taxi for 5 from Piraeus to Acropolis

Can anyone recommend a larger taxi which might pick us up at the ship for a trip to the acropolis and how much should it be?

I am not aware of any taxis available in Athens that can carry 5 passengers. You will need two taxis unless you arrange for a private van in advance.

The taxi fare from the cruise ship terminal to the Acropolis should be less than 15 Euros, but, although many locals who post on sister website tripadvisor's forum (in which I participate daily) state that the meter fare should be about 12 Euros each way, in my two trips to Athens in the past 15 months, we never have convinced a taxi driver to use his meter for this trip. The locals say you should summon the local tourist police at the terminal to force the issue, but we have chosen not to do so, but simply reach a bargain before we (or any luggage) enter the taxi.

We have bargained upfront for 20 Euros for the 20-minute trip, and were glad we got that price rather than the 25 or 30 Euros (or even the 40 Euros eh2zed posted on November 29 in the thread entitled "Athens port time" as what he paid)!

"kazganymede"

Greetings,

We were in your shoes about two months ago , so I understand your position completely. I have no personal stake or agenda in providing the following recommendation - I just beleive great experiences should be shared when fellow travelors ask.

We're about 5 weeks back from our recnt B2B cruise in the Mediterranean, the first departing out of Pireus, GR. DH & cannot say enough good things about our private taxi driver tour by Nikos Loukas we experienced. Our time was limited but Mr. Nikos Likous of "Private Greece Tours dot-com maximized our time & itinerary in Athens first picking us up promptly as promised frour hotel, we covered all that needed to be covered (including Acropolis & Acroplolis new museum, major historic sites, Olympic stadium changing of guard) in about 4.5 to 5 hours then he dropped us . His scheduled timing was perfect and he is 100% English fluent articulating the necessarry history we needed to know and more! Nikos is a true gentleman, dressed in a tie & suit, met us with red rose in hand in his spacious Mercedes Van - jsut for two us. He made our 30th wedding anniversary so very special. I have a snapfish album which includes all the sites he customized for us if you wish the link just let me know.

I'm sure one of his Mercedes vans or SUVs can accomodate your group of 5 in comfort AND more importatnyl at a competetive rate. I did a price comparison between the three most mentioned drivers on this board and Nikos' pricing beat them all. You will NOT be dissapointed.

http://privategreecetours.com/

nikosloukas@privategreecetours.com

nikosloukas1@gmail.com

Bon Voyage and Enjoy you rupcoming travel to Greece!

Please send our best to Nikous from "The Lee's"

Best Regards,

Leah, RN

I just returned from Med Cruise..there were 5 people in our party...we were VERY pleased with Dennis Kokkotos (son of George the Famous Taxi Driver) at dennisprivatetours@yahoo.com. He took us to the Acropolis, the museum and everywhere else we wanted to go. He was actually born in the USA, so his English was great. His car was very comfortable, even after shopping!!

A definite reommendation.

I do not understand why people are so anxious to spend several hundred Euros for a taxi driver in Athens. Twenty Euros max from Piraeus cruise terminal and back, then walk in a very, very small historical center (or take the excellent metro for one Euro). No need to battle downtown traffic, missing the lovely pedestrianized areas. If you want a walking tour or a real guide, licensed and educated, contact athens walking tours dot com.

If any of your party have walking issues, you can get a taxi to any location downtown for a few Euros.

These taxi companies are not licensed guides, cannot accompany you into any sites, and are a complete rip-off!

We were there a couple years back. We were told by the people at our hotel, not to use the taxis. "They rip us off, they certainly will rip you off". You can get the metro to an area just below the acropolis "plaka" where the shopping area is and the view of the parthenon is great. There are many restaurants and if you want to take the time, you can walk around the base, through the ancient plaka and make your way up to the top.

It is unforturnate when you have bad experiences during traveling, ie, "rip off". But it has been my experience that when time is limited, such as a cruise port, it has been well worth the cost to hire a reputable driver. This way,you are more likely to see the really important sites, and most importantly, you won't get stuck or lost and miss the ship!!! I have put a lot of trust in the recommendations from fellow travelers and have been happy with my choices of drivers, such as Dennis, our Athens driver, who was recommended by another traveler. And he made it very clear that he was a "driver" not a "guide". But he did share a lot of interesting information with us.

