day tours from Athens

Our trip was so long ago that I'm reluctant to name the company. But we had the same objective. Our hotel turned out to be walking distance from a big bus-tour company, that typically left at 8 or 9 AM and came back at 6 or even 7PM. It was perfect, avoiding car rental and navigation, and only rarely stopping someplace we didn't want to (I mean, a pottery shop or a prepaid meal!) In fact, on the trip to Delphi, the guide quickly agreed to leave us behind while they drove back to a sit-down lunch in a not-adjacent restaurant. That got us 1.5 hours more at Delphi, and we had hot dogs or something onsite for lunch. I feel that we saw more than we could have on our own.

The "down" side is that it's only a day-out. Meteora (which the same company did) requires a motel stay, and I'm sorry we didn't get there. We should have paid for an empty night in Athens and made that trip. I do think you should cost out the tours, especially if you have 5 people. They aren't "cheap".

I'm not ashamed to have gone on three such daytrips. We got where we wanted without any fuss, and were happy with the prices. Don't listen to anyone telling you how you aren't experiencing life in Greece - nobody lives at Delphi, after all! The trip was in 2000, and the company was called Chat Tours.

There's no possibility of a day-trip from Athens to Istanbul by ferry. Much, much too far. You'd have to fly.

I'm not sure there is any direct ferry connection between Greece and Istanbul. There's a boat connection between the island of Rhodes and Marmaris, Turkey, but the latter is nowhere near Istanbul. Another ferry connects the island of Chios to Cesme, Turkey, but again you are still far from Istanbul.

I'm sure you can find good reasonable tour/guides. I would recommend Culinary Backstreets Tours for a food tour to see all the nooks and crannies of Athens. It is long, but you will get enough food for both lunch and dinner, plus they are small and personable. Loved the one I took.
On day trips, We were with a larger group and our travel agent here in the USA arranged these tours. My husband did the Delphi tour but this tour ended up being a mixture of some from our group and some from others. He loved it and it was only 1 day. We also did a day trip over to the Mycenae and Epidaurus, with a brief stop in Nafplio. Very nice.

2 couples from our group did a day on Hydra (no autos on hydra) a short ferry ride from Athens.
Loved everything about Greece and will be returning.
One caveat: ferries are terrible about being on time and one we took was even cancelled.

Olga, since you have nearly a year to plan, here is my advice and I HOPE it will be appreciated, not rejected. I hope you will do real homework -- NOT just clicking around on the Internet. Yes, the Internet has great "eye candy" (pix of lovely places) and forums like this add personal experiences. But we "greece vets" do not have time to provide a "Greece 101" course for total newcomers ... and the Internet has a major drawback: many websites are commercial, to draw tourism, so they sin by omission -- they show the highlights but never mention the drawbacks. (For instance, that in July you almost cannot avoid massive mob scenes on popular destinations, such as the ''cliche twins" Santorini & Mykonos). Guidebooks are different -- they have to give fairly realistic picture, or go out of business. You don't have to buy "blind" -- go to your library and check out an armful ... see what appeals & order one (or 2). R Steves for instance is excellent on Athens -- step-by-step guide to Acropolis & the Nat. Arch Museum - also good on Delphi & main sites of Peloponnese; but his guide doesn't cover islands. I like ROUGH GUIDE to Greece for a very thorough overall picture. Big fat book but u can pull out sections to make little "guide-ettes" for your pockets.

Good MAPS are vital -- such as this Greece map http://www.explorecrete.com/crete-maps/images/greece.gif (click to enlarge) ... this helps u realize distances more realistically. And to picture a 1-2 day trip to the Peloponnese this map is SPLENDID: http://euro-map.com/karty-grecii/peloponnes/podrobnaya-turisticheskaya-karta-peloponnesa.jpg (click & it gets huuuge; use side-sliders to move around). It shows all the roads big & small .. You can clearly see the route all the way from Athens to Olympia ... to Nafplio the ideal "base" in the peloponnese, and Almost to Delphi (on mainland).

TRIPS from ATHENS -- If you are 5, perhaps one of the others might consider driving. You really can save MASSIVE €€ vs. 5 tour tickets. AND (very important) YOU set the pace, not tied to 30+ others (all too often Old and Cranky). As for tour companies, there are only THREE that do trips out of Athens -- CHAT, GO and KEY. Even if you book elsewhere they just put you on 1 of these. Some multi-day tours are worthwhile just because its not possible to see Delphi & Olympia in 2+ days on public transit. Delphi is 3.5 hour drive from Athens -- and Olympia is 5+ hours drive from Athens -- in a totally different direction! Most 1-day tours are frustrating -- too much time in bus, not enough seeing the sights. Bus wastes full hour in Athens picking up people at hotel, and ditto offloading at day's end. Often several nationalities on board so guide must repeat info in English, German & French -- thus has VERY little time for detail. You may be dragged off for lunch YOU pay for & dont want. AND also dragged to a souvenir store -- all for kickbacks, I suspect. PLUS, because of schedules, bus groups all arrive at once, thus jamming up a museum and/or ruins. For Delphi, You may very well do better by 5 of you renting a car 1 day & driving -- OR taking the excellent intercity bus (KTEL bus), and arranging to meet a local licensed guide right at the site; there are several excellent ones.

TRIP CHOICE -- there is one trip I DO like : no rush, lots of free time, & DOES get you easily to 3-4 famous sites. This 2-day trip from Athens - http://www.chatours.gr/tours.php?exc=8&exccat=1 - visits Corinth Canal, Mycenae, then to Nafplio (most Beautiful Old Town in all Greece), where you have a full afternoon-evening at liberty AND next AM, then you visit Epidaurus on way back to Athens. Bookmark this!

No time here to discuss islands, maybe later. Final tip -- if you could manage, your experience would be MUCH better (and cost much less) if you could do last 2 weeks of June -- Amazing difference, in crowds & prices (because Europe crowds flood in for July-August).

Thank you for all the replies.

Janet, thanks for all the ideas. I will especially look at the third tour option that you mentioned. Also, we can try to go the last two weeks of June.

My husband and I have been traveling on our own for 32 years. We just wanted to do a non car vacation. We have been to Mykonos, Corfu, and Santorini, but not the mainland of Greece. Will look at other islands, like, Rhodes for example.

I will try an research and see if there are any driver /guides that can be hired for a couple of days.

GLad to hear you are "old hands" at this travel thing, Olga. And since you live in Vancouver, I suggest you look at the Trip report just posted here by another Graecophile, my good friend "Stanbr." I've been meeting up on Naxos with this guy & his spouse almost every year since 2006 -- we've both been around many of the Isles, but this one is our special favorite. They live on Vancouver Island ... so they know all about the challenge of getting to Greece! He can be super helpful & practical in helping you make the best of your 2 weeks ... and it's nice to know that you've already been to the 3 most touristic islands. If you're willing to do a domestic flight OR an overnight on the Blue Star line's newest ferry, Rhodes is certainly a contrast! I've been there 2x, as has "Stanbr" & bride.

Thank you Janet.
We live in Vancouver, Washington near Portland, Oregon.
Vancouver Island I am familiar with. My daughter attended a university there.