Central Greece Tours & Trips

What people love about Central Greece Tours

• Charles23 Jun, 2024

  4

  Overall a great experience. Just a few things could have made it even better. What was great? #1 The Transfers - pick-ups and drop-offs at the airport and port were amazing. The drivers were always on time, extremely polite, and the vans were comfortable for our family of four and all our luggage. #2 The Itinerary - starting with Athens was the perfect way to begin the trip. Delphi and Meteora were awe inspiring. And Santorini was the perfect island getaway. The blend of city, interior, and sea provided a wonderful overview of Greece. A word of advice: take advantage of every minute in Athens between the legs of the tour. There is a vibrant restaurant and shopping area that we wish we would have discovered a little earlier in the trip. #3 The Hotels - we chose the 3-star option and were more than happy with all of our stays. The location of each was perfect for taking in the night life. Breakfast was wonderful at each location. Luggage storage at our Athens hotel really helped reduce our load for the interior and island trips. What could be improved? #1 Guided vs Self Tour - not all of our guides were good with group management. Headset ranges were limited, and so if you got separated for any reason, you were on your own, and the guides weren't that great for looking out for the people at the back of the group. They also didn't leave much time for self exploration of the sites. It would have been better at each stop for them to ask who wanted a guided tour and who wanted a self tour, and then to tell the self tour folks where to meet and when. There were a couple times we started with the group and then choose to break off because it was clear that there was not going to be time to see everything at the site. Additionally, more time at each site would have been nice #2 More Stops - the interior destinations were amazing, but the travel there and back was brutally dull. We made one 10 minute stop at Thermopylae, but that was it. Our guide pointed out Thebes as we drove past, but other than a few bus stop restaurants, there wasn't much to see or do for hours. This felt like a missed opportunity to share some Greek history or make a few roadside stops at interesting locations along the route. #3 Better Food Choices - on the interior tour the two lunch stops were chosen for the group. The cost of lunch was not included as part of the tour, but the two lunch stops gave no alternative options. Our most expensive meal the entire trip was lunch after Meteora where we had no choice but the 15 Euro per person one-trip buffet. It would have been preferable to be dropped off in downtown Kalambaka and given an hour to fend for ourselves. Any advice for future travelers? #1 More time in Athens - give yourself at least a full day before the tour begins to see and enjoy Athens. We didn't arrive in Athens until after 10 PM and our tour started at 8 AM the next morning. We had the afternoon and evening to explore, but could have easily filled another whole day with things in the city. #2 Rent a car in Santorini - with 48 hours on the island a two day rental at $125 USD was a no brainer. It was waiting for us at the port and we dropped it back off there. But we discovered rental places in almost every town too, in case you want to use the included hotel transfer and get the car later. With the rental car we were able to explore the entire island from the lighthouse in the south to the blue doomed buildings of Oia in the north and everything in between. Each town has one or more public parking lots on the edge of town. We can't imagine what we would have missed if we had relied on the island bus or taxi service. #3 Find a couch on the ferry! - It's a 7 hour ferry ride to Santorini. And it's 7 hours back (on the same ferry). There are several styles of seating areas. Find one with a couch and stake your claim. This gives one or more members of your group a chance to lay down during the long ride. Bonus if you get one next to a power outlet. #4 There's no bad view of the sunset on Santorini - whether your at a restaurant or bar or just pulled over to the side of the road, there is no bad view of the sunset on the caldera side of the island. From the road to the port and southward, there are lots of great pull-outs if you have your own vehicle. If you happen to be on the backside of the island, sunrises are also amazing. Go down to the beach before dawn and enjoy the show! Overall, we got everything out of the tour that we hoped. Everything was exactly as advertised. There were just a few things we wish would have been a bit better, and definitely some things we figured out along the way on our own that helped make our experience great.

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• Elena27 Jun, 2023

  4

  Overall enjoyed the tour - informative guides and spectacular destinations. Got a little confusing when needed to change groups but well managed. Guide in Meteora did commentary in 2 languages which was hard to follow. We also did not find him to be very friendly.

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• stephanie22 Sep, 2023

  5

  Not quite what I expected, but the tour guide was terrific

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