Meteora & Delphi 3 Days Semi Private Tour

Posted By : Cruiser63000837904
Wonderful!
Initially I wasn't sure about signing up for the 3 day Meteora and Delphi 3 day tour. After spending time on a family holiday in Crete I had sent my husband and daughter back home as I had more time off work. It was a chunk of money to spend out of my holiday budget, but was worth every penny.

After arriving from Athens into Kalambaka and being dropped off at Hotel Kaikis (really friendly staff) I had enough time for an impromptu visit to the Natural history and mushroom museum. This is an old school museum with lots of stuffed animals, but it was excellently done with grouping representative of the local ecology. Worth checking out the videos of the local birds of prey. Upstairs are models of all the mushrooms found locally, again grouped by ecosystem. Also includes info about uses and mythology. Really enjoyable and a good set up for the hiking option I chose for day 2 of the tour.
I got back in time for the sunset tour.
We were in a small group which was good. The sunset tour included far more than I'd expected, with views of most of the monasteries, a history of the use of the unique geology by hermits leading eventually to the monasteries, a visit to one monastery, and an old church partially built out of a preexisting temple of Apollo (fascinating). The monasteries provide a wrap around skirt if it is needed (no charge). Sunset was partially obscured by a cloud, but the colours were lovely. Apostoles our tour guide was very knowledgeable, funny, and patient with me getting far too excited and wanting to ask all the questions in one go. Ares was our driver and I thought is was very nice that the god of battles took time out of his busy schedule to get us around safely.
And I saw a tortoise!

The next day in a different small group we had our hiking tour. I was a bit worried that my fitness wouldn't be good enough, but for the most part the walking was not too challenging although the temperature was on my side in April. The steps down later in the walk was the worst bit for me.
Ares the driver got us to our location and Evan was our tour guide. He was very friendly and he was very knowledgeable about the geology and nature of the area.
We saw many different orchids (April seems to be a good time for flowers).
We also saw wild boar wallow (the stuffed boar in the museum was a good reference).
This was a highlight. The area is truly beautiful and this is a great way to see it. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. We also saw the inside of another monastery.
After being dropped off in Kalambaka I had lunch with one of my fellow trekkers and then back to my hotel for a well deserved rest that afternoon.

The next day it was time for my transfer to Delphi via Thermopylae. Imagine my surprise when it was just me and my lovely driver Stolos. We chatted about families, life in Greece, and the botany and wildlife of the area. All whole driving through some of the most stunning mountain scenery I have ever seen. The trip was worth it just for this.
Stolos told me there is a mushroom festival in September which is a great reason for me to plan a repeat trip!

At Delphi I was given my instructions to get the KTel bus. I went to the museum, saw the main site and the temple of Athena at the bottom. I rushed a bit, but in reality I had plenty of time. The ruins and museum were beautiful, but I have to say the mountains are still my highlight of the day.
Getting the bus was easy and it didn't take long to get back to Athens.

Apologies to everyone's name that I've got wrong.
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Posted On : 2024-04-19 14:39:46

Posted By : alanfF814QZ
Tour was very organized; our guides Apostolis and Cristos were very knowledgeable and communicated very well, and driver Ares was punctual and friendly.
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Posted On : 2024-03-20 22:18:07

Posted By : Arilua2009
We arrived at the train station to catch our bus (as trains are currently not operating).
BE AWARE: The bus was standing on the opposite side of the road from the mentioned cafe on the description. Nonetheless- we got on the buss in time! XD

Now, this is a LONG busride- approximately 4h and 30m. Still, I was occupied with the views because Central Greece is stunning! (You'll also get a break 2 hours in to stretch your legs, have a quick snack or use the bathroom).

Unfortunately, about 3h and 30m in- the bus broke down while heading up to the mountains. This was resolved rather quickly and the busdrivers remained professional throughout the incident. Still, it took up a bit of time.

When we arrived in Kalambaka, we got some time (30m) to grab some lunch. After that, we headed to our minibusses and drove up to the mountains (Meteora). Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about Meteora's history and origins, and was very helpful in answering everyone's questions.

Heading up to the monestaries- OMG. Breathtaking views, stunning interior and fascinating artifacts all for our eyes to see. We got to see 2 monasteries that day (day 1 of the trip)- the monasteries of Varlaam and St. Stephen. Amazing! Is it weird that I found some unexplained peace there? XD
I recommend checking out the gift shop in St. Stephen as I found them to have the best selection.

Some of the monasteries were closed that day, but we got to take some pictures from their exteriors as well as visiting the Sunset Rock for some enchanting fotos of the views.

On day 2, we got to see 2 more monasteries- the monastery of Rousanou and Holy Trinity. Both are big climbs to say the least! Well worth the views, though. Tip: take pictures! Lots of them! We also revisited monastery Varlaam (free of charge!), which I found to be among my favorites along with St. Stephen.

