Athens tour

You could do the self guided audio tours that Rick Steves provides.

Great idea, diveloonie. I have not used his audio tours in the past, and should try that. I enjoy a tour guide that I can ask questIons along the way as well.

I posted this earlier but after using the organization again I have sever reservations about using them ever again. Our guide this time was not good: lots of misinformation and sensationalistic. He was not a licensed tour guide so he wasn't paying taxes and fees that he was supposed to. This is why Greece got into financial trouble, people not paying their fair share.
PLEASE, use a licensed guide. They are trained and have paid their fees and taxes.

We used this organization and was very pleased. It says free but you need to tip at least 5 euro per person in the group. For our group that would have come to 35 euro but we tipped 50 euro, it was that good.

https://www.athensfreewalkingtour.com

Athens-Walks is s wonderful company! Owner Kostas was our guide for a food tour but many tours are offered. Highly recommend.

Thanks John and Suki! I'll check those out.

Just got back from Athens. Did four tours. It all depends on your tour guides but here are my thoughts. First by far our best tour was Athens Free Walking Tour. The 2 hours we spend with our tour guide was fantastic! The guide was a 30 year old woman with a love for her city, passionate and took us to some spots that were left off the typical itinerary. I tipped her 10 Euros for each of my daughter and I and it was the best 10 Euros we spent. They don't go in any of the sites but we received a great overview of several of the sites from walking around the outside. She had been giving these tours with the company for 10 years. We then took a food and walk tour with Epiculiar. It was pretty expensive and wasn't quite what I expected. Our guide was a great Athens guide but limited on culinary information. It was basically a private tour that including several interesting food stops and a lunch at a shop that did great tastings of products. We also did a Acropolis tour with Athen Walks. Very average. The guide was textbook knowledgable, unfortunately she talked liked one too. Lost half of the 14 people on the way who just gave up and walked the site on their own. I stayed with the guide because she was very informative but not very animated or a great story teller. The last tour we did was a 2 hour free tour with no tips allowed with My Athens. We really liked our local guide who took us to some of the less seen communities. We saw some of the local graffiti art, stopped in her favorite sweet shop for coffee and a treat and wandered the market. I bought the coffee and treats, which was not required, but seemed like a good exchange.

I also used Rick Steves audio tour for the Ancient Angora, it was much better then wandering the site on our own, but still prefer a live person to have a meaningful visit.

We were just in Athens in May and were very pleased with Athens Walking Tours. Kostas was our guide for the early morning tour of the Acropolis, and it was outstanding. We met at 8:30 at the Fresko Yogurt Cafe on Dionysiou Areopagitou a pedestrian street only two blocks from the Acropolis. It was very helpful to have this tour, and there was no waiting in line at the entrance. This tour was one of the highlights of our trip. All of the communication with Athens Walking Tours in buying our tickets online was excellent.

For the crowded Acropolis, where just not running into other people, or getting run into, and trying to get a clear view of buildings takes some attention, using Rick’s tour worked great.

We used Rick for the Agora, too, but that larger site probably could’ve benefited the most if a live local guide was there, too. And maybe if there was a tour for modern Athens, walking the streets and seeing sine “backdoor” sights?

I used Livin and Lovin when I visited Athens in May. Katerina and Aristotelis did everything for me. Just email them what you want to see and they will arrange the tours for you. The walking tour of Athens was excellent. Katerina does a three hour walking tour of the Plaka area. She arranged for a professor of Classical Greek history to be my guide to the Acropolis area, Agora, Panathenaic Stadium, Temple of Zeus, and was a wealth of knowledge on Greek history and Greek Mythology. They arranged my transportation, and tours not only in Athens, but Aegina, Delphi, The Peloponnese region, and Sounion.
Here is their contact info:

Katerina Tsitsipi
Aristotelis Makris
Nea Erythrea, Athens – Greece
tel./fax: +0030 210-8077073
cell: +0030 6988 607866
e-mail: [email protected]