Katakolon - transport to Olympia

[almostnewtocruise]

There was an old thread dealing with this topic, but for some reason it has been "closed" - so I'm opening this one instead.

 

On that old one we've been discussing the existing options of getting to Olympia. One of them was with geo travel.. As we're going in November we've been waiting for reviews by people who have done /will do it during the month of October.

Paula (Paulita), I hope you read this.. we're waiting for your impressions! :o

 

Miriam

[gilladj]

I have a rental car reserved in Katakalon and plan to drive to Olympia. Wondering if anyone has done this and can share how well marked the roads are.

 

Any hints ot things to watch out for would be appreciated.

 

Also plan to stop a t a winery too.

 

Thanks!

[billyandted]

Hi

Our group of 8 is booked on a bus to Olympia on Fri Oct 28th because I hear the train is no longer in service.

It's 20Euros katakolon-express.com

enjoy

[kuldalai]

The train does run between Pyrgos - Katakolon and Olympia, strikes permitting !!!

 

Best option is to engage the ever joyous GEORGE the Taxi Driver who will give you a complete tour for up to 4 persons per car, including Olympia , other sights in the area, a traditional Greek lunch and more . Air conditioned Mercedes cars . We just loved George and his other drivers . Book well in advance over the Internet . His e-mail contact : georgetaxitours@gmail.com

[paulita]

There was an old thread dealing with this topic, but for some reason it has been "closed" - so I'm opening this one instead.

 

On that old one we've been discussing the existing options of getting to Olympia. One of them was with geo travel.. As we're going in November we've been waiting for reviews by people who have done /will do it during the month of October.

Paula (Paulita), I hope you read this.. we're waiting for your impressions! :o

 

Miriam

 

Hi!! I'm back and as promised here is the info on Geo Travel. As I commented before, we booked by e-mail through their website and they acknowledged and gave us instructions to reach their office. It is really pretty simple. Once you leave the port gates just walk to the right and you will find a big bus parked on the left hand side of the street. They place a banner offering their service right beside the bus and have people calling out the price to attract customers. We went inside the office where we payed the 20 euros and got in the bus. You didn't really need to make the reservation as they have buses leaving every half hour to Olympia.

Their service is basically the ride to the Archeological site and back. Their buses are clean an comfortable for the half hour ride.

Once you get to the site you see a little office where you purchase the tickets. Be aware that they give you one hour and a half before leaving to Katakolon. This is not much time if you're thinking of doing the site AND the museum. All in all I recommend their service if you want a short visit to Olympia.

Having said this, our friends who took the first bus to Olympia arrived 30 minutes before us and left on our same bus so they did get more time to walk around.

My impression of the site: nice but not a big deal..ruins are not really cared for and some are in a bad state of neglect. After you get over the thought that you are in the place of such historical importance you begin to think you wasted a bit of your time. We didn't have time to visit the museum but some friends did and they commented that most of the sculptures and artifacts were not even from Olympia but from other places in Greece.

I think we would have enjoyed more walking through the streets of Olympia which looked like a charming greek town.

Hope this helps and you have a great day in Katakolon and Olympia!

[paulita]

I have a rental car reserved in Katakalon and plan to drive to Olympia. Wondering if anyone has done this and can share how well marked the roads are.

 

Any hints ot things to watch out for would be appreciated.

 

Also plan to stop a t a winery too.

 

Thanks!

 

The roads seem to be well marked....in greek!!!! While I was in the bus heading to Olympia I wondered how people manage to drive there if they can't even read the signs..

 

The trip is not that complicated..a main road and later a turn to get into a freeway. Later another turn to another road and you reach Olympia. It sounds pretty easy but I don't know if I would have managed to do it on my own while driving a car.

[mmr923]

My husband and I took the ship's tour when we visited in 2009, and this was actually one of our favorite tours/ports. We LOVED the site, and the museum was very very cool, too. We felt the tour guide was very good, and that her commentary added a lot to our understanding of what we were seeing both at the archeological site, as well as at the museum (she just explained in advance for the museum - didn't narrate as we went). I also felt we were not hurried in any way and had ample time to do both. Our motor coach was nice and comfy (and air conditioned, which might not be that important now, but when we went in AUGUST it sure was!). I guess it depends on how much you want to get out of your tour of the site. It seemed like a good value for what we got, to us. Just for reference, this was one of only three ship tours we did on that 10 day trip - we either walked around on our own (Piraeus/Athens), or arranged outside tours (Taormina, Ephesus).

