Athens and the Heart of Greece

We are on this tour, this September. Our plans are to arrive 5 days before tour start. 3 days Naxos Island, 2 days Athens. At end of tour fly to Istanbul, 4 nights. Excellent airfares - Turkish Airlines. Seattle to Athens, Istanbul to Seattle. Aegean Air Athens to Naxos. Blue Star ferry Naxos to Athens. Aegean Air Athens to Istanbul.
Getting excited for the trip - just over 2 months away.

Arrived two days early in Athens, then went to Venice for a whole week after the tour which was end of April to beginning of May. It was a short flight from Athens to Venice, and it was a great place to spend a week.

Tara
We have not but a good friend did in June. They did Santorini before and said the tour is on their top three. We are thinking about Greece - Turkey would be a great back to back. So many good reviews on Turkey.
Don

We did that tour in April of 2022 and before the tour we spent 3 nights in Santorini, ferried to Naxos for 3 nights and then flew to Athens for our tour. Afterwards we rented a car and drove to Meteora (highly recommended!) for 2 nights and then to Agios Ioannis Pelion (definately off the beaten track, but lovely) for 2 nights and then back to an apartment near the airport for 1 night before flying home. We loved Greece and the food everywhere was amazing!

I took the tour in 2017. My tour started the last week in April. I wanted to add a few days in Athens, there's so much more to see than the tour covers. For personal scheduling issues I had to add them pre-tour. I would have preferred post-tour, when I would have been more familiar with the city. It all worked out for me. I love museums and went to several that aren't on the tour. I loved exploring the city on my own, with the help of RS walking tours.

The only thing I regretted was not knowing how good the Mani Mani restaurant was - the tour's final dinner was there. I was able to make up for it on a return visit to Athens, though. That was in Oct 2019 when I spent 2 weeks visiting 3 islands, Crete, Santorini and Naxos. If you're interested in that, I'd recommend going before the tour if you aren't especially interested in bathing (water is likely to be quite cold in April and early May) but the weather won't be as hot and there will be fewer tourists. I loved Chania, Crete and Naxos. Even at the end of tourist season with a lot winding down, Santorini was a zoo, way too many cruise daytrippers.

We did several extra days in Athens before the tour started, did several museums, a self guided walking tour and a terrific food tour. Athens is a great city and the Greeks are warm terrific hosts. The tour is excellent, you see so many amazing places and different sides of Greece. It’s so much more than beach towns.

We've done this tour and have been to Greece an additional time. Highlights of both our trips include: the hanging monasteries in Meteora, the islands of Naxos and Milos, and Thessaloniki.

We've been to Mykonos and Santorini, and while they are beautiful, they are crowded and expensive. Not worth it, in my opinion. The cruise ships don't go to Naxos or Milos, which are a ferry ride apart. If you can, get to Meteora, which is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Most people don't go there because it's not on the cruise ship route and requires at least two additional day. It's easy to get a cheap flight from Athens to Milos, then take the ferry to Naxos, where you can catch a flight back to Athens. I liked Thessaloniki, but if you only have three weeks, focus on the tour plus a week between two islands, or add on Meteora and maybe one island. If you're retired, take 4 weeks. You'll love it!!

We’re going next spring in late March. Still not sure about pre trip but linking with the Turkey tour after. I’d like to hear about food tours people have tried. We have done several over the years and have enjoyed them all.

Consider adding another RS tour either before or after.
We added Best of Turkey which started two days later to our Best of Greece.
Spent one night on our own in Istanbul.
At the time did not realize you could book extra nights at the same RS hotel.
Wonderful to save jet-lag you get going to Europe.

I went on this tour in October 2018. Spent 2 days in Athens before the tour started (wanted to visit museums that the group would not be visiting such as the Byzantine/Christian museum and War Museum) and just wanted to soak up the vibes in Athens overall. Never made it out to any of the major islands, though, lol.

Hello, Tara.
My partner and I did this tour in late April 2024. Prior to the tour, we flew to Athens, then boarded a short flight to Santorini. We stayed at The Vasilicos in Imerovigli, which was wonderful. Weather 70-80 degrees and sunny, no crowds and one lone cruise ship in harbor. We explored the island by foot and occasional taxi, did a walking tour through some little villages that ended with a wine tasting at Gavalas Winery, relaxed and enjoyed fresh fish and unforgettable views, while we got over jet lag prior to our Rick Steves tour.
Other people I have talked to loved Crete and Naxos.

We came in, as usual, two days before the tour started to get over jet lag. We stayed at the Hera which was the tour hotel and just walked around Athens. After the tour we went to Naxos for 4 days. It was the beginning of May so too early to get in the beautiful blue water. Naxos had been recommended by our BOE tour guide who also does some of the Greece tours and we thoroughly enjoyed the island.

I did this tour last April and flew to Venice at the end and then the next day started Village Italy in Padova. Now I am a confirmed back to back tours to get biggest bang for your airline cost. Next May I will do Central Europe then fly to Istanbul to do Best of Turkey.

We just returned from this tour and it was fabulous! We flew into Athens only one day early because we had been to Athens before and had seen many of the sights. We chose to spend a week post tour on Crete. We chose the western Chania region to focus on as Crete is too big to cover in just one week. We started out with two very relaxing days in Loutro on the southern coast and the spent the rest of the time at a boutique hotel in Agi Apostoli about 20 minutes west of Chania. We took the bus into Old Town Chania to see the sights and eat dinner a couple of days, as we enjoyed being away from the hustle and Old Town most of the time. Crete is very different than the mainland and we enjoyed experiencing a similar but different culture, food and physical environment. The beaches are truly some of the best in the world!

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Post Heart of Greece tour, we rented a car and drove to Meteora and spent 3 nights there. This was our second trip to Greece and Athens and we hadn't gone there yet, so that's why we chose it.