Handmade chocolates and marzipan fill part of the counter at Aristokratikon, an Athenian confectioner established in 1928. Candied fruit and traditional Greek sweets also appear in its range, alongside the house's chocolate work. Meliartos combines an all-day bakery and café, offering sourdough and olive bread as well as pastries. At Zuccherino in Kolonaki, individual pastries and cakes sit alongside macarons and gelato, with celebration orders also available.
Established in 1928, this Athenian chocolatier hand-makes chocolates, marzipan and candied fruit. Traditional Greek confections round out the counter.
Best for Handmade Greek chocolates and confections
Panagiotis Karras came to Athens from Vasiliko Pogoniou, in Epirus, and in 1928 opened his own shop at Voukourestiou 2, next to the Zacharatos cafe. Regional custom sent Epirot men into bread; he went into sugar instead, and during the first decade narrowed the work to chocolate specifically. The business has stayed in the family for four generations — his great-grandson runs it now — and the workshop still operates at the foot of Lycabettus. The counter is hand-made throughout: chocolates, marzipan, candied fruit and loukoumia. By the house's own account its customers included Jackie Kennedy, who bought vanilla and rose loukoumia, Grace Kelly, who bought caramelised pistachios, and Maria Callas. Why the name stops at the city limits is legible in a near-exact comparison. Ion, the Greek chocolate company founded two years later in 1930, industrialised: it now turns over well above 100 million euros and sits among the fifty largest companies in Greece, its Amygdalou bar a national staple. Aristokratikon took the other road and never left it, remaining a counter with a workshop behind it, selling by weight to people who come in. Scale was available in the same market at the same moment. It was not taken.
All-day bakery-cafe — artisan bread, pastries, sandwiches, and coffee. The sourdough and olive bread are exceptional.
Best for Sourdough and olive bread from a four-in-one bakery, coffee house, dairy bar
Meliartos occupies the corner of Ermou and Aiolou streets in central Athens, near Monastiraki, and is built around four distinct sections operating under one roof rather than a single bakery counter: a Pitopoleio (pie shop) for savory and sweet pastries, a Kafeneio (coffee house), a Galaktopoleio (dairy bar) for ice cream and yogurt, and a Kouzinaki (small kitchen) for prepared food. The format is explicitly framed as marrying traditional Greek bakery and dairy-bar formats -- the kind of separate specialist shops long found on Greek high streets -- into one modern all-day space, rather than presenting as a single generic cafe. The bread program is the strongest of the four: the sourdough and olive loaves are made in-house and stand out even among the pastries and pies that share the counter. Its central Athens location, a short walk from Monastiraki, puts it on one of the city's busiest commercial streets, and the all-day format -- coffee and breakfast through pastries, savory pies, and dairy desserts -- means it functions as a bakery, a coffee stop, and a dessert shop depending on the hour, without needing to specialize in just one of those roles.
Zuccherino sells cakes, macarons, gelato and individual pastries from its Kolonaki counter. The range suits takeaway gifts and celebration orders as well as a quick dessert, with availability changing by day.
Best for Cakes, macarons, and gelato at Kolonaki's sweet tooth destination
Pyrgi and the Mastic Villages (Mastichochoria), Chios
This cooperative union gathers the mastic producers of southern Chios, Pyrgi and the other Mastichochoria among them, to collect and market genuine PDO Chios Mastiha. Under its mastihashop brand it sells mastic tears, chewing gum, oils, cosmetics and confectionery.
Best for Genuine Chios Mastiha (mastic) tears and mastic products
Papagiorgis has made sweets in Corfu Town since 1924, and its counter on Nikiforou Theotoki runs from almond confections and tarts to house-made ice cream. Traditional Corfiot specialities, including kumquat sweets, sit alongside the pastries.
Kalatzoglou has made traditional Greek pastries and baklava in Ioannina as a family business since 1979, growing from a single shop under the name To Zaharoplastio to four locations across the city, including a branch in the VI.PE. Ioannina industrial zone. The business became an authorized distributor for a partner confectionery producer in 2005.
Best for Traditional Ioannina baklava and pastries across four family-run locations since 1979
Nousias has run its pastry counters in Ioannina since 1948, turning out the syrup-soaked, walnut-filled baklava the city is known for alongside other traditional Greek sweets. The family business has since added a dedicated Pastry Lab alongside its original shopfronts.
Best for Syrup-soaked, walnut-filled baklava and a dedicated Pastry Lab since 1948
Lotsaris has been making Patras's sweets for decades, from syrup-soaked galaktoboureko to layered tortes and ice cream churned with fresh Greek milk. Two shops, on Plateia Georgiou and Maizonos street, keep long daily hours and take card or cash.
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