 

Have a wonderful cruise! Enjoy Greece - it's gorgeous!

[Pluto_fan]

Thanks, Paula! I've been waiting to hear your report. I think this will work fine for us. Hope you had a fabulous cruise overall!

[almostnewtocruise]

Thanks Paula for your description of the geo travel service - especially for the tips about how to use the time and the early bus ride!

 

Just another question.. do you think that having a guide there would have helped ? I mean - would it have made it more interesting?

thanks again

Miriam

[paulita]

Thanks, Paula! I've been waiting to hear your report. I think this will work fine for us. Hope you had a fabulous cruise overall!

 

Thank you we did!!! it was a dream vacation!!!

[paulita]

Thanks Paula for your description of the geo travel service - especially for the tips about how to use the time and the early bus ride!

 

Just another question.. do you think that having a guide there would have helped ? I mean - would it have made it more interesting?

thanks again

Miriam

 

Hi Miriam! well, yes...maybe if we had a good guide the visit to Olympia would have been more interesting. Having said that, there are guides all over the site with their visitor groups..you can even just stand discretely near a group and hear to what the guide says and then move one to a different part of the site ;). This way you're not utterly lost like we were..but in our case we just didn't care very much for the place..it was our last port and we were pretty tired by then.

[wurmine]

Just returned from our cruise and we have been to Katakolon for the second time. We rented a car and it is very easy that way. Avis is now near the habour and the rate was 45 € plus gas. The streets are perfect and it is no problem to find the way to Olympia. On the way back we stopped at the beach for a little walk (even in november it was sunny and warm enough to tip the toes into the water)

[billyandted]

There was an old thread dealing with this topic, but for some reason it has been "closed" - so I'm opening this one instead.

 

On that old one we've been discussing the existing options of getting to Olympia. One of them was with geo travel.. As we're going in November we've been waiting for reviews by people who have done /will do it during the month of October.

Paula (Paulita), I hope you read this.. we're waiting for your impressions! :o

 

Miriam

On our recent NCL Jade Cruise Oct / Nov we used katakolon-express.com to travel from the port to Olympia. Usually it’s really just transportation but luckily we had the operator Stephen & Maria on board & they provided us with some helpful insight before we took the tour on our own.

I had been E-ing with Stephen for quite some time before we travelled & it was always an easy & helpful exchange. Our group of 8 highly recommends using this company for your trip to Katakolon & Olympia.

[Sir_Randy]

Review of Athens-Taxi.org

Date of excursion: Oct 28, 2011

Excursion pick up: NCL Jade Pier Katakolon

Excursion details: 15 passenger van with English speaking driver, refreshments on the van, transportation to Olympia, transportation to winery, transportation back to Katakolon

 

I am sure there are plenty of very good excursion companies in Greece, but from my experience with Athens-Taxi with John Arvanitakis, this is not one of them.

 

The whole day was ruined by what I can only describe as very unprofessional personnel, that are to the point of being dangerous.

 

Our excursion was to start at 8am, at the dock, but when we looked for our bus and driver, they were no where to be found. I asked one of the other tour companies drivers if they knew Athens-Taxi and they did and made a call and they arrived about 8:30. This would not be a big deal, but when it was a sign of bad things to follow.

 

We are a total of 13 cruisers that reserved a 15 passenger van with Athens-Taxi for 380eu. The rate given and stressed by John with Athens-Taxi was the rate was for the 15 passenger van, not per person. The driver and the "guide" were both very adamant that the tour was for 10, not 13 and became very upset. I tried to explain to them that the reservation was for 15 passengers, but they did not want to listen or did not understand English. While the driver drove us to Olympia he was making and receiving phone calls (I will let individuals decide for themselves the safety of your driver making calls while driving you) and by the tone of his voice, he was complaining that there were 13 people in his van not the 10 he expected. The "guide" was also making and receiving calls during the drive, and her voice was very vocal concerning whatever she was saying to whoever she was talking to. The reason I put quotation marks around the "guide" is what we got for a guide, was someone that read a script to us on the way to Olympia, in between phone calls. We did not have a guide after Katakolon.

 

We did not get to go to a winery which was part of the tour that we paid for and that we were all looking forward to since some in our group make thier own wine at home. We were told by George (Athens-Taxi Olympia representative) that the winery was closed due to it being a holiday, which we accepted at the time, however, when we got back on the ship, we talked to others that did the same tour and they were taken to another winery that was open. Their driver knew the scheduled winery was closed, but made arrangements for his passengers to visit another winery. If their driver was able to do this, why wasn't our driver (maybe because of his bad attitude?) or the Athens-Taxi representative George that met us in Olympia who told us that the winery was closed.

