Athens Excursion

[funforsun]

If you could only do ONE thing in Athens, what would it be and how would you do it? Through the ship or through an independent operator or on your own? Same question about Rhodes. Thanks everyone!

[cruisemom42]

Well, it depends on what you consider "one thing" to be. ;) If I'd never been to Athens before, that "one thing" would have to be the Acropolis, but I think I would stretch the definition to also include the Acropolis museum (hey, it's part of the Acropolis) and maybe even the Greek agora (after all, they really all go together).

 

I would do it on my own. If time is of the essence, I'd take a cab to the Acropolis, do everything on foot, then get a cab (or take the metro) back to Piraeus.

 

I haven't been to Rhodes yet, but if I only had time to do one thing, I'd probably do a self-guided walking tour of the old town.

[zqvol]

If you could only do ONE thing in Athens, what would it be and how would you do it? Through the ship or through an independent operator or on your own? Same question about Rhodes. Thanks everyone!

 

If it were me I would go to the Acropolis and then walk through the old Roman Agora. I would not worry with any of the museums. If I still had time I would wander through Athens and back to the Plaka. BTW, if you leave the museum out and can walk relatively quickly you can get a good over view of these areas in about 6 or 7 hours and that includes stopping for a meal.

[MercedMike]

Of course, as everyone says above, if you only do ONE thing in Athens that one thing is to climb the Acropolis!

 

For one DAY in Athens, the thing I would do is to walk the Antiquities Promenade from the Temple of Zeus, past the Theater of Dionysys, up the Acropolis, down to the museum, on past Mars Hill and the Pynx to the Ancient Agora.

 

It is easy enough to do yourself with a good guide book. If you want you can hire a licensed guide at the entrance to the Acropolis.

 

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

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[FreeSpeech]

The one thing I would do is hire Paul or his son Demitri, reachable at athensminibus@athensminibus.com His son Demitri picked us up right at the port and took us on an all inclusive tour of Athens. We were the first to arrive at the Acropoplis and thus avoided the thousands of tourist who came just as we were leaving. As a tourist myself...it was wonderful to avoid the crowds.

 

He speaks flawlwss english spent about 8 hours with us taking us to great photo observation sites, the old roman/greek sites, museums, a great athentic greek restaurant for lunch, and many many more very interesting things.

 

And for the 4 of us it only cost 250.00 euro's or about $80 per person. His Mercedes was imaculate.

 

I can't say enough good things about our tour thanks to Demitri

[T. Advisor King]

... If I'd never been to Athens before, that "one thing" would have to be the Acropolis, ... and maybe even the Greek agora (after all, they really all go together).

 

I would do it on my own. If time is of the essence, I'd take a cab to the Acropolis, do everything on foot, then get a cab (or take the metro) back to Piraeus.

 

I haven't been to Rhodes yet, but if I only had time to do one thing, I'd probably do a self-guided walking tour of the old town.

 

This reply almost flawlessly mirrors my own thoughts. How could you possibly go to Athens for one day and not visit the Parthenon. We had a full day in Athens before our Aquamarine cruise at the beginning of last month and that's exactly what we did. Because we didn't have to get to the port the next morning, we fit in the Temple of the Olympian Zeus and took the funicular up Mt. Lycabettus (a couple metro stops away from the Acropolis).

 

In Rhodes for the day, we spent the morning on a self-guided tour of the Old Town. Because we also had the afternoon, we took the 10-minute cab ride to Elli Beach. That might have been the best day of the cruise.

 

As for Free's suggestion (250 Euro tour), all I can say is that I just added up the total excursion cost (including the cost of cabs, busses, ship's excursions and admission cost), as best as I can remember, for our six-port Greek Islands cruise and, for four people, I came up with 375 Euros (total, not per day), so needless to say, Free is operating in a different price range than we were.

[funforsun]

This is one reason why I love this Board so much....thanks for all the responses...

 

Zqvol and MercedMike, Sounds like great ideas

 

FreeSpeach, Like this idea and we may do that. The recommendation was very helpful.

 

T.AdvisorKing, Spot on and thanks for the follow-up on Rhodes...that really helps

 

 

Final question about the Acropolis...Can you walk there from the ship? How long will it take or do you need a cab/etc.? We are in great shape but I don't want to waste a morning with an unnessesary climb if the alternative is cheap and available.

 

Thanks again everyone.

[MercedMike]

 

Final question about the Acropolis...Can you walk there from the ship? How long will it take or do you need a cab/etc.? We are in great shape but I don't want to waste a morning with an unnessesary climb if the alternative is cheap and available.

