Tour Guides in Athens and Santorioni

[BenLynn]

We are going on the Millennium on May 14,2006 and are looking for tour guides for Athens and Santorini. Can anyone make suggestions who to use? Should we use private guides? the ships tours? We've booked private tours elsewhere.Thanks.

[Live the good life]

We used Markos Private tour http://www.santorinidaytours.com. We selected this company over the other for a few reasons. Mrs. Anna (the manager) was always very prompt in replying to our e-mails and accommodating to our many requests (to visit the top 100 hotels in the world as ranked by Conde Nast Travellers, etc... in Santorini during our tour; to have lunch at the beach; to watch Sunset at a specific cafe in Oia, to include many different sites, etc...). We also requested that Mr. Nikos, a Greek native and owner of this tour guide company to be our tourguide. Mr. Nikos happens to also be a professional photographer who had lived in the U.S. for over 20 years, and did his studies there... We had a very special day. He took us to the most beautiful places with the most breathtaking views. Some of these places (next to the Boutonier winery) were places he usually takes photographs of weddings and anniversaries; (Mrs Anna also organizes weddings and anniversaries)...In addition, per our request, he also took us to a hotel with breathtaking views of the volcano (4.5 star Volcano View hotel)...Although we have been to the 5 star Katikies hotel in Oia, we plan to stay at this Volcano View hotel at our next visit ...He was extremely accommodating and happy to change plans per our requests...In short, we were able to visit all the touristic and picturesque sites (Fira, Pergo, Akrotiri, Black sand beach, winery, Oia, etc)...that we would only have been able to do so if we had taken 3-4 different tours offered by our cruise ship... and more...The gift we valued the most was the complementary CD of photos given to us at the end of the day (a total of over 200 digital photos of our family). We will definitely use this company again the next time we visit Santorini, not just to have a private driver but to also have professional photography on this very beautiful island...the cost of 400 euros for an eight hour tour was reasonable comparing to the tours in other European ports, such as VilleFranche or Amalfi Coast, or Rome...The tour was worth it for our family of 4 because we were able to cover all the breathtaking/historic sites of the island without having to spend the time figuring out the logistics/directions of where to go...As mentioned above, we received over 200 complimentary photographs of our family taken by our tourguide/professional photographer (Mr. Nikos) at the most beautiful background outdoors in Santorini.

 

Happy travels, Kim

[BenLynn]

Thanks for you in depth reply about Santorinitours. I have jsut booked them and will request Mr. Nikos to be our driver. We're also from Southern California and were on the Infinity to Alaska in May. We're going on the Summit out of L.A. to Mexico in October. You'll enjoy the service on the Infinity,it's great. The speciality restaurant is outstanding and as good as any fine restaurant with better service. The Maitre D' is Dominique and please give him my regards. Have fun and enjoy your cruise on the Infinity.

Ben Goldman

[Live the good life]

Thanks for you in depth reply about Santorinitours. I have jsut booked them and will request Mr. Nikos to be our driver. We're also from Southern California and were on the Infinity to Alaska in May. We're going on the Summit out of L.A. to Mexico in October. You'll enjoy the service on the Infinity,it's great. The speciality restaurant is outstanding and as good as any fine restaurant with better service. The Maitre D' is Dominique and please give him my regards. Have fun and enjoy your cruise on the Infinity.

Ben Goldman

 

Ben,

 

We wanted to try out the Summit too, but the departing date kind of coincides with the Infinity! We will send Dominique your regards. We will be in a PH suite for my B-day celebration and look forward to a fun time with family and friends. The balcony space would be great for our party...

Have a great time on the Summit (and Mexico too)!

 

Kim