 

As for the trip back to Katakolon from Olympia, we were to have an English speaking driver or guide. The guide did not accompany us back to Katakolon but George told us that his driver spoke very good English and would be able to answer any questions we have. The driver did not speak English and John from Athens-Taxi confirmed this in his email response to me.

 

I have corresponded with John from Athens-Taxi several times and so have others on this excursion, trying to work out some kind of compensation/refund, but John has been unwilling to work with us even though he agrees that what we received was not what was promised and not up to Athens-Taxi standard.

 

 

There were no refreshments on the van.

 

 

If you are planning an excursion in Greece, in Katakolon or Olympia or anywhere else, I would highly recommend that you look to a more reputable company other than Athens-Taxi.

[almostnewtocruise]

Sir Randy, that was some very bad experience indeed!

Now I wonder how many "Johns" there can be with Athens-taxi.. When I read your sad saga I was puzzled - can it be our John? The one with whom we had such a great tour in Athens after he picked us at the airport? So I checked .. and our John is John Grivogiannis and not Arvanitakis.. And - as I said he was very good. :)

 

As to Katakolon.. We (on an Azamara cruise, 8 Nov.) planned to go to Olympia with GeoTravel. When we arrived at their office they told us (and few others who were interested ) to wait for almost 90 minutes as they were waiting for a second ship to dock to fill up their bus.. Well.. In their place - instead of waiting for more people - I would have sent something smaller with whoever was there (a bird in hand.. etc etc).

Because, while wondering around, we discovered that the train to Olympia (shorter waiting!) was running that day - so we took it. Later I heard that others did the same, or found an agreeable deal with a local taxi driver. No point of waiting so long if you have just few hours at a port!

 

Anyway.. I hope that geo travel had enough people to fill their bus without us.

Altogether it was a lovely day

Miriam

 

[katiestan1]

We were in Katakolon on November 9. I had emailed Geo Travel and received the information about the bus to Olympia. This seemed to be a good plan until we showed up at the Geo Travel office and the guy working at the desk didn't seem to know what we were talking about and to come back in an hour. When we came back we were able to sign up for the bus and pay the 20 Euros for two people. He said to come back at 1:30p.m. When we came back...what do you know.....we were told SORRY there would be no bus to Olympia because not enough people signed up. At this point we had already missed the train and just felt uncomfortable renting a car at the last minute (there were cars available though). So, we didn't get to Olympia. I think driving the rental car to Olympia is a great option had we known in advance, but as I said, we were nervous about setting out at that point and obviously didn't want to miss the ship. Not impressed with Geo Travel. Jen:mad:

[almostnewtocruise]

Jen, after reading about your experience with geo travel, I am so glad that we hadn't waited for their (yes/maybe/no) bus but chose to take the train. I can't but wonder about the way they are managing their business. I wouldn't now recommend them to anyone..

Happy sailings in the future!

Miriam

[clr9rb]

Hi,

 

 

My boyfriend and I will be in Katakolon with Crown Princess on May 28th from 7 am - 4 pm. He really wants to go to Olympia so I'm trying to find the best, and most affordable, way to get there. Any advice? There's just the 2 of us, so I think a private tour may be too expensive for us. I was thinking of taking the train, but now I've been reading that it may be unreliable. I've been reading about Geo-travel and Katakolon-Express and am thinking maybe one of them would be best. Any advice?

 

Thanks!

 

Christina

[justjona]

Hi,

 

 

My boyfriend and I will be in Katakolon with Crown Princess on May 28th from 7 am - 4 pm. He really wants to go to Olympia so I'm trying to find the best, and most affordable, way to get there. Any advice? There's just the 2 of us, so I think a private tour may be too expensive for us. I was thinking of taking the train, but now I've been reading that it may be unreliable. I've been reading about Geo-travel and Katakolon-Express and am thinking maybe one of them would be best. Any advice?

 

Thanks!

 

Christina

 

Hi

 

My hubby and I are going on the same cruise but in August this year, we are 6 on our thread that have booked with Katakolon Express. cost $20.00 Euro return each and once you book on line a confirmation is immediately sent to you with no payment required until after excursion.

Joanne - Ge0 travel is $10.00 euro return but i am hearing not very reliable.

