Athens tour guide

We used Athens Walks for a guided tour of the Acropolis. But this was a group tour. You could contact them to ask if they do private guided tours. We stayed near the Plaka, too, and the Athens Walks office is about 5 minutes from where we stayed (the Airotel Parthenon).

We did a Foodie Tour that started in Syntagma Square. It was more than just a food tour. We learned so much about the culture, history and amazing architecture of the city. It gave us a starting point for where/when we wanted to wander on our own. And, of course, the food was fabulous!

We’re in the same proverbial boat. We will be in Athens for 2 days before a cruise and looking for an engaging guide for us & our 2 inquisitive teen boys. Online shows hundreds of options and we are not sure how to pick. Any help is greatly appreciated.

We will be in Athens in July, and I looked for a private guide for us for the Acropolis. When searching, I found numerous recommendations for Faye Georgiou, so we have scheduled with her for our 4-hour tour. She is also listed in the RS Athens guide.
You might give her a try:

fayegeorgiou@yahoo.gr

There are dozens of possibilities for guided tours in Athens, but be aware that only officially licensed guides are allowed to enter archaeological sites with you
As far as I know Faye Georgiou is not an official guide, In Athens you will not enter the official archaeological sites such as the Acropolis with this guide but only the Acropolis Museum which is completely different (the Acropolis Museum is an private organization)

Some offers have guided tours with official licensed guides, for example:

https://www.athenswalkingtours.gr/

Others offer more specific visits such as nightlife, foodies, etc. (without entering archaeological sites) such as:

https://www.withlocals.com/l/greece/athens/guides/english/

https://www.alternativeathens.com/

The official Athens guides directory is here:

https://www.tourist-guides.gr/guides/list-of-licensed-tourist-guides/?bla=1338&q=athens

You can contact them for a private tour.

JoLui, that is interesting. Faye’s emails to me state that she is a licensed guide, and we are scheduled to visit the Acropolis sites as well as the museum during our 4-hour tour, but I do see that she is not listed on the link you provided.

I will contact her to get clarification and post her response here.

Good idea DebVT, I'm curious to know the answer and her explanation about the Athens tours she offers here:

https://archeologicalgreecetourswithfayegeorgiou.weebly.com/athens-tours.html.

For example, in the description below of his Acropolis tour, oddly, there is no visit to the Acropolis (!)

"We'll visit the new acropolis museum that houses the models of the acropolis hill monuments, and a stunning collection of their sculpture"

As I pointed out, this museum is private, not part of the official archaeological sites and is not located within the Acropolis site perimeter

"From this new museum there's a great panoramic view of the Parthenon."

Ok, that's a view of the Parthenon, only a view from the outside

"Visit of the theater of Dionysus the one used by the famous play writers of the 5th cent. BC and on to present their tragedies and comedies"

The Dyonisos theater is a site located outside the Acropolis area and depends on a separate ticket office

"Climb on the top of the acropolis hill to see closer the Parthenon, the Erecheion, the Propylaia gates, and from the top the ancient Agora, the Mars hill and the odeon of Herode of atticus".

Another view from free access places but no guided tour.

The description of "visiting the Ancient Agora and Roman Forum" is also very strange and vague and mainly talks about visiting the old city, Monastiraki square and the metro station (!)

Maybe i'm wrong, but sorry but according to this description it is the typical journey of someone who cannot accompany you inside official archaeological sites without really saying so.

JoLui, I believe you are correct about Faye and I wish I knew that she was not a licensed guide before we toured with her last year. We also had a tour of both the museum and the Acropolis set up with her and after visiting the museum we continued with Faye on the way to the Acropolis, a walk that should have taken fifteen minutes but instead took more like 40 minutes. Faye explained some things to us just outside of the entrance and then abruptly left us! It all makes sense to me now.

Faye is definitely a licensed guide. She did the Acropolis/museum tour for us on our Rick Steves tour. She is a hoot! A couple on our tour said they took a private tour with her the day before and loved her! Are you sure you’re talking about the same Faye?

