The Highlights of Athens Private Shore Excursion 8 Hours
Recommended by 95% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Athens, Greece
- 8 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Travel back in time private shore excursion of Athens’ ancient monuments. Make the most of your limited time in Athens and spend the day exploring the city with a private guide. Marvel at the Acropolis, walk through the picturesque Plaka neighborhood, and shop at the famous Monastiraki flea market. Enjoy free time to dine at a traditional Greek restaurant, too. Those visiting for a short weekend or stopping by on a cruise will feel they’ve seen the whole city.
- Explore the Acropolis of Athens with its Parthenon and the new Acropolis museum
- Enjoy the village-like feeling of the Plaka neighborhood
- Round-trip transportation from your hotel or port is included
- Relish the undivided attention of your private guide
What's Included
- A professional English speaking tour driver
- Transportation by air-conditioned vehicle appropriate for the size of your group
- Hotel pickup and drop-off in Athens
- Piraeus Port pickup and drop-off
- Entrance fees to the archaeological sites and museum
- Gratuities
- Food and drinks
- English-speaking licensed tour guide (We can arrange for a tour guide for you with an extra cost)
Meeting and Pickup
Pickup points
Select a pickup point
Pickup details
Updated Pickup point is Port of Piraeus, Terminal A, 28, Akti Xaveriou Street, Port E11 CRUISE PORT MEETING INSTRUCTIONS: Please disembark and walk outside the terminal exit door, where our driver/guide will be waiting for you holding a sign with your name on it. HOTEL MEETING INSTRUCTIONS: We will meet you at the main entrance of your hotel. Please inform the porter that you are expecting your tour driver to call for you. If you are staying in a small hotel, please inform the receptionist instead. Return point: Return to the same spot
Itinerary
1
Piraeus
40 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Acropolis (Pass By)
2
Propylaea
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
3
Temple of Athena Nike
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
4
Parthenon
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
5
Erectheion
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
Presidential Palace (Pass By)
6
Hellenic Parliament
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
7
Monument to the Unknown Soldier
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
8
Change of Guards
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
National Garden (Pass By)
9
Academy of Athens
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
10
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
11
National Library of Greece
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
National Historical Museum - Old Parliament House (Pass By)
Syntagma Square (Pass By)
12
Plaka
1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
13
Ancient Agora of Athens
40 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
14
Acropolis Museum
1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
Temple of Olympian Zeus (Pass By)
15
Kallimarmaro
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
16
Mount Lycabettus
1 hour 10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Infant seats available
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
- At time of booking, Cruise ship passengers must provide the following information at time of booking: ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time
- Important note: You will have a professional English-speaking driver with good knowledge of the history and culture of Greece, to guide you till you enter archaeological sites and museums according to the program. Tour drivers are not licensed to companion you inside the archaeological sites and museums. If you'd like to have one, we can arrange it for you at an additional cost. Licensed by the state tour guides are freelance and it is subject to availability on bookings day!
- Athens International Airport taxi transfers can be arranged on request at an extra cost!
- We suggest that you have your admission tickets pre-purchased as there is a chance not to find availability, please note that we can buy the tickets for you in advance -under a small service fee.
- This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.9
based on 39 reviews
Marina_H, Nov 2025
Our tour guide was an excellent driver maneuvering smoothly through the narrow busy city roads and was also very knowledgeable about all the places we visited and past by along the way. I would highly recommend this tour!
Joanna_H, Nov 2025
We were picked up at the port and experienced a wonderful day visiting the significant sights of Athens. There were four of us, two older adults and two younger adults, and we all agreed this was a wonderful way to see Athens when we only had one day. We can highly recommend this tour!
Judy_H, Sep 2025
This was a very good tour; covered all the highlights. Unfortunately for us, it started raining quite hard when we got to the Plaka, so we opted out of exploring that on foot. But our guide did drive us around there, so we could see it.
Michael_W, Aug 2024
This was an amazing private tour with an amazing guide. Our guide Andreas made the tour special and personalized for us. He gave us plenty of time at each location and was very flexible if we wanted more or less time at any stop. Go us back to our cruise ship right on time. We highly recommend the tour and if you should request Andreas as your guide.
Linda_W, May 2024
Tour is a great way to see the highlights of Athens in a day! I highly recommend Athens Tours Greece - very professional and responsive. Nic and Demetra were wonderful drivers and guides. Also recommend you have them prepurchase your entry tickets - so much easier. It may seem expensive but it is worth every penny!
Diana_W, Aug 2023
Theodore was an excellent tour guide and driver. He was thoughtful and made sure we were comfortable.
Jackie_P, Jul 2023
Peter was the best tour guide we had during our entire cruise! He was very friendly and knowledgeable. He catered the tour to the places we wanted to visit. He took us to an amazing local restaurant for lunch (best meal we had during our entire cruise, too)! If ever in Athens again, we will definitely call on Peter. He was part of our family for the day!
