Day trips from Athens
 

Can someone recommend a day trip company that does trips to either Delphi or Mycenae region? I'm looking for an English speaking tour (don't want a tour guide spewing the same info over again in 5 languages), fairly young crowd (I'm 28), and is a reasonable group size (maybe 15-20 peeps). I'm in Athens right now and I'm looking for something this week.
Cheers and thanks ahead of time for the replies.
Peter

Key Tours ir organizing many different day tours in and around Athens, including day trips to Mycenae/Epidaurus or Delphi. Their tours are in english,sometimes if there is not enough participation though the tours might be bilingual.
Here is their website: www.keytours.gr
All travel agencies in Plaka and around Syntagma square are selling Key Tours, just do a small research in order to get the best price.I am not aware of any organizer of tours for young crowd and smaller groups in Athens... Be prepared for a mixed ( and rather older since it is not high season yet)crowd and a 50 seated bus....

There are 3 main companies that do these tours -- KEY tours, CHAT tours and GO tours. The first 2 generally have good reviews... I've seen some big complaints about the 3rd.

What I really like is KEY or CHATs TWO-DAY tour to The Argolid ... it doesn't rush you around, and you get to spend the night in Nafplio, on your own... and that town has a really good nightlife. NOTE: there are 2 levels of this, first-class & Tourist. ALWAYS take the TOurist class, because they use HOtel Victoria, right off the main Square in town (First-Class is a hotel way outside of town); Here's the link & Description of both, Vry similar:

http://www.keytours.gr/en/packet.asp..._id=1&lang=_en -- English only & Monday only...
http://www.chatours.gr/sub_cat_page.asp#9 -- goes every Tuesday or Wednesday

If you are in Athens right now, there's another place to investigate -- Astoria Tours.

Astoria Travel is one small travel agency near Syntagma square, they do offer a good service, i would still recommend you to compare prices , there are at least 50 travel agencies in this area.. ( doesn't mean you should visit them all..lol)
You may find big differences in the price, especially during the crisis that there is in Athens right now regarding tourism.

clausar, one thing that many people do not realize is that those 50 travel agencies will sign you up for (example) a 3 day "classics" bus tour, or a 2-day Delphi tour --- but actually will be putting you on the existing tours of CHAT, KEY & GO ... they don't originate their own tours.

Astoria does funnel some tours to the Big 3, but also has some tours all its own, some of which I do favor, because they are not as rushed. For example, it has a FOUR DAY tour to Peloponnese & Dellphi. This allows an overnight in Nafplio AND in Olympia. The "Big 3" 4-day tours also try to cram in Meteora... which results in more of a BUS experience, rather than an ANcient Sites Experience.

about prices, I don't know... the "big 3" seem to have unaltered prices and all very similar. Maybe if one books thru a minor agency, they get a cut rate. If booking a bus tour through any except the above 4, as a tourist I would closely question what company is actually running the bus & providing the guide, etc.

travelerjan, i happened to know that Astoria Travel doesn't offer it's own organised tours, but buys them from the 3-4 bigger companies that offer them.
The tour you mentioned is the Monday's special 4 days classical tour, organised by Key Tours . Astoria travel like every other small agency in Athens do not have their own busses. ( happens to know them personally)
Original question was for a day tour to Delphi or Mycenae, speaking about 3 and 4 days tours doesn't really offer any help to the OP as it is off topic.

Thanks for all the info. I actually went to see Kosta at Astoria yesterday during the strikes. Made for an interesting walk trying to avoid the protesters, police and tear gas.

Clausar is correct. All the travel agents are selling the same packages offered by the big tour companies. We actually ended up signing up for the 3 day classical tour. I couldn't decide on a day tour so we're doing multi day! This tour is being run by Chat tours and we depart from hotel Amelia which they are affiliated with. I'll write back in a few days after the tour.

Also, despite the financial situation in greece, prices for tours and hotels are not dropping. At this is what my limited experience and few conversations has encountered.

Cheers,
Peter

Prices are crisis....
As for the tours and transfers prices are ofcourse not dropping, since fuel prices were increased at more than 50% compared to last year....
Hotel prices, especially in Athens , where Hotels are really suffering, haven't been increased for the 3rd year now.
Plus the fact Athenian hoteliers are offering more and more special offers and early booking discounts.
The crisis last year got hit also Mykonos, we have seen hotels dropping prices in form of special offers,hotels closing at the end of September..and some 5 star accommodations selling after September the 20th a double room for 60 Euros.... Mykonos is the most expensive greek destination, and they had a bad season for the first time in the last 20 years... I can't recall another year like that, and if Mykonos had these problems you can imagine how the crisis has affected all the other Greek destinations.

clausar my friend. I know it is too late to reply today but I only saw it now and since you are talking about me I felt that I had too. I am Kosta, the owner of Astoria Travel in Athens. Although you say that you know me, the office is not near Syntagma, I would say that it is near Omonia. Omonia is the area that my father was first employed, and worked in a travel agency since Sept. 20, 1926. He founded Astoria in 1958 and we are proud that from 1995 we are a travel agency that operates in the hands of 3 generations. Allow me to say that you do not know the details well. From 1976 until 1985 I owned 3 busses but I sold them because I could not sleep at night. I guess I was too much of a responsible guy.
Let me put you now in the picture about the travel agencies and the tours that we all sell. The oldest one of the T.O is CHAT Tours. Another one was called ABC Tours and when ABC closed down a couple of new TO were founded. GO was one of them. Today there are 3 TO and a couple more specialising in other languages. In my websites I mention that all the Greek travel agents sell the same tours organised by the 3 TO, but at discounted prices. We all add to the net price the % that we consider that our service is worth. This is why the customer finds different prices. The TO sell at their brochure price. The customer gains by buying the tour from a travel agent instead of the TO. As far as the "small agency" is concerned, I have tried hard to keep the business small in order to be able to sell personnal service. It is not easy. For the last 15 years I work with my two daugthers and they know that we have limited turnover capabilities but this is the only way to provide personal service. If we increase the turnover we shall make it a factory. We sell service not merchandise.
As far as the tours that we organise: My 40 years experience in organising tours has given me the confidence that I can organise any tour that the client wants, and this is what I do, but as private tours. I organise tours to places that the 3 TO do not include in their programs. People that want to visit these places do find me somehow and at the end we are all satisfied.
These few lines just to clarify few things about ASTORIA Travel and out Who is who.

Dear Kostas
Nice to see you posting in the forum, even with a delay.

I only said that

1. The excursion that one poster thought it was organized by you, in reality it was from Key Tours

2. you have no own busses, which you confirmed as well.
I wasn't talking about 1985.. but about 2011.

3. that OP should compare prices in order to find the best
price for his tour... There's nothing wrong with that,
you are doing it as well with your suppliers.

4. what you organize are tailor made tours, but not organized
tours like Key Tours, Chat or GO.

5. you are a small agency, opposed to Key,Chat and GO,which
is a fact, there's nothing wrong with that.

Reading your post i see that you agree with all of my points.

I know that you are offering a good service, as we had a business contact for several years.... mainly with one of your daughters ( Z) .

clausar :)

Thank you Clausar. Everything cleared out. No problem. I am trying to provide the service that I would like to get.