Anne -- guides who are NOT licensed are still permitted inside the Acropolis Museum, because it is not a government institution. The key indicator is -- did she accompany you into the Acropolis Grounds, The Agora, the Nat. Arch. Museum? that's the clue. She is also NOT on the Official list of Licensed Tour Guides -- https://www.tourist-guides.gr/guides/list-of-licensed-tourist-guides/ she may be entertaining and full of interesting anecdotes, but if my time in Athens were limited, I'd want a guide who was able to walk me thru the ancients sites & museums and explain things on the spot, not handing me a brochure at the entrance.

Anne is right, Faye is a hoot, and she is the Rick Steves local guide for these sites. She has been guiding tours of this area for 40+ years, I believe, and she is incredibly knowledgeable. We just did a tour with her last week in Athens. I do think it will be helpful for people to be clear on what the experience is - as outlined above, as it's not exactly what we were expecting. We met Faye at the Acropolis museum, where she gave us a thorough overview and helpful information about the Acropolis. We entered the Acropolis ticket point and walked with her through the theatre and up the hillside, with explanations along the way. She did leave us before climbing the last part, and we were on the hilltop alone. I can't say for sure if that was for time reasons (we were at the end of our 3.5 hours with her) or for permission reasons. We enjoyed our time with her and found her to be both knowledgeable and incredibly funny. Our teenagers were entertained for sure. That said, I do think it's worth confirming with her if you expect to have a guide with you on the hilltop itself.

Not only is Faye not allowed to escort clients into ancient sites, she also cannot guide you thru the major and Important Natl. Arch. Museum. You need to ask her DIRECTLY "are you a licensed guide? Can you accompany us into the actual official sites?" If you are very well-versed in classic art/architecture etc and enjoy being entertained with anecdotes, maybe she is OK for you.. but I'll bet she charges just as much as licensed guides. If you go with her, and want actual facts while being ON site or IN the Arch museums, you can go to theRick steves "Watch, Read, Listen" segment, click Greece -- and you can download FREE onto your smart-phone R Steves' step-by-step guide to Acropolis, Ancient Agora, and Nat. Arch Museum (the 10 Top don't Miss highlights).

No matter how entertaining and enjoyable this person is, I think people should have proof of credentials before saying she's licensed.

Faye is indeed a licensed guide. I am currently on the Best of Greece tour and Faye was our guide for the Acropolis and Acropolis Museum on Tuesday. The police were doing random credential checks and both Faye and Fillipos, our Rick Steves guide, had to show their credentials and answer some questions. They even asked some tour members questions to see if the stories matched. Both Faye and Fillipos passed inspection but it was awkward to walk down the hill from the Acropolis to the museum accompanied by two police officers. Faye is a knowledgeable and entertaining guide and I would recommend her.

Both Faye and Fillipos passed inspection but it was awkward to walk
down the hill from the Acropolis to the museum accompanied by two
police officers.

Faye is certainly a knowledgeable and entertaining guide but according to your story if your visit was interrupted by the police and you had to come down from the Acropolis accompanied by the policemen it is probably that she did not have the right to serve as your guide at the Acropolis because she is not an official licensed guide

This conversation is very helpful! We are looking for an Athens guided experience around the major highlights for about 4 hours on Thurs., Oct. 5, 2023. We are seeking a small group (private, if necessary).

We really wanted to do the 4-hour Athens Walks' "Best of Athens City Tour: First Entry Acropolis Tour, Ancient Agoras & Plaka Walk." It has excellent reviews and we really like the idea of early admissions and skip-the-line, but unfortunately it is not available on Thursdays. Here's the link to that tour, in case anyone else is interested: https://www.takewalks.com/athens-tours/athens-city-tour/

So, I started looking at Athens Walking Tours' "Private Athens City Tour, Acropolis, Ancient Agora & the Agora Museum Tour" but strangely it does not include admission tickets and does not hit the same highlights list as the Athens Walks version. I'm concerned that this is just not as good. It's 5 hours and here is the link, in case anyone is interested: https://www.athenswalkingtours.gr/athens-tours/394-private-athens-city-tour-acropolis-ancient-agora-the-agora-museum-tour.html

This led me to looking at Rick Steves' recommendations, but I don't like what I'm reading here about Faye perhaps not being a licensed guide. I'll be very interested to continue reading thoughts on here.

