Should we hire a tour guide at the Acropolis?

[sjde]

We will be in Athens this month and plan to take a taxi early in the day from the ship. I think I read somewhere on these boards that you can hire a guide right there. Is that necessary, those of you who've done it one way or the other?

 

 

Thank you!

 

Sue

[CintiPam]

I do not believe so, if you have a good guidebook. (We are big fans of Rick Steves, and used his tour information for our visits to the Acropolis and other sights on the 12-Euro ticket.)

 

If you do want a guide, the only true licensed guides that I can recommend are the people at athens walking tours. Although I have not used them personally, athens walking tours has received unanimous praise from the Athens Destination Experts on the Athens forum of sister website tripadvisor, which I have participated in daily for the last year. (Just google the name if you are interested.)

 

The taxi drivers who provide transportation for the day are not licensed and cannot enter the sights with you.

[eh2zed]

Have been there twice. There is no need for a guide if your primary concern is walking the site and getting to see most everything. It is relatively easy site to navigate. For the interperative element a guide would be useful for sure but a good guide book would really be sufficient.

[cruisemom42]

I think it all depends on what kind of traveler and "preparer" you are. If you're the type that likes to do a minimal amount of research and reading ahead of time (I'm not talking about planning metro routes but about reading up on Athens' Golden Age and why the Parthenon was built, for example), then a guide may be helpful. Some people just enjoy having someone else tell them about the history of what they are seeing. I prefer to read it in advance; I find I remember it better.

 

You can hire a guide at the gate where you purchase tickets, if you decide that's what you want to do.

 

Just for fun, my own list:

 

You Might Need a Guide When You Visit the Acropolis IF:

 

1. You wonder why the Greeks built every damn monument on top of a rock.

 

2. You think a Caryatid is some kind of insect.

 

3. You're not sure who Lord Elgin is and why the Greeks all seem to hate him.

 

4. You think Pericles and Phideas are names from a Greek myth.

 

5. You wonder why they don't remove that scrubby olive tree near the Erectheion.

 

6. And finally, you make a mental note to ask someone when the Athenians will finally finish building the Parthenon; enough with the scaffolding, already!

[itsjb1]

We tend to get more out of a site when we are listening to someone and can can ask questions as opposed to trying to read the information in a guidebook. If you are okay with guidebooks, then you do not need a guide. We used athenswalkingtours and they were excellent. We met at the Syntagma subway station, walked to the Acropolis with stops and explanations along the way and then were given an explanation of and at the Acropolis.

[eandj]

We shared a guide with another 3 people when my dh and I were at the Acropolis. It was pretty crowded and there would have been no way that we could have stopped to look at a book while climbing the steps. And most Akropolis guide books are disjointed and not very interesting. You'd have to do the reading before you got there to piece it all together.

 

The guide had great diagrams of the site "as it looked" and could point at her picture and then expalin what we were looking at. She kept the hisorical info very interesting and not dry. We got much more out of the visit. But that is a personal view.

 

If it would be something you would want, you ask for a guide at the entrance and they will gather others so the guide cost then is split among more people. I'd say no more than 6 is a good group.

[chipmaster]

We will be in Athens this month and plan to take a taxi early in the day from the ship. I think I read somewhere on these boards that you can hire a guide right there. Is that necessary, those of you who've done it one way or the other?

 

 

Thank you!

 

Sue

 

As other poster said how do you like to travel and how do you like to take it in.

 

Some like to read it and or surf it on the web and then go see it in person. I personally like to see and get the story thru my ears realtime. I often have lots of follow-up questions too. I have found books not very interactive and never have the side tidbits of the better guides, YMMV. Books that have everything are often a bear to read.

 

Licensed guides are at the entrance, but it could be a crap shoot as to quality of experience. They all in priciple know the basic history, but like teachers there are fun ones and really dry ones, YMMV. We hired one last year for 100 euros for 14 of us, we felt it was money well spent.

 

PS be careful of taxi and negotiate the fare ahead. I've read horror stories about the taxi drivers in Athens.

