Katakolon Help? Rental car time, & Schedule

[bw333]

I decided to rent a car. Will be in Port from 8am-6pm. I would like to visit

Olympia, Lunch, Mercouri wine, and maybe a beach. What places did you visit with your rental car? Any great places for lunch. Did you hire a guide for Olympia? If you hired a guide, price? Any nice beaches?

Looking for all tips. Thanks!:)

[Vrilissia]

Depending on when you're going to be in Katakolon a guide might be picked up at Olympia there aren't that many guides available - expect to pay 80-100 Euros for a 1.5 hour tour.

 

Near the exit from the Museum there's a very nice taverna on the right, the car-park is on the left - very picturesque and family run, a lot of drivers and guides lunch there.

 

Beaches? depends what you're looking for Kourouta beach is lively:

 

The best IMHO is near Zacharo almost totally unspoilt:

 

[vizslapup]

We rented a car when we were in Katakolon last July. We were there from 9-5. You could see the car rental place from the dock. We paid 45E for a car. You did not need to prebook a car, they had plenty available.

 

It was very easy to get to Olympia. We did have trouble finding Mercouri wines though, had to ask quite a few people who really didn't understand what we were asking...it was an experince in itself.:) We were looking for the english spelling of the winery, whereas the sign had the greek spelling of the winery on it. We drove past the sign once, and it was only when we were driving back down the road to go back to town, that we paid attention to the sign and though that it might possibly be the sign for the winery, because we could recognize the letter 'M'. When we on the road, it was a poor quality road, with several turns, and we really didn't think we were going the right way until we saw a ship sponsored bus coming towards us.

 

When we got to the winery, we were told to walk around a little bit, as they weren't expecting us, and were busy do some wine tasting with a couple of other small groups. We could see evidence of a lovely lunch that must have been provided to the ship sponsored tour, but there was nothing available for us. We felt that they must cater more to the tours. That being said, the wine tasting went well. We were charged 5 E each for the tasting, and we must have tried 5 different of wine. Even the wine was reasonably priced, so we bought a few bottles to bring home as souvenirs.

[CintiPam]

I suggest that you allocate some time to visit the excellent museum right next to the actual site at Olympia before visiting the site itself. It explains a lot in very well-organized chronological displays in both Greek and English, and will assist in making a very ruined site of ruins much more comprehensible.

[David Lynch]

There is an AVIS office in Katakolon, located right opposite the port. The route is really straight forward. it is only 38 km and it takes around 25 mins to get from Katakolon to Olympia (2-turns route). there is free parking in Olympia, there is not any traffic or any toll stations, and generally there is nothing complicated or anything to delay you. for fuel you need just over 10 euros and thats all. i have done it a few times and i highly recomend it. both shore excursions and taxis are way too expensive. you can book the car in http://www.avis.gr

[David Lynch]

There is an AVIS office in Katakolon, located right opposite the port. The route is really straight forward. it is only 38 km and it takes around 25 mins to get from Katakolon to Olympia (2-turns route). there is free parking in Olympia, there is not any traffic or any toll stations, and generally there is nothing complicated or anything to delay you. for fuel you need just over 10 euros and thats all. the local beaches are very closed by as well. i have done it a few times and i highly recomend it. both shore excursions and taxis are way too expensive. you can book the car in www.avis.gr

[bw333]

Thanks for all the suggestions.:)

[tai.chi.cruiser]

We were quoted 90 Euro by Avis for a small car for a day in Aug/2011 in Katakolon, a bit more than I expected considering we'd be in port for just a morning!

[David Lynch]

We rented a car from AVIS which is located right opposite the port of Katakolon. The AVIS staff was very polite and helpful, and their suggestions on where to go and where not to go were spot on. There was another car hire office right at the front of the road but the AVIS staff seemed to be more reliable and with a smile in their face. At the end they gave us a lift to the boat as well, which I thought that it was very nice of them. Overall, the quality of service provided by AVIS was above average. I do believe that renting the car from AVIS for 40 Euros was the best option available. The route to Olympia was really straight forward (2 turns route), and it is only 25 minutes drive. By having a car we had the freedom of doing everything we wished to do, at our own time. We felt that we took full advantage of the day, in a very economic way.

The cost of the car was 40 Euros including unlimited mileage, full insurance, and local VAT. The only cost on the top of the 40 Euros was the fuel we used, which was only 13 Euros to get us to Olympia and back and also to do some further exploring though the small coastal agricultural villages. Last but not least, it was of great surprise to all of us that we did not have to pay for parking anywhere we went.

Apart from Olympia we visited a really impressive winery called Mercouri which was suggested both by our cruise company and by the AVIS staff. It is only 10 minutes away from the village of Katakolon. In the afternoon we went to a really nice cafe (I do not remember its name). Below the cafe was a really nice sandy beach where we went for a swim.

For those who are planning to visit Olympia, do not miss the Mercouri winery and the museum of the Olympic Games in Olympia That was also suggested by the AVIS staff and it was really impressive. That is where you can see all the Olympic torches that they use every 4 years, something that was not mentioned by our cruise company.

for more information you can visit www.katakolon.gr or www.katakolo-rentacar.com/

[Hlitner]

There is also a friendly local rental car company on the main street opposite the pier. Their web site is at http://www.rentacarkatakolo.gr and their e-mail is diplasd@rentacarkatakolo.gr

 

Hank