Hi,
I’m trying to do some “leg work” comparing prices on private 3 day tours to Olympia & Nafplion, starting & ending in Athens. We’ve found a huge range of prices from $800 per couple to $1,900 per person. The former being a well-known on-line tour company and the latter being a private high-end tour company. My husband and I will be traveling with another couple. We are not 4-star accommodations/luxury hotel people but more 3-star mid-range price/smaller privately-owned hotel people. We appreciate the private tours with a smaller number of people as opposed to the bus load of 50-100 people. Can anyone suggest some tour companies that are priced somewhere in the middle of the above mentioned tours? BTW We will be going on a 4-day cruise of the islands following this land tour. Thanks so much!
Posted by
Philadelphia, PA, USA
3320 posts
Olympia & Nafplion do not combine very well, since Nafplion is only a 2-hr trip from Athens, but Olympia is way on theother side of the Pelopponese. I do have ONE tour that I favor (offered by 2 companies), going to Nafplio & vicinity for 2 days. Why? because it takes you efficiently to 3 important sites, plus -- SO importantly -- almost half the 2 days is "Free time" ... allowing you a full afternoon, evening and next AM to explore Nafplion Greece's MOST beautiful Old TOwn Each tour has just one bus, so I'm thinking no more than 30 people per tour, with a LICENSED guide aboard, who takes you thru the sites & provides backgrounding throughout.
https://www.chat-tours.com/index.php/Tour/view/15
https://www.keytours.gr/en/athens/two_day_trip_to_nafplio_epidaurus_mycenae-41.html
*** I tend to favor KEY, simply for hotel location. The CHAT tour offers only a Premium Hotel, at the outskirts of Nafplio.. where u must taxi to/from the central square. And since part of the wonderful Nafplio experience is sitting in the marble-paved square of an evening, it's more fun to be located right there. KEY offers a premium IN-town Hotel ( Ippoliti or smilar), or the very agreeable tourist-class Hotel Victoria, which is just a few hundred yards from the town square.
Chat Starts on a Tuesday, returns Wed 7 pm, I am not sure about Key, it either starts on Tuesday or on Wednesday ... an email to Key will bring a quick response. Of course, we do not know what day of the week your 4-day cruise begins (note for future: when you omit important dates, we may be doing our research & keyboarding in vain).
I didn't get around to visiting Olympia until my 5th trip to Greece... it's a loong bus ride. I wasn't that impressed with the outdoor ruins site, more with the Museum (TIP: if u do get there, visit museum @ 8 am & it's EMPTY -- huge bus tours pour in at 10 am). Museum has wonderful objects, for those of us who are classical history/art geeks .... otherwise, a good guidebook or some homework helpls.
Posted by
Charleston & Birmingham
4318 posts
We did the group tour that Janet is talking about, probably the KEY one since our hotel was well located in town, in 2008. The guide wasn't the best but everything else was fine and it was very convenient-we were able to go snorkeling the day after the overnight before we returned to Athens.
Posted by
WA State
3961 posts
Janet’s advise is spot on. I agree about the distance between Nafplion and Olympia. There are so many excellent historic areas near Nafplion. In addition to the website below, we used “The Rough Guide to Greece.” It was our favorite resource (and it was recommended by Janet!). We took the RS Greece Tour in 2017 and our route was counterclockwise so Olympia made a nice stop before circling to the Peloponnese. Enjoy your planning!
https://greeking.me/blog/visiting-peloponnese/item/87-things-to-do-in-nafplio
Posted by
Pacific Northwest
2622 posts
We used Private Greece Tours in 2019. https://privategreecetours.com
I loved them. We had George as a driver and set everything up with owner Nikos. He can definitely price that tour for you and you will have a fantastic time. We made our tour longer - I really wanted to see the monasteries up in Meteora as well so our tour was 4 nights and 5 full days with George. George is not a guide - he is a driver who gave us just enough information for our particular travel style. Private Greece Tours can add a guide as well at an extra cost.
We paid 1650 Euros for the 5 days of touring. We saw tons and had a great time with George. He is my favorite of all our drivers - ever. He's funny, easy-going and a safe driver. We had to pay our own entrance fees but they were nominal. Hotels were not included for us (the rooms for George were covered) and they ran about 90 Euros a night and were all nice.
If you are a party of 4, a 3 day/2 night tour with Private Greece Tours would be a steal.
If you want to read tons of details about our trip, go to my profile on this site - my name is blue - click on it and you get to my profile.
I blog my travels and you can find my blog and pictures of the Greece trip and our time with Private Greece Tours.
Posted by
OP
Chicago
11 posts
Thanks to all for your information! I’m trying to work with my travel agent on coming up with a price for a 3 day tour. So far she gave me a quote of $1,900 per person, which seemed very pricey to me. I appreciate all your input.
Posted by
Clrwtr, FL
169 posts
You might check with Eudomonia Tours (from Athens). Their site is still active so I believe they have survived the "blight". All of their tours are private for your group.
I had a 2 night tour booked for last year -(well,,,,) (2 nights for 6 was E1950 - for 2020). Plan to use them next year for our group of 6 (2 Sr's, 2 40+'s & 2 teens). They have several 3 day (2 nts) & 4 day (3 nts) options or might be able to put something together for you. Their prices should be much less than $1900/pp. I think they have a "new" offering that does just what you were looking for - Nafplion, Olympia and Delphi (might have had Meteora too).. I'm thinking of doing that - but dropping the time in Meteora (been there and tho it's neat - don't think it worth the time on the road on a really short tour - my opinion). We will spread that time saved over the other 3 locations.
My plan is for them to provide us a transfer to Nafplion when we arrive Athens (from US). Spend the night there - and then start the tour. This gives us a day/evening to unwind from the flight... and a second night in Nafplion.. then do the 4 "day" tour.. end back at the Athens airport and continue on rest of our explorations in Greece.
Know (hope) you will love everything you experience, we certainly have on our past visits.