Meteora All Day Tour From Athens
Description
With this private tour you will visit one of the most famous and sacred places in Greece, where for centuries Orthodox Monasteries are standing in harmony on giant rocks that were made millions of years before! This tour gives you the option to visit Meteora in one day without having to overnight in the area. Driving through mainland Greece you will arrive at Meteora where you will visit 3 Monasteries.The Monasteries are built on high giant rocks and they offer plenty of breathtaking photos and you will have plenty of time to explore it. After, visit Kastraki village for shopping and lunch. On your way back to Athens we will stop at Thermopylae where Leonidas and his 300 brave sacrificed.There you will have a chance to take photos in front of the monument of King Leonidas.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Visit the Unesco world heritage site of Meteora including 3 monasteries with this all day tour from Athens.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Hotels,Vacation rentals,Main points of interest in Athens
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Service animals allowed
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(72)
The experience was amazing! The views were nothing like I have seen before. Was worth the trip. Our driver was very knowledgeable and he made the trip a pleasant one.
Awesome trip, would strongly recommend. Our driver Theo was exceptional! Showed up right in time and was able to accommodate our request to have car seats for our kids. Had a great time visiting the monasteries and appreciated getting to chat with him during the drive.
The tour was very good, the scenery is impressive and a must see. I really recommend doing this site using the private tour so you can manage the places you want to visit and your time. We visited 2 monasteries but passed by all of them, as well as some good viewpoint. Our driver was excellent, gave usefull information and allowed us to plan the tour based on our interest - but he is not a licensed tour guide for the site (which we knew in advance because the booking is very clear on this). He stopped in the best stops to get the best pictures. The van was comfortable, even I would have prefer a sedan for 2 people. We had an incident with the gas but fortunately it was resolved quickly humorously. We had a great time.
We did the private tour so that we would have control of the time-frame of the tour. Theo was awesome and a careful and great driver. He was very informative. We saw two of the monasteries and took lots of photos of the beautiful scenery. Theo picked us up at our hotel and dropped us off at the end. We completed the entire trip in about 10 hours. It worked out perfectly for us since we didn't want an overly long day. Awesome experience!
The stone. The caves. The driver. The shrines. To view the stone monuments was an unforgettable experience. The driver’s knowledge made it even more inspiring.
Pretty good....I would recommend this tour. Our guide was Dimitri and he even took us to the Battle of Thermopylae memorial.....Dimitri spoke very good English which was helpful, and was quite knowledgeable about Greek history. A pleasure.
After reading many glowing reviews of excellent drivers who act as guides on the drive and discuss the history and significance of Meteora, my wife and I decided to book this excursion. The word "tour" is vastly misleading, as you're really only paying for a driver for the day, who won't enter the sites with you. We both tried to engage our driver in conversation about the site, life in Greece, even his favorite football team. His responses were short, and would immediately put his headphones back in to signal he didn't want to be interrupted. After seeing our driver was not interested in helping us learn more about the sites like so many other drivers for this excursion seemed to do, we decided to ask for the Wi-Fi information to do our own research. Our driver responded that there was no Wi-Fi for the trip but after pressing him further, he reluctantly called the operator, who instructed him to turn on his mobile hotspot for us to use. His hotspot only lasted 30 minutes, after which it was turned off for the duration of the trip. When we arrived at the site, one of the largest monasteries had switched to winter hours, and was closed for the day, which seemed to catch the driver by surprise. While we could've done more research ahead of time, clearly our trip wasn't planned well by the driver or operator. This information should be published on the booking page - that monastery hours vary, and depending on the season, some may be closed to the public. In hindsight, I should have been more skeptical of this "tour" - the page clearly states that guided tours are excluded, but I incorrectly assumed we'd have one of the same drivers mentioned in the other comments. Ultimately, the monasteries we did see were incredible and we very much enjoyed exploring the sites and taking in the scenery, but this ride was long and overpriced.
We are sorry that our tour didn't meet your expectations. In the tour inclusions it is clearly stated that a guide is not included and only a private car with driver included. Unfortutely according to Greek law no one except lisenced guides is allowed to guide in sites.If the driver had acompanied you in the monasteries he might had faced legal charges. The drivers are always free to engage conversations during the trip but their main responsibility is to drive you safely and in a timely manner to/from the site.Our company has several drivers and each one has different aproach and that is makinng the tour unique. Indeed Wifi is included on this trip and the driver gave you access once requested. You have to know although that in the whole area of Meteora there is a very weak signal and hardly any webpage is loading if you try to browse. We should had informed you accordingly for that. From November until March indeed the monasteries switch to winter schedule but unfortunately the opening days might vary as these are active monasteries and not just archaelogical sites. That means that the opening times and days might change without notice due to maintenace works or after a request from the monks. Nevertheless as soon as the driver noticed that Grand Meteoro was closed he drove you to the nearby Varlaam monastery which of similar size and also the most impressive of the complex.We thank you for the recomandation to put a note that the opening scedules might vary and we will included on the tour page asap. This tour might seem overpriced but we can assure that is not.You need to take into considertion that the drivers work for 12 hours and the total distance is 800 km . As you probably noticed the fuel prices in Greece are extremly high and there are several tolls on the highway as you saw. We are happy that in the end of the day you admired the incredible site and the monasteries and hope you went back home full of great memories. Thank you once more your feedback
Being able to climb the steps to the monasteries at Varlaam, Rousanou, and St Stephens, and enjoy the view and the ambiance was gratifying. Our guide’s encouragement helped 😊. He is quite a history buff. We enjoyed the conversation with him. He is a foodie and even recommended local food we should try in our trips to other parts of Greece. Overall great experience. One suggestion would be to include a meal in the package.
Worth every penny! Our guide Theo was wonderful. He picked us up and n time from our hotel. The van was comfortable and he made the king day enjoyable. Meteora is a site I will never forget. It is spectacular and well worth the drive. We stopped at Thermopylae on the way back which my husband really wanted to see. Highly recommend.
Dimitri was an excellent driver, very friendly & answer all our questions. He also adjusted schedule for us to see 3 monasteries which gave enough time for the fog to lift & us enjoying the wonderful views of monasteries. Long day but well worth the experience of seeing the amazing Meteora.