Greece Tours, Tips for Family Vacations

Should you book Greece tours during family vacations to Greece? We did!

When you travel with kids, you need to be able to answer a HUGE amount of questions. Curious kids have lots of questions about ….well, everything! Preparing for vacation includes getting ready for those questions about all you are going to see.

Hiring tour companies for your family vacations is a great way to get a lay of the land and have an expert to answer all those burning questions!

Tour Guides were a great part of our recent trip to Greece. They can give you background on the culture and sights. Even if you study before you go, tour guides can add to your knowledge and give you an even deeper perspective.

Read books about Greece before you go. Prepare the kids and have fun!

Kids’ books set in Greece 

**Some of these were sponsored experiences but not all and either way..these are my own, always honest, opinions**

During our family adventure to Greece we used several tour companies along the way to make this ‘Happy BIG birthday trip’ the best vacation ever!

Greece Tours – Athens

G.O. Tours – Athens Overview

Fantasy Travel arranged this tour which was an overview of the city of Athens and sights. On our very first day in Athens we were picked up at our hotel and taken to a central location. Here we met other buses who had also picked up travelers at their hotels. After a bit of ‘musical chairs’ to get us all sorted into the right tour bus we set off.

This overview tour of Athens had us driving around town while the guide explained what we were seeing out of the window. Since we were heavily in the throws of jet lag, this low key day was perfect for us.

We did have a stop at the Panathenaic Stadium where we were just amazed to be standing at a site that has been in use for SO LONG. When you are from the United States, which is such a young country, it is easy to be just stunned at the age of things in other countries. This multi use stadium has seen lots of sporting events since it was originally built in the 6th century BC including the opening ceremonies of the first modern olympics in 1896. Now, fully restored, it is the only stadium in the world made completely of marble.

A key stop on this guided tour of Athens is the Acropolis museum. This is a great spot to visit either before or after visiting the top of the Parthenon. I was especially excited to see the columns that look like ladies (Caryatids). The originals are in the museum safe and sound out of the weather and pollution.

Over all – G.O. Tours gave an EXCELLENT tour which we highly recommend.

Greece Tours – Athens

Greeking ME – Athens Highlights Walking Tour

Firstly, I love the name of this tour company! This guided Athens tour was also arranged for us by Fantasy Travel. We found their travel agency so easy to work with and full of all sorts of helpful information for a traveler.

Penelope was our tour guide and she met us at the fountain in Syntagma Square. I loved the Athens walking tour because it gave us so much flexibility. We grabbed a snack on the way and were nibbling it when we met Penelope.

This was a private Athens tour so we customized it to what we wanted to see, but since this was only our second day in Athens, we pretty much wanted to see everything! We started with the Evzones soldiers who guard the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Read all about the Evzones who are an iconic sight in Athens. 

With Penelope, our guide, we saw the Plaka area, Hadrian’s library, Monastiraki Square, Psirri and learned a lot about mythology and culture.

Over all – Greeking Me gave us an EXCELLENT tour that we highly recommend.

Greece Tours – Meteora Area and Kalamabaka

Visit Meteora – Meteora Monasteries Tour

I’m so thankful a friend, who is from Greece, suggested visiting this area. I was shocked to find the monasteries of the Meteora area are not on everyone’s list of things to see in Greece. You absolutely HAVE to visit this incredible area.

Read how to get to Meteora from Athens!

Visit Meteora was sooo easy to work with and had the friendliest people. We had two tours there – a sunset tour and then a morning tour. The buses were comfortable and had wonderful AC, which was really important because it was really, REALLY hot when we were there.

Read about the Meteora Monasteries and visiting with the Kids.

Note about AC – Sometimes Air Conditioning means different things to different people. Read more about how to deal with the differences here!

Overall – Visit Meteora has an EXCELLENT group of tours of the area – a MUST see experience!

Greece Tours – Santorini

Santorini Day Tours – 1/2 Day Tour ending with Sunset

Oh, what a wonderful guided tour of Santorini. I can not say enough fantastic things about this tour – you just have to take it. We had the bus and guide all to ourselves. He showed us around the entire island and was so energetic and passionate about the island! Since he knew the place like the back of his hand he handled parking etc. in the very busy Oia.

He took us only where we wanted to go which I really appreciated. I wouldn’t be surprised if the guides get some $ when they take you to certain spots like say…wineries. We travel with the kids and aren’t big on wine so a long day of wineries were not on our list of things to do. The guide didn’t even blink and was happy to show us other things even though I suspect he lost out on money for skipping them.

Overall – Do NOT miss this easy and fantastic guided tour of Santorini which is the best way to see the island. It is also the BEST way to see the famous Santorini Greece sunset as well.

Greece Tours – Day Trip from Athens – Corinth

Chat Tours – Ancient Corinth 1/2 Day

This cool guided tour was set up for us by Aegean Thesaurus. We LOVED this tour guide. He was sooo energetic and enthusiastic and entertaining. LOVED him.

Firstly, the bus was large and comfortable for the 1 hour 30 min drive to Corinth. Our first stop was to see the Corinth Canal. Wow!! What an amazing place! This spot is the most narrow place, the isthmus, where the mainland attaches to the Peloponnese peninsula.

Once upon a long, long time ago, ships would take all the stuff they carried to the east side of the peninsula and unload it on to the land. Then, a skeleton crew took the ship all the way around the large peninsula to the other side. The rest of the crew stayed on the land with the cargo and DRUG it all the way across to the other side. Wow. No wonder this canal was built! Imagine the time, energy and sweat that saved!!

The stop in Ancient Corinth was really interesting. We saw the ruins and explored the museum.

Overall – the guided tour of Corinth with Chat Tours is an EXCELLENT choice for a day trip from Athens.

Trying to figure out which type family adventure to plan? Read more about planning amazing family vacations in these related posts:

Traveler VS Tourist – Does it matter?

Traveling is all a matter of perspective

Simple Joys on Family Vacations – Traveling with a Child’s Perspective

Family Vacations – Comfort Zone – Get out of Yours

Happy Travels,

Natalie, The Educational Tourist