Escorted Tours to Greece and the Greek Islands
Greece divides fairly neatly into two kinds of holiday. There is the mainland circuit — Athens, Mycenae, Epidaurus, Olympia, Delphi and the monasteries of Meteora — where the interest lies in what people built two and a half thousand years ago. Then there are the Cyclades, where the pleasure is slower: whitewashed lanes, a ferry deck, a long lunch.
Airedale travels to both. Our Greek tours fly from the UK with transfers at either end, use private coaches and local guides on the mainland, and include the boat tickets between islands. Nobody has to decipher a ferry timetable or hunt for the site entrance in the heat.
Frequently Asked Questions About Our Greece Tours
More than on a typical coach holiday in Britain, and on worse surfaces. Ancient sites mean uneven stone, loose gravel, unshaded slopes and — at the Acropolis and at Meteora — a fair number of steps with no alternative route. Most people who are steady on their feet manage well with sensible shoes and a stick if they use one. Do ask us about a particular itinerary before booking, as the demands vary between tours.
Yes. Every Greek tour we run includes return flights with hold luggage and transfers at the destination, and some also include transfers in the UK. Flight times to Athens are around three and a half to four hours. Because departure airports and flight timings differ between tours and dates, check the individual tour page or ask us for the arrangements on the departure you are considering.
Yes. Our Open Group departures are made up largely of individuals and couples travelling independently, and solo travellers are common on our classical and island itineraries alike. Prices are quoted per person sharing a twin or double room, and a single supplement applies if you would like a room to yourself. Ask us what that supplement is on the departure you have in mind.
By boat, on the scheduled ferries and fast catamarans that link the Cyclades with Athens and with each other. Crossings are a pleasant part of the holiday rather than something to endure — open decks, cafés on board, and other islands passing on both sides. On our island itineraries the boat tickets are included, so there is no timetable juggling or ticket queue to deal with.
July and August are genuinely hot on the mainland, often above 35°C, and Athens holds the heat into the evening. That matters when you are walking around open archaeological sites with little shade. Spring and autumn are far more comfortable for the classical circuit. The islands are more forgiving in high summer thanks to the sea breeze, though the Cyclades can get a stiff north wind in late July and August.
Yes. Any of our Greek itineraries can be arranged as a Private Group for a gardening club, U3A branch, church group or a set of friends travelling together, with the whole party on the same coach and the same guide. Timings and the balance of sites and free time can usually be adjusted to suit the group. Tell us roughly how many of you there are and when you would like to travel.
The classical sites of the mainland
What makes mainland Greece work as a touring holiday is how close the great sites sit to one another. Athens, Mycenae, Epidaurus, Olympia and Delphi can all be reached comfortably on a week's circuit, and each one adds something the others do not.
Mycenae is the oldest of them — the Lion Gate has stood since around 1250 BC, several centuries before the Parthenon was begun. At Epidaurus, the fourth-century theatre seats something like fourteen thousand people and the acoustics are so exact that a voice from the orchestra floor carries clearly to the topmost row. Olympia is where the Games were held from 776 BC; you can still walk out through the vaulted entrance into the stadium. Delphi is the one that surprises people most, built in terraces up the flank of Mount Parnassus with the Sacred Way climbing between them.
Both our mainland tours cover these sites with a local guide rather than an audio handset.
Meteora and its monasteries
The rock towers of Meteora rise straight out of the Thessalian plain near the town of Kalambaka, sandstone and conglomerate laid down when this was a river delta some sixty million ago and since weathered into pinnacles. From the fourteenth century, monks began hauling themselves and their building materials up the sides in nets and baskets.
Two dozen monasteries were founded here. Six remain in use, reached now by steps cut into the rock and short bridges, and the views from the terraces across the plain are worth the climb on their own. The interiors are dark, frescoed and still working places of worship.
Modest dress is required to enter — shoulders and knees covered, and women are asked to wear a skirt, though wraps are usually available at the door. There are steps at every monastery and no way around them.
Island hopping in the Cyclades
The Cyclades are the islands most people picture when they think of Greece: flat-roofed cubic houses, whitewash renewed every spring, blue-domed churches, bare hillsides dropping to clear water. They are also genuinely different from one another.
Mykonos has the smartest harbour and the liveliest evenings. Paros is gentler, and its marble quarries supplied sculptors across the ancient world. Naxos is the largest and most agricultural, with the Portara — a vast marble doorway to a temple of Apollo that was never finished — standing alone on its islet by the port. Santorini sits on the rim of a caldera left by the Bronze Age eruption that tore the island apart, and the view down into it is the reason people come.
Our island tours move between them by boat with the tickets arranged, and one of them builds in yoga sessions and free time rather than a full excursion programme.
How our Greek tours are run
All our Greek holidays begin with a return flight from the UK and transfers at both ends. On the mainland you travel by private coach with an English-speaking tour manager, and local guides take over at the archaeological sites, which is the only sensible way to see them.
Hotel stays are grouped so you unpack as little as possible — several nights in Athens, then one or two nights each at places such as Nafplio, Delphi, Olympia or Kalambaka, mostly on half board once you leave the capital. On the islands it is bed and breakfast, which leaves your evenings free for the harbour tavernas.
One of our mainland tours adds a traditional cookery class, a pottery workshop and a beekeeping visit alongside the sites. Departures run as Open Groups for individuals and couples, and any of these itineraries can be taken privately by a club or society.
