bobscarano

we will be taking a cruise mid July and prefer to hire our own tour guides rather than take the cruise ships day trips.

Any recomendations for the following stops or an agency that could help us book all would be appreciated. we will be in following:

Lesbos
Mykonos
Patmos
Milos
Athens (2 days)

Thanks very much

clausar

Hiring a licenced tour guide can be rather expensive, as they have to charge you a flat price, set from state and covering not only their service but also their insurance.
this would be : 150 Euro for 4 hours or 250 Euros for 8 hours
Please note that only licensed guides have the right to guide a group in archeological sites and museums.
If your tour doesn't include any archeological site or museum, then you could use a simple guide,they charge less of course.
I could give you names of local travel agencies for each island, but in such a case i think it is better to find someone , who can organise everything from A to Z.
I would recommend Amphitrion Holidays a big incoming operator based in Athens. Email is : [email protected]
Should you need recommendations of local agents on each island, just let me know.
Also keep in mind that you will need also a car ( maybe with the exception of Athens, where everything can be seen on foot/public transportation) ) as distances on many island are quite big.

bobscarano

thanks very much. yes, we are familiar with costs, but our alternative is the cruise ship offerings which are also expensive and tend to move really slow. we prefer to hire private guides and cars/vans if neccessary.

I will contact Amphitrion, but would really appreciate a list of local agents.

Thanks agin

travelerjan

Bob, aint that easy. Outside of Athens, not well organized to respond to such as you. I can give you some links and wish you luck. If you do not have time to do some of your own online research, agency is your best bet.

ATHENS - http://contexttravel.com/city/Athens
(small group tours with Phds, academics; max 6 people OR custom for you only..
PVT GUIDES - Athns & ELSEWHERE:
http://www.ourexplorer.com/Listing.a...ki&City=Athens
http://www.ourexplorer.com/tour-guid...inga-1752.aspx
DIRECT PHONE #s GUIDES - (list is only in French & German & Greek god knows why): http://www.tourist-guides.gr/fr/cont...desguides.aspx
http://www.toursbylocals.com/find_guide

clausar

ok, as requested here is the list of recommended travel agents in each dstination :

Athens : Amphitrion Holidays ( they have their own fleet of 40 something busses/minibusses and taxis)
Mykonos : they also have a Mykonos branchoffice
www.amphitrionholidays.com
email : [email protected]

Milos : Braukat http://www.braukat.gr/ [email protected]

Lesbos : COM travel http://www.comtravel.gr/neu/englisch/travelcom.htm
email [email protected]

Patmos : Astoria Travel http://www.astoriatravel.com/
email : [email protected]

all these travel agencies are highly recommended and very professional.

Travelerjan's first link has only Athens based guides ( even saw a friend of mine there..lol) You wouldn't want to take an Athens guide to other islands, as you would have to cover all his/hers expenses.
Second list is a list of the Guides Association, but somehow it seems to be incomplete, as there are many more official guides... ( i don't see many names of guides that i know personally...)