BTW, we are signing up for the 5.5-hour Culinary Backstreets' "ATHENS FOOD TOUR: Culinary Secrets of Downtown Athens" tour. The reviews are excellent and our group (2 couples) loves food, so I think it will be a lot of fun. It's a little spendy at $135/person USD, but you get a lot for the money. Here's the link, in case anyone else is interested: https://culinarybackstreets.com/tours-food-tours/tours-athens/2021/culinary-secrets-of-downtown-athens/

“Faye is certainly a knowledgeable and entertaining guide but according to your story if your visit was interrupted by the police and you had to come down from the Acropolis accompanied by the policemen it is probably that she did not have the right to serve as your guide at the Acropolis because she is not an official licensed guide”

I was unclear. We had finished our visit to the Acropolis. Our visit was not interrupted. Fillipos was with us at the top of the hill and Faye was waiting for us at the bottom with our tickets to the museum. As we were leaving the Acropolis, they checked Fillipos at the top, accepted his documentation and he told them he was working with another guide who had gone ahead to get the museum tickets. The police then accompanied our group to the museum where Faye was waiting. They checked her credentials, seemed satisfied that she met the standard and allowed her to guide us in the museum. No drama, just a random check. I think she is considered something of the Grande Dame of licensed Athens tour guides.

I did hear back from Faye this afternoon. I had inquired as to why she was not listed on the official tourism site (https://www.tourist-guides.gr/guides/list-of-licensed-tourist-guides).

Her response is as follows:

The list is incomplete
We are 1600 licensed guides
All listed in the union of licensed guides.
I can give you my ID number and the union link

Besides Ricksteves's will never use and recommend a not certified licensed guide.
I work for his company for more than 25 years
Yours
Faye Georgiou

She did confirm that she would accompany us throughout the sites on the Acropolis grounds.

We are going to continue with our plans to have her guide us through the Acropolis in July. I'll report back here if there is anything about our tour that seems fishy, but based on feedback here and in other postings, I'm expecting a great experience.

I contacted Faye. Unfortunately she is not available during our time in Athen. I’m still looking. 🥴

I am circling back to this thread to report that our tour with Faye Georgiou last Friday was excellent. She is knowledgeable, entertaining, funny, and presented her history lessons in a way that kept our group of 12 actively listening for 4 hours.

She is absolutely an officially licensed guide, and she guided us through the Acropolis monuments as well as the museum.

Very highly recommend.

We had a private tour with Kostas of Athens Walks. It was excellent!

Faye Georgiou gave us an excellent tour of the Acropolis Museum in June of this year. We were a group of six adults, and Faye offered us a thorough, informative, entertaining, wise, and meaningful tour. She is brilliant and fun and deeply knowledgable. All of the other guides at the museum seem to have been trained by her! We would all recommend doing the tour of the museum with a guide and then exploring the site itself on your own. Going in the evening toward the closing of the site is magical and so much less crowded.

Can anyone tell me if 65+ people from foreign countries are given free access to any sites in Athens. I read that this applies to the Acropolis Museum but can't verify it on their site. It does talk about people entitled to concessions.

KPNZ -- Please do not not "piggyback" an unrelated question at the bottom of an existing Forum thread ... your question will not be seen by most visitors to this forum because they either are not interested in a tour guide inquiry, or believe they've already read/answered this topic. DO start our own topic; it's easy.

As for senior discount, since u seem to be from outside the EU... no, nada, unless u are citizen of European Union. I've visited Greece 13 times since age 65, and zippo for major sites/museums. There was a senior rate on the KTEL Xbusses to/from airport in the past, but don't know if it still prevails.