
13. Axotis (Paparseni 15, Polygono, Athens)
14. Tsompanakos (Anakreontos 2, Kesariani)
15. Vlahos (Salaminos avenue 1, Keratsini, Piraeus)
16. To koutouki tou marathoniti (Imittou & Vinkelman 3, Agios Artemios, Pangrati)
17. I avli tou kanella  (Sofokleous 161Β & Sinopis, Kallithea)
18. Magginas (Ethnikis Antistaseos square, Melissia)
19. Koutroulis (Varika 8, Ampelokipi)

But,  as Tsiknopempti marks the true beginning of Carnival festivities, leading up to the grand finale on Clean Monday with the traditional Koulouma celebrations, the Municipal of Athens organises also  some  special  events for this day:

11:00 | Syntagma Square – Ermou Street – Aeolus Street – Kotzia Square
Carnival custom route and reenactment of the custom of the Kordelata of Naxos in Kotzia Square by the Cultural Association of Orchestral Art “Vakhai”.

Varvakeios Market

11:00 | Concert with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Municipality of Athens.

11:30 | Traditional dances by the adult traditional dance groups of the Creative Learning Centers of Evelpidon, Kypseli, L. Alexandras, Neos Kosmos, and Sepolia
of the Municipality of Athens.

12:30 p.m. | Concert with the Greek Music Workshop of the Municipality
of Athens.

Find  out more info about Tsiknopempti and how to survive  this day in Athens in our travel guide about this day!