 

Thanks again everyone.

 

The Acropolis (and all of Athens) is some distance from the port of Pireaus. In ancient times, the "Long Walls" connected the city to the port, and when Athens lost the Peloponessian War, the Spartans made the Athenians tear down the Long Walls, a famous event in history.

 

Today, you need a driver, a taxi, or the metro to get you from the port to the central district of antiquities. The Acropolis rises on a massive rock hill out of the middle of this district. The only way to the top is to climb the Holy Way, or Propaylia, which I was told consists of 186 steps!

 

(I apologize for spelling in this -- seems some of these names are spelled several different ways ...)

[funforsun]

How easy is the Metro?

[cruisemom42]

How easy is the Metro?

 

It's pretty easy. See the link for a step-by-step itinerary in Athens for one day (from my notes, collected from many other posters here and guide books).

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=22449730&postcount=2

 

The only thing to consider is that IF you arrive in port fairly early, it may be worth taking a taxi directly from the cruise ship to the Acropolis in order to beat the crowds and enjoy a little time there -- otherwise it is generally wall-to-wall people. A taxi from Piraeus to the base of the acropolis should run about 20-25 euro per cab (not per person).

 

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[4774Papa]

We were in Athens in July on NCL's Gem, and the Acropolis was on strike until noon. Still, based on my research, we walked from the port to the Metro (took 25 minutes). Purchased a day pass on the Metro for 3 Euros per person, then the Metro to the Stigmata square to see the changing of the guard. Then we walked to the Acropolis museum ( saw a Byzantine church and other sites along the way). The museum was awesome, but way too much to see, then we walked to the Acropolis, which was a zoo, due to everyone waiting for it to open. It took us a while to get through the line, but we did, and afterward back to the Metro (Acropolis Metro stop nearby), then back to the ship.

Sure there was a lot of walking, but it was cheaper than paying the cheating taxi drivers in Athens, or $150 for a tour.

[Captain Canuck]

just commenting so i can find this thread again...metro is easy but a bit of a walk from the cruise port...we had trouble finding the metro but ran across a bus stop that took us to monastiriki (sp) by the acropolis...took longer than the metro but was an interesting ride..i HATE athenian cab drivers...would avoid them if I were you...

[T. Advisor King]

Athens was the departure point and terminus of our cruise, so we saw the Parthanon/Acropolis the day before our cruise.

 

As far as getting from the port into Athens, here was our experience. When we disembarked (with two kids, four suitcases and two backpacks) our plan was to take the metro/subway back to Athens, because we had to spend the day there before catching our flight out later that evening.

 

We knew it was a longish walk to the station (25 minutes under good conditions, probably 45 minutes towing luggage with two kids). We walked out of the port to be greeted by some aggressive cab drivers. We hoped to get a cab to the metro station, but none of them was having any of that. Then another cab driver came out of nowhere, scolded the first group, and said he'd take us to Athens for 20 Euros. That seemed like a pretty good deal, considering the cost (albeit small) of the metro and the walk from the port to the station.

 

The drive was uneventful and he took us about a half block away from the address (of the laundromat) we requested.

 

With no luggage and no kids, I'd consider walking to the metro station. But the way it was, it worked out better for us to take the cab directly.

[sk84fungirl]

It's pretty easy. See the link for a step-by-step itinerary in Athens for one day (from my notes, collected from many other posters here and guide books).

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=22449730&postcount=2

 

The only thing to consider is that IF you arrive in port fairly early, it may be worth taking a taxi directly from the cruise ship to the Acropolis in order to beat the crowds and enjoy a little time there -- otherwise it is generally wall-to-wall people. A taxi from Piraeus to the base of the acropolis should run about 20-25 euro per cab (not per person).

 

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What is considered early? We are scheduled to be in port from 10:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on a Thursday next April. This is a DIY port for us. Was considering the train to acropolis, but a taxi sounds like the best plan.

[cruisemom42]

What is considered early? We are scheduled to be in port from 10:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on a Thursday next April. This is a DIY port for us. Was considering the train to acropolis, but a taxi sounds like the best plan.

 

Yikes, 10:30 is a pretty late arrival. I think that by the time you can get to the Acropolis, even with a taxi, it will be pretty crowded. :( The advantage is that you'll beat the ship's tours from your own ship, which will of course swell the crowds. (You will beat them even if you take the train, so don't count it out.)

 

Do you know if there are other cruise ships in port that day?