On day 3 we left Kalambaka and headed onto Delphi, but first we had a quick stop at Thermopylae to look at the Leonidas monument, which defintely crossed off some of our groups' bucket lists!

Moving on to Delphi. The archeological sites did not disappoint, but there are a lot of people there even off-season, so bear that in mind! What we found the most interesting in Delphi was the museum. There were a lot more artifacts inside than I imagined, and overall they gave me a better impression on how Delphi was in its era.

After grabbing some lunch, we headed to our bus to Athens, and therefore concluded our 3 day trip. What an experience!
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Posted On : 2024-02-29 07:22:23

Posted By : KateSP447
This trip was definitely a highlight of our time in Europe. We visited not long after flooding in this part of Greece. I was worried we might not be able to get to Meteora due to the floods, but Visit Meteora Travel had everything covered to make sure we were able to see everything on this tour. The tour guides were friendly, knowledgeable with prompt pick ups and excellent tips for enjoying the monasteries. Our favourite day was when we did the hike to the hidden monastery. Very few tourists, fabulous scenery, excellent tour guide - it was a special day. Delphi didn't disappoint either. Whilst it was very hot, we had plenty of time to see the ruins and spend time in the excellent museum, have a great lunch before catching the bus back to Athens. It all went according to plan and was a fabulous 3 days!
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Posted On : 2023-10-23 08:25:56

Posted By : Linda_B
Meteora is amazing , I feel so grateful to Visit Meteora on ground company and in particular our guide Katerina . She imparted so much knowledge to us and her passion for her home town and her personal experience with a cave monk have been the highlight of my travels ( I have been away 7 weeks )
Don’t miss this trip of a lifetime
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Posted On : 2023-10-02 12:37:08

Posted By : lkleinhen
George and his entire staff at Visit Meteora made our special couple’s trip to the Meteora area such a special one. We needed to change things around at the last minute and George made this happen in a smooth and efficient way, making everything so easy for us. A shout out to Evan, thanks for making the long drive so interesting and enjoyable. Everyone at the company was terrific, thank you Visit Meteora.
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Posted On : 2023-09-25 10:05:57

Posted By : Roam01314985576
20 stars out of 10 - we had an amazing experience, as the team at Visit Meteora Travel went utterly out of their way to help us poor (in reality “lucky”) stranded tourists get to Meteora from Athens when historic (and tragic) flooding hit the region and prevented us from getting there by train. What started out as an annoying inconvenience was met by the gravity of how bad things were, and yet we and a few others were picked up by an amazing, super lovely company driver/unexpected tour guide/travel companion (Evan) in collaboration with one of the co-owners (George) for our small Odyssey to Meteora, which ultimately took us multiple days to arrive and skirt around the flooding. for us to make life simple. We even ended up travelling back with the amazing George out of the region, who gave us his insight into regions and the fascinating history of Greece while we were all on the road.
What could have simply been a classic 3-day tour experience was ultimately something we’ll remember for years, and we’d love to come back to the region because we’ve never had such an amazing experience from a tour anywhere in the world! We wish the team all the best, and hope that the region recovers quickly and never has to go through such anguish again.
All the absolute best from NZ!
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Posted On : 2023-09-15 15:16:01

Posted By : lizlm
Well organised, informative, loved the Morning Walk the most! Guides were well informed, managed the tours well so that even in very busy peak season we were never herded with the crowds.
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Posted On : 2023-08-21 15:06:18

Posted By : davidyL8837DS
Recently we returned from a three week vacation in Greece. It was a wonderful experience, and a big reason for that success was the assistance we received from Visit Meteora. This firm offered us two marvelous half-day tours of the historic area, including the fascinating monasteries that attract so many visitors. The tour bus picked us up at our hotel, and took us to the destination, where we had plenty of time to explore the site. At one point the tour leader observed that we might have difficulty keeping up, and after dropping off the group, took us to an alternate more-accessible monastery that was outstanding. In addition, because I was not able to drive in Greece, Visit Meteora helped us find transport to most of the cities on our itinerary. Prior to our departure from the USA, I had numerous discussions via email with the managers there making various arrangements that contributed so much to the success of our family vacation. When a sudden railroad strike left us stranded in Athens, Visit Meteora provided us a driver who picked us up there and took us to our destination in Meteora. We are so grateful for the services provided us by this firm, and look forward to joining them again on our next trip to Greece.
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Posted On : 2023-08-09 14:39:05

Posted By : Deja-hateauprochain
My friends and I had the Best of time visiting the Meteora on July 3 to 5 ! From the first time we contacted you long before COVID, the services you provided was always first class. We had to cancel due to COVID, you gave us a credit that we used only this year and all went exactly as first planned ! We waited 3 years to do our trip but it was all worth it ! I would recommand your agency with no hesitation! Jim and Evan were great!
Regards from Canada 🇨🇦
Josée, André, Luc, Isabelle, Josée, Patrick, Marc and Cathy
July 3 to 5 2023
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Posted On : 2023-07-23 12:32:10