Do we need private guide in Athens if we have hired a van to drive us around

[cirlorbob]

We will be in Athens on Thursday, July 15th and we hired a van that seats 12 to drive us around to the sites. The van company asked if we wanted a personal guide to go along with us to the different places for an additional 200 euros. Do we really need the personal guide? There are 5 adults and 3 children in our group (children ages 13, 11, 9). We may see if we can find 4 other people from our ship who may want to go along and that would save us some money off the price of the van (400 euros). Any suggestions. Thanks.

[Susan-M]

That's a difficult question to answer without knowing:

 

(1) whether the driver will provide commentary along the way and information at each site before you go into them (which private drivers often do, but something you can't count on without inquiring beforehand), and

 

(2) whether you will be doing some research in advance and bringing guidebook material with you so that you'll have an understanding of the history and significance of the sites.

 

If the answer to either or both of those questions is 'no', employing a guide could be money well spent.

 

We've toured Athens a couple of times on our own using public transportation and walking, with good guidebook material, but if doing it with a driver, I would be content to have commentary from the driver and guidebook material (we did this on a day trip from Athens to the Peloponnese Peninsula.) Other people prefer the in-depth information and efficiency of touring the sites that a guide would provide.

 

p.s. This guidebook might be of help: Rick Steves' Athens and the Peloponnese

[UlvaZell]

We will be in Athens on Thursday, July 15th and we hired a van that seats 12 to drive us around to the sites. The van company asked if we wanted a personal guide to go along with us to the different places for an additional 200 euros. Do we really need the personal guide? There are 5 adults and 3 children in our group (children ages 13, 11, 9). We may see if we can find 4 other people from our ship who may want to go along and that would save us some money off the price of the van (400 euros). Any suggestions. Thanks.

 

We did a complete DIY for Athens: taxis to the Acropolis; bundled ticket for the local sites we purchased at the Acropolis; visiting the Parthenon, Mars Hill, the Agora and the old olympic stadium; lunch in the Plaka at Scholario (great family style Greek food); shopping in the Plaka. Between the plaques and markers and what we overheard from the other groups tour guides, we felt like we got plenty of information. It was a great day!

[cynbar]

200 euros sounds kind of steep for a personal guide to me. We toured with Paul of Athens Taxi, and he gave us a lot of commentary on the ride. Plus, we used the Rick Steves book on Athens, and we felt we had plenty of information.

[chipmaster]

We had almost exact same demographics for our trip 2 years ago and found the our drivers were really good at sharing history etc. during the drive. The only place where the driver didn't do anything was in ports where we had a driver and a guide. In Athens specifically the only place I see a guide might be worth while is at the Acropolis, but you can hire a guide there for a good one half. In the end only you can decide, also be aware guide quality varies greatly to.

 

Do go on roll calls and see if you can get another family with kids for tour share. My kids really enjoyed other kids on our prior tours.

 

Good luck

 

 

We will be in Athens on Thursday, July 15th and we hired a van that seats 12 to drive us around to the sites. The van company asked if we wanted a personal guide to go along with us to the different places for an additional 200 euros. Do we really need the personal guide? There are 5 adults and 3 children in our group (children ages 13, 11, 9). We may see if we can find 4 other people from our ship who may want to go along and that would save us some money off the price of the van (400 euros). Any suggestions. Thanks.

[cruisemom42]

For my answer (and some fun) I refer you to my post below:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=21893623&postcount=4

[Susan-M]

For my answer (and some fun) I refer you to my post below:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=21893623&postcount=4

 

Good one Cynthia!:)

[FinelyRetired]

The group I was with(all adults) did not use a guide at the Acropolis. Did some reading up before hand and, as a previous poster mentioned, we got a lot of information from Paul at athenstaxi before we arrived. We felt that was sufficient.

 

Having said that, I noted the ages of the children(9, 11 & 13) and they may be the perfect ages to consider getting a guide outside the Acropolis. I think they would enjoy a guide's information and perspective and the Acropolis more memorable for them. They'll probably ask a ton of questions as the Acropolis is "way cool"...or whatever pre-teens would say these days!:o

 

My parents often got a guide in the more interesting places when I was about that age. It made for some lively and fun discussions when we all got home and the pictures were brought out. We each found completely different facts we remembered that others didn't.

 

So, it could be well worth the extra investment. Just a thought.

 

BTW. You might want to ask your driver to arrange the day so you all can see the Changing of the Guard. The children would thoroughly enjoy the high stepping guards esp. their pleated skirts which have great significance.

 

Enjoy. Martha

[MercedMike]

Well, now, sometimes a guide is sort of like the little girl who was assigned to make a book report on a book about penguins. Her report, in full, was, "This book taught me more about penguins than I really wanted to know."

 

We did have a guide at the Acropolis on one trip. Honestly she droned on and on about a whole lot of stuff that I was reading in the guidebook in front of me as she talked. It just depends on how much depth of history and architecture you already have, and how much you want in a short fast dose!

 

Check out our trip report and pictures at http://www.bully4.us/med.html

 

We found Nick from GreekTaxi (Paul's son) to be a delight and really did not need any more than what he told us plus our guidebooks. Check out our trip report and pictures at http://www.bully4.us/blacksea3.html

 

If antiquities are your principal interest it is very possible to walk the entire antiquities promendade without a guide. Check out our trip report and pictures at http://www.bully4.us/athens.html

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[ozziemac]

We aren't really fussed if there isn't a guide accompanying us. Happy to wander about with the group and take it all in.

[Fae11]

I just got back from Athens. The only day we relied on a tour was awful. The subway has announcements in English and most hotels have an English map of it. Just ask the people at your hotel to write down the name of the nearest bus stop in Greek and tell you which bus will get you to the subway. It's very similar to the DC/New York/London ones. It's really nice and if you get lost find a priest or older lady to help you. A nice lady stayed on the bus an extra stop to help get us home. We got to have a great conversation with her including some funny partial Greek, partial English sentences on both of our parts. The book the van tour was using was available to buy at the ticket booth for the Acropolis for less than a tour. We didn't get it because we had a history teacher with us and the internet in the room.

[whale-watcher]

Our drivers in Greece were excellent about providing commentary en route. We used Rick Steve's guidebook, and found it helpful as well (at least it answered all of cruisemom's questions ;-) We also did a little reading before our cruise.