[6rugrats]

Just for fun, my own list:

 

You Might Need a Guide When You Visit the Acropolis IF:

 

1. You wonder why the Greeks built every damn monument on top of a rock.

 

2. You think a Caryatid is some kind of insect.

 

3. You're not sure who Lord Elgin is and why the Greeks all seem to hate him.

 

4. You think Pericles and Phideas are names from a Greek myth.

 

5. You wonder why they don't remove that scrubby olive tree near the Erectheion.

 

6. And finally, you make a mental note to ask someone when the Athenians will finally finish building the Parthenon; enough with the scaffolding, already!

 

Oh, too funny! Thanks for your list. I would love to read more on future threads (which you know will be posted) such as "Do I need a tour guide for Istanbul"!

[mark5]

we had just our guide book

i was disappointed there as i expected to see much more

 

We will be in Athens this month and plan to take a taxi early in the day from the ship. I think I read somewhere on these boards that you can hire a guide right there. Is that necessary, those of you who've done it one way or the other?

 

 

Thank you!

 

Sue

[mark5]

I forgot to say that very close to acropolis amazing old area called plaka where you can eat the traditional Greek food

it was very cheap at 1 euro very delicious sandwich of sovlaki

 

We will be in Athens this month and plan to take a taxi early in the day from the ship. I think I read somewhere on these boards that you can hire a guide right there. Is that necessary, those of you who've done it one way or the other?

 

 

Thank you!

 

Sue

[lnw]

We booked with the Athens Walking Tour. Lots of walking indeed but the guide was excellent and very knowledgeable. The only drawback was that they did not provide a map of the area along with the tour so you had an idea of what was where and follow along on the tour.

 

While their site says they want you to book 24 hrs in advance, more than half of the folks that showed up at the meeting point paid on the spot there. Don't be mislead on the site when it says "only 3 spots left for this tour". They will take anyone that shows up and can pay cash.

[Kip89]

When I was in Europe last May my dad hired an excellent tour guide for Athens.

 

He used Athens Walking Tours and we did the the Acropolis Tour, which was absolutely amazing. I highly recommend it.

[Onessa]

We had been to Athens years ago when we had a guide at the Acropolis. When we returned last week, we used a downloaded walking tour for our iPods (www.discovery-walk.com) that worked pretty well for us (once my DH got used to it!). Just another option.

[TLCOhio]

We will be in Athens this month and plan to take a taxi early in the day from the ship. I think I read somewhere on these boards that you can hire a guide right there. Is that necessary, those of you who've done it one way or the other? Thank you! Sue

 

As the various posters have summarized, you can it work on your own just "eyeballing" . . . OR . . . do your personal advance study . . . or . . . use a personal guide. We did hire a guide and had a wonderful lady, a retired teacher. Our biggest reason is that I like to ask lots of questions and probe deeper on some of the great history and architecture that is there. Fortunately we had a perfect weather day there. Below are a few visual examples of us with our guide and what we saw. It is a "once in a lifetime" experience and it's worth either a guide and/or the needed advance preparation so that you know and understand fully what you are experiencing. Don't just walk through it thinking it is just "old stones". It's real history!!!

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

 

Examing relics with our guide near the Parthenon:

 

 

 

Enjoying a bright, sunny day in front of the famed Parthenon:

 

 

 

Outdoor theatre adjoining the Parthenon:

 

 

 

A small temple adjoining the Parthenon:

 

 

 

From Acropolis Hill, a view towards the old Olympic Statium in Athens, other Roman ruins:

 

 

 

From the Parthenon, a view of Athens and another temple:

 

[cruisin'tex]

Loved the info, suggestions, (and humor) in these posts

[Tedar]

We hired driver for a shore excursion (we were on Solstice for 10-days in November 2009) of Athens. He could not accompany us to the Acropolis but tried to give us a summary description of what we were about to see before he dropped us off. We didn't have a guidebook so we hired a licensed guide at the entrance. She charged us 15E per person for an hour tour for the six of us. Athena (her name) made a big difference for our visit because she explained what we were seeing and pointed out things we would never have seen. It was nice to have arrived at the Parthenon 30 minutes before the rest of our ship; we had the entire Acropolis to ourselves before the thousands of our shipmates arrived!

[Brittma]

We are planning to take a group van to the Acropolis from our ship.

How far is that to the Syntagma station where we would want to pick up the walking tour? Is it a few blocks or another taxi ride from our drop off?