I agree, when you have time, there is nothing better than taking the metro or bus to really see the cities. However, the security of a driver wins when time is limited.

It is unforturnate when you have bad experiences during traveling, ie, "rip off". But it has been my experience that when time is limited, such as a cruise port, it has been well worth the cost to hire a reputable driver. This way,you are more likely to see the really important sites, and most importantly, you won't get stuck or lost and miss the ship!!! I have put a lot of trust in the recommendations from fellow travelers and have been happy with my choices of drivers, such as Dennis, our Athens driver, who was recommended by another traveler. And he made it very clear that he was a "driver" not a "guide". But he did share a lot of interesting information with us.

I agree, when you have time, there is nothing better than taking the metro or bus to really see the cities. However, the security of a driver wins when time is limited.

If you knew how easily walkable the central historic area of Athens is, and how easy public transportation in Athens can be negotiated, you'd understand why Pam and I find it difficult to comprehend why anyone would pay hundreds of euro for a driver. But I guess to each his or her own....

It is unforturnate when you have bad experiences during traveling, ie, "rip off". But it has been my experience that when time is limited, such as a cruise port, it has been well worth the cost to hire a reputable driver. This way,you are more likely to see the really important sites, and most importantly, you won't get stuck or lost and miss the ship!!! I have put a lot of trust in the recommendations from fellow travelers and have been happy with my choices of drivers, such as Dennis, our Athens driver, who was recommended by another traveler. And he made it very clear that he was a "driver" not a "guide". But he did share a lot of interesting information with us.

I agree, when you have time, there is nothing better than taking the metro or bus to really see the cities. However, the security of a driver wins when time is limited.

If you want a driver, a taxi to and from the port should cost 20 Euros max, and then you easily can walk around the very small central Athens area, nicer walking than by taxi because of the many pedestrianized streets (not so fun to negotiate in a taxi). Also, the traffic on the few major streets near the historic sights is pretty heavy.

If you really need a taxi in town, you can get one throughout your day in central Athens for a few Euros, still saving hundreds of Euros from what you will pay for utilizing one of these full day services. (Also, the metro is excellent as well for travelling any distances within town.)

Even the best tour company in Athens, with real licensed guides, is called Athens Walking Tours, because that is the easiest and best way to travel in this city.

I certainly can see hiring one of these guys to do a day trip to several widely-separated locations (if you do not want to rent a car), such as Mycenae, Epidauros, Napflion or the Corinth Canal, but in central Athens you simply are wasting your Euros.

As Cynthia says, I simply do not understand the point of using these guys.

We used something called athen's taxi and booked for a group. The boss is Paul some long name. It went wonderful but we had a big group for the day for 37.50 euros for all day. I started a group on cruise critics and we shared the excursion and had so much fun. Many people have recommended this group and so would I. We ended up with two groups from NCL Jade in Nov both had FUN! I also believe he takes smaller groups for about 200 euros. Check or join the message board for your cruise and form a group it's fun. Pat/Zelda

Hi,

We never use a taxi in Piraeus. The Metro station is on a walking distance (15 min.) and will take you to Acropolis or other interesting places in Athen.

Screwcork

we are looking for 4 people to join us on a day tour from Piraeus, going to Corinth Mycenae and Nafplion.  i can send the full itinerary if interested.  The cost is 55 euros pp and will not include any entrance fees.

rebecca underscore mcglothlin at yahoo dot com

Thanks

20 hours ago, pluto45 said:

we are looking for 4 people to join us on a day tour from Piraeus, going to Corinth Mycenae and Nafplion.  i can send the full itinerary if interested.  The cost is 55 euros pp and will not include any entrance fees.

rebecca underscore mcglothlin at yahoo dot com

Thanks

 

Do you realize that you posted on a 9 year old thread.  Also you should look for tour shares on your roll call, not general boards