Should travellers include Athens or skip straight to the islands?
Do not treat Athens as punishment before the islands. It can be hot, gritty and busy, but it gives the ruins, food and city context that make the rest of Greece feel less like a postcard sequence.
Answer
Athens is not the softest part of Greece, and that is partly the point. The city has traffic, heat and worn edges, but it also has the Acropolis above daily life, neighbourhood meals after dark, museums that explain the stones you will see elsewhere and a sense of modern Greece that resort islands cannot provide. Skipping it can work for a pure beach holiday. For a first trip, though, one or two rushed airport nights often undersell the city. Give Athens enough time to settle, or make a deliberate decision to build a beach-only route.