VictorCindy_L, Dec 2022
Amazing archeology Seeing history first hand. Our guide, George, was so knowledgeable and caring. Acropolis, Apollo Temple, Parthenon's. exciting and memorable
John_H, Oct 2022
We only had a short time in Athens, coming off of a cruise. We saw all of the wonderful reviews of the driver George, online and decided to book him. It was a great choice. George was an excellent tour guide. He was very knowledgeable of the area and extremely personable. George had a great sense of humor and was extremely accurate with all the time we needed at every site. It was a great experience and would 100% suggest to book the tour and ask for George as your driver.
christopherlee0214, Oct 2022
Andrew (a.k.a. Andres) was an amazing driver and tour guide, especially with his driving skills in those narrow streets and alleys. Even though there was a lot of distance to cover, we never felt rushed at any of the stops and we arrived back at port with a perfect amount of time to get back onboard or cruise ship.
My only negative comment is that we had confirmed with the tour operator that strollers were allowed at the Temple of Athena but we were told once we got there that it was not stroller accessible and we could see why; there were may steps and the ground was a very slippery marble throughout that made it dangerous to climb without careful walking. We were fine carrying our twin babies but it just would've been good to know in advance so we could plan to leave the strollers in the van during that part of the tour.
Otherwise, we loved the views at all of the famous landmarks Andrew took us to and drove by, especially the breathtaking view at Mount Lycabettus. Andrew timed his tour perfectly so that we got to the Hellenic Parliament just in time for the changing of the guard and adjusted the order that we saw the each tour destination so that the crowds were never too big or overwhelming. And because we wanted to visit the Little Kook Bakery in one of the old districts, Andrew kindly adjusted our schedule to allow that time and even asked if we wanted to visit certain stops on the tour schedule like the Acropolis Museum. We didn't think that was necessary for this tour and were glad that it gave us more time to enjoy lunch, which definitely a big highlight.
We felt like family at Babis, which was the restaurant Andrew took us to for lunch. It was a local place and not one for tourists so we made us feel closer to the food. Fish was fresh caught and we could see and pick what we wanted them to cook. The family-special meatballs were amazing and everything else including the bread, Greek salad, and sugar cinnamon dessert were delicious.
What truly made this tour memorable was that I has specifically mentioned to Andrew that I wanted to taste authentic gyro and baklava while in Greece. I had already tasted the gyro an a previous port but we never had a chance to get baklava anywhere during the tour so Andrew was gracious enough to stop at a bakery on our way back to port and buy some for me. He didn't have to go out of his way to do that but I appreciated him so much for that. I would definitely do another tour with Andrew specifically if I have the chance to visit Athens again.
Deanna_D, Oct 2022
Apostolis was great. Took us u to o all the great sites. Explained everything . Great little family restaurant for lunch.
Response from Host, Oct 2022
Dear Deanna,
thank you very much for your kind review.
We are glad that you had a good time in Athens with your driver Apostolis!
We will be happy to see you again in the near future.
Wish you the best!
Athens Tours Greece Team
Carlos_P, Aug 2022
We had a great day visiting the city of Athens with Christo as our tour guide. Christo was very knowledge about the history of the and also able to accommodate our requests about sites that we want to visit, providing great feedback on our choices and proposing alternatives.
Response from Host, Aug 2022
Dear Carlos,
thank you for your time in writing a review for our company.
I am glad that you had a great time with your driver Christos and you are satisfied with our services.
We will be happy to assist you again in the near future.
Kind regards.
dijon2218, Jul 2022
Athens was amazing, my family and I had a wonderful time touring Athens. George our driver was amazing and knew the history of Athens.
Response from Host, Aug 2022
Dear dijon2218,
thank you for your kind review as well as for your time in writing it!
It's great that you had a good time with George and we will be more than happy to offer you our services in Greece again!
Wish you the best.
Pakeeza_A, Jul 2022
Takis “best cab driver in all of the world” self-proclaimed and 100% true
Unbelievable packed adventure
He was an awesome tour guide who knows his way around Athens with his eyes closed.
We saw acropolis, temple of Zeus, aristotles school, changing of the guards, the highest hill in Athens with the best view, agora, Olympic stadium, had traditional Greek lunch, visited the acropolis museum (spent an 1 hr here), had 5 star Greek baklava, saw Socrates prison
And got back to our cruise ship with 1.5 hours to spare. And he planned out the day so that we saw the most crowded sights when there was no one there - so awesome. TIP: buy your tickets for Athens archeological sites in advance online and print the that includes all the above sites -30euros totally worth it. And then you skip through all the ticket buying lines.
Response from Host, Jul 2022
Thank you for your kind review dear.
We are so glad that you had a good experience with our company as well as with Takis!!
We will be more than happy to see you again in the future and offer you our services again!
lisa_m, Aug 2021
Excellent time . Mackey was the best. Excellent service and very knowledgeable . He knew his way around the city . Thank you
Sue_M, Oct 2019
I had corresponded with Christos and given him a wish list. He said it was a lot, but we did it! Acropolis, Parthenon, Lycabettus Hill, to Acropolis Museum and points in between plus a stop for lunch near Monastraki square, He even arranged for perfect day. Traffic was horrible but he maneuvered the van thru lanes I wouldn’t have attempted with no traffic and no parked cars. Great day!
phoenixtakeflight, Oct 2019
The driver did his best to visit all places on the itinerary despite road closure due to organized activities on the day of Circle of Athens. The car was much bigger than we expected. We were very happy with his service.