[Eileen G]

What is considered early? We are scheduled to be in port from 10:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on a Thursday next April. This is a DIY port for us. Was considering the train to acropolis, but a taxi sounds like the best plan.

 

I wouldn't worry about it too much. You will be there in April so it shouldn't be too crowded. Most cruise ships aren't in the Med yet. Also the weather should be great. We were there in the middle of May and it was very hot. I can't imagine what it's like in July. It can be difficult getting a taxi just to the Acroplis. They will pester you to do a full day tour. If you do decide to go by taxi get away from the port before finding one. Remember a taxi may land up costing you a lot more than you wanted to spend.

[Captain Canuck]

remember every story you ever heard about New York cab drivers...double that for Athens..without bags getting to the train is pretty easy..much faster than travel by road..so time getting to the station will be made up by taking the train...if you are in a hurry getting back you can take a cab from the train to the ship..but prepare for a hassle doing that..I wish all cruise passengers would quit using cabs til they reform their ways

[sk84fungirl]

Thanks for the feedback. We'll keep researching. Maybe going later in the day is better. I need to check the hours of operation. Afterall, we still have plenty of time to figure out our plan.

[spectre123]

We did Athens last year on our own, as the ships excursions were way overpriced and offered very little time at any of the major sites.

 

We walked to the metro and jumped on the train to athens (1 euro each), and then used one of the tourist open topped buses (around 20 euros each) to get us around. You can hop on and off at will, just make sure you leave enough time to get back to the metro and the ship!

 

Looking at their site now, they do a route straight from the cruise terminal: http://www.city-sightseeing.com./index.phtml?command=search&clear-search=true&destinations=Athens

[danuty]

We took a full day private excursion of Athens this past October with www.greeceprivateours.com. Nikos Loukas, the owner, was very easy to deal with in organizing the tour and his driver George and guide Paige were outstanding. George is a very skilled driver. He knows how to avoid and/or get out of the traffic jams. Paige has a great personality and is originally from Texas. She has lived in Athens for the past few years. The cost was 40 euros a person for 11 passengers in a roomy Mercedes bus. We were picked up at 8:00AM at the port and arrived at the Acropolis well before the crowds. Nikos has a recommended itinerary for the excursion; however, you are able to personalize the stops on the tour. This Athens tour was one of the highlights of our cruise.

 

Diane

[Turtles06]

I'd also like to suggest that you consider hiring a driver for your day in Athens, and also second the recommendation above for Paul (Paul's Athens Taxi, also called Athens Minibus) whose other son, Jim, was our driver. He spoke perfect English, zipped us around, and was an absolute delight to be with. It beat haggling with the infamous Athens taxi drivers and we did not use precious time trying to get to things on our own via public transportation. It was easy to set things up with Paul in advance via email and customize our day in Athens based on what we wanted to do and Paul's knowledge of how long things would take.

 

Whatever you end up doing, have a great trip!

[trishs]

We are a group of 4 adults and will be in on a cruise that ends in Athens on May 07 Sat ATHENS (PIRAEUS), GREECE

We arrive at 6:00AM and would like to see the Acropolis and would need a ride to the airport arriving by 11:00 for a flight. our flight leaves at 13:00 we will also have our luggage

Any suggestions? I think the Acropolis opens at 8:00

What do you think we could fit in besides Acropolis?

Thanks Trish

[cruisemom42]

We are a group of 4 adults and will be in on a cruise that ends in Athens on May 07 Sat ATHENS (PIRAEUS), GREECE

We arrive at 6:00AM and would like to see the Acropolis and would need a ride to the airport arriving by 11:00 for a flight. our flight leaves at 13:00 we will also have our luggage

Any suggestions? I think the Acropolis opens at 8:00

What do you think we could fit in besides Acropolis?

Thanks Trish

 

As you say, the Acropolis doesn't open until 8:00 am, and if you need to arrive at the airport by 11:00 am, you should leave Athens at the latest by 10:15 -- traffic is horrible. With that amount of time, I think the Acropolis is about all you can see. There is plenty there to occupy you for a couple of hours.

[trishs]

Thanks for the confirmation. I thought that might be the case and I just don't like to push the time limits.

[cruisemom42]

Thanks for the confirmation. I thought that might be the case and I just don't like to push the time limits.

 

I agree; you are better off just enjoying this wonderful site. Don't forget to visit not only the temples at the top of the Acropolis but also the Theatre of Dionysis (at the foot of the Acropolis and included with your ticket). This theatre is where both comedy and tragedy were born.