Private Tour of Isthmus Canal, Ancient Corinth & Mycenae From Athens

Posted By : 999randic
Yannis is full of information that he delivers with expert storytelling from the perspective of history and seminary training in a place where he grew up. This tour is a must!
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Posted On : 2024-04-06 01:57:28

Posted By : donfK4940JJ
Our family has been really interested in Greek history and culture. So, when we finally got the chance to go to Greece in March this year, we were super excited, We found George at Ancient Greece Tours and asked him to plan a few day trips for us. One trip was to Mycenae and Corinth and Nafplion, an Athens tour and the other was to Delphi and Meteora. These trips were just for us (private) not big groups.

Everything was even better than we expected! When I was planning the trips, Ancient Greece Tours always replied to my emails quickly and gave me good advice. On the day of the trips, the drivers and guides were on time, friendly, and really knew their stuff. Our guide Vera in Mycenae was absolutely awesome. And the Van we had was a Mercedes - very spoilt with the little luxuries. Super nice. Everything worked out perfectly.

I looked at prices from a few different companies before I booked with Ancient Greece Tours, and their prices were really good but the value is unrivalled. We are really happy we went with them, and I'd totally recommend them to anyone. I hope I can do more trips with them in the future!
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Posted On : 2024-04-04 10:29:15

Posted By : DrChrisStout
Giannis was one of the best guides we have had the pleasure to tour with. He knows his history and the level of detail was amazing. He was also as personable and warm, as he was professional and prompt. He made our tour much more educational, interesting and enjoyable. His AMG Mercedes was awesome. We hopped on his Wi-Fi and he sent videos we could which in the car on the way to a site that depicted what it looked like originally via 3-D rendering. So cool. He took great shots of us that we could not have done via selfie. His English is superb, down to idioms and cliches, and he has a great sense of humor to boot. He took us to many off the bean path areas, and even treated us to a coffee like we never had before. Such great experiences and now fond memories and oodles of photos! As follow-ups he sent more videos we had asked about. And his training and demonstrated driving skill in Athens traffic was amazing. We are Giannis-superfans. Book him and you will be too!

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Posted On : 2023-10-30 10:03:04

Posted By : T366EApatriciac
Our tour was fantastic! We could not have asked for a better guide than Peter Kleioufis. He was knowledgeable, spoke excellent English, was timely, and provided superb service. We especially appreciated him taking photos of us throughout the day so that we could remember all the places we saw.
The day was perfect and we highly recommend asking for him if you want a stellar experience. Thanks, Peter!
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Posted On : 2023-10-30 08:08:43

Posted By : RICHARD_D
Very impressive stop at the canal at the isthmus with interesting history that led up to the canal actually being constructed. Ancient Corinth with its Acropolis and ruins were also good stops. We ran out of time to do the Mycenae part of the trip. If the trip is done in reverse with a long drive to Mycenae, then work back to the canal would be better use of time. Had a wonderful stop at a local taverna for lunch over looking the ruins of the temple was a nice treat.
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Posted On : 2023-09-20 19:06:53

Posted By : Hosehead6
Learned a ton about Greek history, including the central role of Corinth - more important than Athens though Athens gets all the attention simply because of the monuments that the Romans decided to not destroy. And then tying it with Mycenae in the later half of the day, from which we could also see Argos. So definitely a great way to fill in the time period from ~5000 BC to the newer history of Athens at its height in ~450 BC.

We started out visiting the end of the Corinth canal where our guide Yannis gave us a lot of history about the development of the canal and what existed before then for thousands of years and how that geography made Corinth the crossroads of the world ~2500 years ago. Then drove closer to the middle and looked down from the bridge, beautiful sight.

Drove over to Corinth acropolis which is a great site. Would need a half day there to see everything but the 1.5 hrs we spent there was a good taste. Very hilly and not an easy hike. Recommend seeing the small church and trying to get up to the Frankish tower if you have the time.

We ate lunch in a restaurant next to the ruins of ancient Corinth. Good food and reasonable prices.

Then the ruins of ancient Corinth at the bottom of the hill including the temple of Apollo. This has a well done museum and 1 hr would be sufficient to go through it. The ruins were extensive and you'd probably need a couple hours to go through all, we did it in about an hour and that was fine.

We then drove to Mycenae. Ruins are older and we spent an hour wandering around and visiting the tombs. It was a bit of a let down after Corinth. The museum was pretty poor unless you like looking at pottery shards for an hour. Maybe I was just tired but if I did it again I'd read the exhibits in the lobby then do a quick walk through the rest, probably done in 20 minutes. The highlight for me was the stories behind it all rather than walking among part walls of buildings long gone. But again maybe I was just tired by then.

Yannis is a great guide and answered all of our questions and offered interesting stories and took genuine care of us. He could not go into the sites but would give us tips for what to look for before we went in. He brought us a box of cookies and treats in the morning for snacks throughout the day and had a big supply of cold water bottles to keep us hydrated.

If I was to do it again I would definitely visit the same sites in Corinth but probably skip Mycenae and go instead to Epivadros and Nafplio if such a tour existed. I wouldn't cut any shorter the time in Corinth though. That was definitely the best part of the trip.

And Thank You Yannis! Hope to see you again some day.
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Posted On : 2023-08-07 06:49:40

Posted By : Liberty_E
We had an amazing day. Nikos was an excellent driver (arriving a few minutes early), very knowledgeable and friendly, and knew exactly where to take us for the best photos, food, and souvenirs. He provided cold waters for us at our stops, was a great driver- made us feel safe during our day long tour with much driving. We never felt rushed as we visited our sites. Would highly recommend!
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Posted On : 2023-07-28 06:15:58

Posted By : crystalbJ9351BQ
Our guide, Peter was wonderful! He was so knowledgeable and kind! It was an absolutely delightful trip that I would recommend to anyone!!! We will remember this adventure for the rest of our lives!
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Posted On : 2023-06-03 23:38:57

Posted By : Roving04888008925
This is a wonderful tour that will give you insight into Greek history and mythology. Our tour guide Yannis was both knowledgeable and pleasant and it was fun to spend the day with him. We especially enjoyed learning about and seeing the Corinth canal (and watching the Bungee jumpers). The ancient city of Mycenae and the Theatre of Epidaurus were also amazing. Our transportation was very comfortable and we took a nice lunch break in the beautiful beach town of Nafplio.
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Posted On : 2023-05-29 10:12:53

Posted By : Ravenspadre
Coco was a great guide and had terrific suggestions in addition to what we knew. Waterside restaurant for lunch a wonderful break
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Posted On : 2022-10-22 13:58:41