PriscilaS_J, Aug 2019
Our private tour was excellent!!! George our tour guide was awesome!! He was very helpfull, flexible and knowledgeable. We never feel pressure or rush. He also took us for lunch at an authentic Greek restaurant at a reasonable price and the food was great!!!
I will highly recomend this company especially this tour and if I ever go back I wiould like to have George again.....Thank you so much GG !!!
Response from Host, Aug 2019
Dear,
thank you for your time in writing a review for our company!
We put customer experience and satisfaction as our priority, and your review reaffirms the hard work we put in every day. So thanks for your kind words and we look forward to seeing you again. I am going to forward your kind words to George !!!!
Best regards
Czarina_S, Aug 2019
Our tour guide, Yanni, was wonderful. Transportation & history explanation was splendid! He went far and beyond in accommodating our large group. We traveled with one wheelchair & one stroller and he managed to take us to many sites. His restaurant recommendation was also great!! It was very unique experience to taste 'homemade' platters. Thank you, thank you, Yanni!
nyiballs, Aug 2019
There were four of us, along with our driver and our guide. Eleni, our guide, tailored our day to meet our expectations, show us the sights we were interested in seeing, eating the food that we wanted to eat, and offering detailed insight into the deep and varied history of Greece, specifically in Athens. Our driver was extremely professional and always had the car ready, cool and with ice cold water on a very hot day. My only wish was that we had more time to spend and the museums and some of the sites, but there is only so much you can fit in, even on a whole day tour like this.
Elizabeth_C, Jul 2019
Absolutely loved Athens and the Acropolis! Would get the earliest tix possible next time to avoid the large crowds. Breath taking views, wonderful historical perspective. Wear shoes with traction. The marble paths are so smooth from years of wear that slipping is certain.
Our driver, Yanni, was a wealth of information on ancient and modern Greece. He entertained us with stories about each place we saw. His car was clean and and smelled fresh. Definitely hire a local to drive you around Athens. They understand the rules of the road and the etiquette it requires to avoid pedestrians and drivers.
We asked to go to a local (not tourist) restaurant for lunch and Yanni took us to a taverna in the heart of the city. We were greeted by the host who personally presented us with an array of the most delicious food I have ever eaten. The only dishes I had eaten before were Greek Salad and moussaka. The ones I had here were far superior. We also saw many locals eating here as well as an active take away business which proves that were were eating the same food that would be eaten in a Greek home.
Athens cannot be seen in just one day. I hope my next visit will be longer.
Nancy C, Jul 2019
WOW! Be ready to walk, hike up stairs and lug water around. Despite the adventurous walking tour of Athens, it was wonderful. Our guide was very good and knew a lot of history. Lovely young lady who I cannot remember her name but she did very well and was very knowledgeable. This is a very nice tour if you have a short time in Athens. Covers a lot of historical places and sites. Just remember, wear comfortable shoes and bring water. The weather was very hot for this time of year so rethink your time of visit if you are flexible. The heat adds a lot of discomfort if you are not use to it. I do recommend this tour if short on time and on the cruise ship. Personal connection with the guide is a most.
GrandTour177680, May 2019
Took a private tour of Athens with 2 other couples. We give George five stars for his calm demeanor, knowledge of the history of Athens and recommendations including having lunch at a local family restaurant. We visited the Parthenon, museums, This was the perfect tour
Ursula_A, Apr 2019
Christos was our terrific tour guide. He met us just outside the main terminal at Piraeus Port (arrived by cruise ship) in comfortable air- conditioned car. He customized the full-day tour to take us to many places, great photo ops and even a grocery store (I find it interesting to walk the aisles of a food store and see different and similar items with local language and prices)!! Hubby cannot walk the steep entrance to Parthenon, but he took us to many other sites and we saw Acropolis from many different locations.
I highly recommend Christos and this full day (8 hours) tour; worth every penny.
Patricia R, Oct 2018
Apostolos is an excellent guide and made sure we saw as much of Athens as possible in the time we had. Great day!
Michael D, Jul 2018
Three of us including a 7 year old had just one day to see Athens after disembarking from a cruise and this was the perfect way to do it. Our driver Yannies was waiting outside the cruise terminal, loaded all our bags into his comfortable Mercedes taxi, and then gave us an absolutely brilliant day taking us to all highlights as described. Along the way in perfect English he reminded us of history of ancient Greece as well as telling us about the modern day country and its people. As well as seeing all the main sites In air-conditioned comfort on a hot guy who took us to a fabulous little restaurant for lunch where we had to be called home-style cooking with and provided us with cold bottled water along the way. At the end of a brilliant day, Yannies dropped us and our luggage at our hotel. This was just the best way to do things and so much cheaper than any arrangements we could have made through the cruise company.
From $407.50
per group (up to 3)up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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The Highlights of Athens Private Shore Excursion 8 Hours
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