[weaselwatchr]

Last november we used geotravel for transport to Olympia from Katakalon. It was ten euro a person. Once you walked from where your ship was docked right outside the port is a bus with a sign in it for Geo travel. We booked ahead of time through their website, but there was still room and people were just booking on the spot. You still had to pay for admission to Olympia. There was also an extra admission for the museum. We bought Rick Steves Med Cruising book, and I acted as the tour guide for our group reading aloud from our book. It was a cheap economical way to see olympia. We had no problems and got back to the ship way early. We even had enough time to walk around the little shops right outside the port. We were back at the ship two hours prior to sailaway.

[justjona]

Last november we used geotravel for transport to Olympia from Katakalon. It was ten euro a person. Once you walked from where your ship was docked right outside the port is a bus with a sign in it for Geo travel. We booked ahead of time through their website, but there was still room and people were just booking on the spot. You still had to pay for admission to Olympia. There was also an extra admission for the museum. We bought Rick Steves Med Cruising book, and I acted as the tour guide for our group reading aloud from our book. It was a cheap economical way to see olympia. We had no problems and got back to the ship way early. We even had enough time to walk around the little shops right outside the port. We were back at the ship two hours prior to sailaway.

 

 

Hi,

 

Was it 10 euros return or each way? How long were you gone? Did you just go to Olympia?

tks

Joanne

[weaselwatchr]

Hi,

 

Was it 10 euros return or each way? How long were you gone? Did you just go to Olympia?

tks

Joanne

 

Our ship docked at 8am. Bus pick up outside the gates was at 9:30pm. We walked olympia, but did not do the museum because we were museumed out. We were back around 1 or 1:30. I definately recommend purchasing the Rick Steves book. It was ten euros round trip.

[Nedgrimley]

Hi,

 

 

My boyfriend and I will be in Katakolon with Crown Princess on May 28th from 7 am - 4 pm. He really wants to go to Olympia so I'm trying to find the best, and most affordable, way to get there. Any advice? There's just the 2 of us, so I think a private tour may be too expensive for us. I was thinking of taking the train, but now I've been reading that it may be unreliable. I've been reading about Geo-travel and Katakolon-Express and am thinking maybe one of them would be best. Any advice?

 

Thanks!

 

Christina

 

Christina,

 

4 of us visited Katakolo last week as a stop on our cruise. There is much more to the small town of Katakolo than most posters suggest, though it is mostly souvenir shops and bars/cafes. Obviously the big draw is Olympia and the ruins. There are numerous ways to get to Olympia including taxis, busses and a train that some say is unreliable. We spent a few minutes reviewing our options. Even the cheap busses were a minimum of 10 euro a piece and up from there depending on how you choose to travel.

 

 

 

We decided that for 10 euro a piece, (40 euro) we could rent a car, including insurance, and make the half hour drive ourselves PLUS have the freedom of coming and going when and if we pleased, without waiting for a bus load of stragglers, or the expense of a taxi. (Oh, and 10 euro for gas to get us there and back.) Many people complain about driving in Greece. I guess if you're that anal, you deserve to pay a taxi driver or wait for a bunch of old grandmas to get done with their shopping before getting on the bus.

 

 

 

We rented from http://www.rentacarkatakalo.gr. It's right there on the main road as you come off the ship. We did not reserve in advance as there are plenty of cars available. Christos was great to work with. He provided us a map and instructions on how to get there, where to find a gas station and answered any other questions we had. If you have even the slightest ability to pay attemtion, the map is very easy to follow and there are signs along the way showing where to go. Parking is easy and free in Olympia and within a short walk of the ruins.

 

 

 

After our visit to the ruins, we stopped for lunch at Socrates cafe in Olympia. A very nice little cafe with good food, reasonably priced. We had a nice chat with the owner while it rained.

 

 

 

Then a short walk to a pastry shop where we had some of the most wonderful bahklava, in many different flavors. We shopped and chatted with locals and had a very nice time. The local folks were very friendly and accomodating, wishing the world was not painting such a negative light on Greece.

 

 

 

On our return trip, we took a couped of side trips off the main highway. We found a small group of houses on a hill with a small church and graveyard. Beautiful pictures, countryside and people.

 

 

 

From our standpoint, having the freedom of the rental car was the best possible option for Katakolo. We're not drinkers, so the bar and wine scene were not a draw for us.

 

 

 

Hope that helps a little..

[CACruzrs]

We rented from www.rentacarkatakalo.gr.

 

Typo? The link should be: http://www.rentacarkatakolo.gr/ :)

[Nedgrimley]

Typo? The link should be: http://www.rentacarkatakolo.gr/ :)

 

Thanks for catching my error. First one I've made in.... :rolleyes: