Piraeus to the Corinth Canal

[Cruise-PC]

Has anyone arranged a private tour from Piraeus to the Corinth Canal? We’ll be on a back-to-back cruise, arriving in Piraeus at the end of the first cruise on November 2nd, and we're thinking about visiting the canal. Is this feasible? Has anyone had experience with disembarking and reboarding in Piraeus? According to Google Maps, the canal is about an hour from the port. I’d love to hear about anyone’s experience with this. Thanks!  

[CruiserBruce]

If you are on the same ship, you don't have to disembark in Piraeus. It will be treated like any other port on your cruise. 

 

The are several tour companies mentioned here...for example George"s and PK.

 

We did a tour from Piraeus to Corinth (the ruins), the Canal, and were back to the Acropolis before 1pm. Definitely doable.

[cruisemom42]

Do you just want to "see" the canal or do you want to take a tour "on" the canal? Both are possible. Some cruise ships even offer an excursion for the latter. I'm guessing a private operator could also possibly arrange the latter as well. 

 

I've been on a couple of private tours from Piraeus that stopped at the bridge for a good view of the canal enroute to other places.

 

[zqvol]

3 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

Do you just want to "see" the canal or do you want to take a tour "on" the canal? Both are possible. Some cruise ships even offer an excursion for the latter. I'm guessing a private operator could also possibly arrange the latter as well. 

 

I've been on a couple of private tours from Piraeus that stopped at the bridge for a good view of the canal enroute to other places.

 

Never seen the canal from the top, but our cruise ship did transit it. I put it up there with a trip through the Panama Canal. (Yes, there are a couple of cruise lines with small ships that contrast the canal. We were on Sea Dream). 

[cruisemom42]

Just now, zqvol said:

Never seen the canal from the top, but our cruise ship did transit it. I put it up there with a trip through the Panama Canal. (Yes, there are a couple of cruise lines with small ships that contrast the canal. We were on Sea Dream). 

 

Voyages to Antiquity's small ship kept promising transits through the canal on various cruises, but somehow they never seemed to pan out. Rockslides, work closures...  You were lucky!  I'd love to do it.

 

[shmabbies]

We did a self-created excursion with PK Travel.  We were actually staying at an Airbnb in Athens with another couple at the time, prior to boarding for a cruise, so our pickup was in Athens and not Piraeus.  I'm sure it doesn't matter.  Have used PK Travel for years and can recommend them highly. Had already seen the canal from above and from the bridge, but this time did the boat ride on the Canal, visited the ruins at Corinth, lunched in Corinth (town), and fulfilled DH's lifelong dream of bungee jumping into the canal to celebrate his 60th birthday.  I was tepid towards the latter until I saw it done as a challenge on Amazing Race and figured if the credentials of the bungee company satisfied CBS and its attorneys, they were OK with me.  This all took place in 2016 and I have no idea if the bungee company made it thru Covid.

 

Cautions since then - the Canal is sometimes closed for long periods due to rockslides and subsequent repairs, which don't seem to be very well publicized.  The boat ride was one of the highlights of my life and I would do it again in a heartbeat, while understanding that it might get cancelled with little notice.  Corinth (and Olympia) are among my favorite ruins for a lot of reasons but the silliest one of them being that both actually have trees here & there!  While I understand this might not be on your wish list, the bungee people were very nice.   DH is hard of hearing bordering on deaf and obviously hearing aids cannot be worn on a bungee jump, so I emphasized to them that I needed to be near DH as much as possible to be sure he was understanding instructions given to him (you know how guys are - they nod their heads & pretend they hear when they don't and I wanted to be entirely sure he understood what was being told to him).  They were very understanding and I was allowed to go out with him to the actual jump location and yes, there are people who pay who find that they cannot do it and back off.  But he did great and I would say it was one of the highlights of HIS life.  Definitely do-able from Piraeus or Athens and if the Canal is open, it's a wonderful sail.  I was disappointed that during the coverage of the recent Olympics that the sailing of the Olympic flame down the Corinth Canal was not shown, at least to my knowledge.

[slidergirl]

On 9/15/2024 at 1:02 PM, cruisemom42 said:

 

Voyages to Antiquity's small ship kept promising transits through the canal on various cruises, but somehow they never seemed to pan out. Rockslides, work closures...  You were lucky!  I'd love to do it.

 

Not related, but:

The ladies over on Cruise Fashion & Beauty were concerned.  We hadn't heard from you for awhile.  Sounds like you're in heavy cruise prep...