Should we visit Athens? Part 2 – Athens Tours

Introduction

In Part 1 of this series about Athens I presented a framework comprising research questions to help us decide if we should visit Athens. The first research question related to Athens tours, more specifically: Are there any interesting Athens tours – photography? Food? Historical? Street Art?

In Part 2 of this series, I present our research related to Athens tours.

There is no shortage of information about Athens: what to do, where to go, and associated tours. Without too much trouble I found the 11 websites listed below.

Websites for Athens Tours

  1. http://www.citysightseeing.gr/ (The classic Hop-on Hop-off tours)
  2. https://www.city-discovery.com/greece_athens_tours/
  3. http://www.greeka.com/attica/athens/greece/athens-tours.htm
  4. http://www.athenswalkingtours.gr/
  5. https://www.getyourguide.com/athens-l91/
  6. http://www.keytours.gr/
  7. http://www.athenstours.gr/tour-greece/
  8. https://www.fantasytravelofgreece.com/tours
  9. http://www.athenstourgreece.com/
  10. https://www.visitmeteora.travel/en/
  11. http://www.visitgreece.gr/

A selection of Athens Tours

Athens City

Sometimes it is good to get your bearings when in a new city. The traditional Hop-on, Hop-off city tour can be a great option. You receive a brief overview of the city, get an idea where all the tourist hotspots are located, and perhaps get some new ideas.

What’s more, these tours are generally reasonably priced and good value for money.

Website: http://www.citysightseeing.gr/

The Acropolis

Featured on just about every Athens/Greece tourism guide, the Acropolis is an iconic city ruin that must be visited. Can you say anything else? Matt Barrett’s overview “The Acropolis of Athens” is a good place to start to understand what the Acropolis is all about.

Here is a selection of tours:

These tours cover more than just the Acropolis. If you want to visit the Acropolis only then this walking tour may be the answer: http://www.athenswalkingtours.gr/just-the-acropolis-tour

Athens Tours for different needs

I thought a good way to investigate these websites listed above would be to consider our areas of interest and then see what was on offer.

Our areas of interest include:

  1. Street art
  2. Greek culture
  3. Food
  4. Photography
  5. Night
  6. Private tour
  7. Islands
  8. Meteora
  9. Delphi
  10. Meteora and Delphi (Combined)
  11. Villages

Weblinks for each of these types of tours are listed below under each category.

Street art tours

Street art fascinates me.

Greek culture + Markets + Suburbs (Walking)

We have a renewed interest in understanding the culture of the people in the cities we visit. This interest extends to capturing photographs which support our understanding.

For the Foodies

I’ll need to investigate these tours further to check if they cater for celiacs.

Photography

At Night

We have never been great night owls but you never know.

Private Tours

We like private tours. They provide the opportunity to focus on particular areas of interest.

Island Tours

Meteora

These tours are of particular interest to me. I have been fascinated by these cliff-top monasteries ever since I became aware of them.

Delphi

Delphi + Meteora

Villages

We would like to stay for a short time in an authentic Greek village. This is linked to our renewed interest in culture.

Our selection of Athens Tours

Why not have a go at all of them? Unfortunately, time and money always acts as a filter and keep things realistic. So, in no order, these are the tours that have piqued our interest:

Athens and the Acropolis

https://www.fantasytravelofgreece.com/tours-in-greece/athens-tour-acropolis-museum

This tour meets our needs: provides a good overview of Athens, visits the Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum, and uses a bus.

Photography

https://www.city-discovery.com/greece_athens_tours/tour.php?id=3608

Only one person will attend this so it needs to be short – this three-hour tour meets that criteria. Significantly, a photographic tutor also conducts the tour.

Cooking lesson

http://www.athenswalkingtours.gr/Cooking-Lessons

Only one person will attend (not the photographer!).

Greek culture and markets

http://www.athenswalkingtours.gr/private-walking-tours-athens

Most of the formal tours start at 1000 and take four hours. However, we’d like a personalised three-hour tour that starts earlier. Say between 0800-0900. This group should be able to accommodate us.

Meteora

https://www.visitmeteora.travel/en/ (Specialist Meteora site)

I’ve wanted to visit Meteora ever since we watched “Francesco’s Mediterranean Voyage” which featured these cliff-top monasteries.

Village

We would really like to visit an authentic Greek village. We haven’t decided yet, but it needs to be reasonably easy to access. Perhaps we can combine an island trip with an authentic village experience?

We’ll study Matt Barrett’s Greek Island Synopsis: http://www.greektravel.com/greekislands/

Next Time

In the next post, I’ll consider the questions related to Greek culture, food, markets and concerts.

Return to more travel planning articles

Return to all of our travel articles

Our eBook

As you will deduce from the promotion below, we did indeed go to Athens, and we produced an eBook about our trip!

Our eBook synopsis:

We discuss our six days in Athens in this eBook (13,200 words, 23 photographs). We had an additional day each for arrival and departure. Our Athens eBook is different from our previous eBooks in that we focus on observed cultural aspects rather than a day-by-day account of our activities. However, we do have a chapter that presents our schedule and activities.

Our impressions of Athens are drawn from the walking tours (over 16 hours) we joined and our experience of self-catering in a predominantly local neighbourhood.

Therefore, we have chapters that focus on our living experience, and our experiences related to our private food tour, neighbourhood tour, and the tours of the Acropolis Museum and Acropolis. Other topics we discuss relate to issues raised during our visit, such as Greece and the European Union and The Greek Economic Crisis.

Never been to Athens? Oh, you must – we did!

Our eBook: Six Days in Athens can be found on:

Six Days in AthensAmazon Links:

Kindle US || Kindle UK || Kindle AU || Kindle CA

Smashwords Link: EPUB

Smashwords also distributes to:

Apple Books

Odilo || Scribd || Gardners Extended Retail

Kobo || Barnes and Noble

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