We are looking for a private individual to transport us from the airport to our hotel. and to provide an all day tour to Attica for 4 adults in June 2011. Any suggestions?

You should contact a Greek travel agency like Fantasy Travel,or ZeusDiplomatic in Athens.

kahultgren, a driver can take you around "Attica" -- and BTW, what do you mean by "Attica?" Do you mean Athens itself PLUS the surrounding 35-40 miles that constitute the "Prefecture" or county? Or do you mean mainly Athens? And the landmark sites?

You should be aware that when you hire a private car/driver, it is essential a car-hire. It is NOT a guided tour, even tho the internet is full of links to "Taxi Tours." The Greek Government is extremely stern about who can guide you WITHIN the famous ancient sites, like the Acropolis, and within the Museums, like the Nat. Arch. Museum, the New Acropolis Museum, Benaki museum, etc. Only Licensed Guides (who must complete several years of rigorous study & pass tests) can actually "guide." The taxi guys can drive you there, tell you anecdotes along the way, give you paper maps etc, but then they must drop you at the admission booth & wait until you return. They'll drive you past sights that can be seen from the road, and steer you to a nice restaurant for lunch (often owned by a relative). It's up to you whether you want to pay between €150 -€350 for a 4-hour or a 7-hour taxi tour such as this.

You may wish to book a taxi "transfer" from the airport to your hotel; you should be able to book this for about €50. Then if you just want the "drive-by" experience described, you can book the taxi for a day. Otherwise (unless your party includes some who cannot walk at all) you might consider several tour options involving licensed guides. The best-known is athenswalkingtours,com, which gives a look at Historic Central Athens/Plaka, takes u up to Acropolis & parthenon, about 3.5 hours for 28€ each. Groups can be up to 18 or so. You can combine this with (after a lunch break) a guided tour of the New Acropolis museum. If you do, I highly recommend the Museum restaurant for lunch, v. moderate prices, terrace or glass-enclosed, looks right up at Parthenon. Another more costly option is Context Tours, led by a scholar, maximum of 6 people, but costs €70 each: http://www.contexttravel.com/city/At...rs/Archaeology

You might want to think about a morning walking tour in athens, then a taxi-man for "drive-by" in the afternoon. This site lists Official 2010 rates for various taxi services: http://www.athens-taxi-driver.gr/en-...mentName=Rates ... there may be add-ons, depending on location & circumstance.

A final option would be to hire a private guide separately, to meet you at a site such as the Acropolis; you'd pay by the hour. You'd think these services would be widely available but oddly, no! I think some hotels have lists on tap, but one should not wait until arrival to find that out. I discovered a list of these guides who operate mainly in Athens, noting which languages they guide in (Most do English), with phone numbers and SOME e-mails. This list is in French, German and Greek, but not English (go figure). Here's the french link: http://www.tourist-guides.gr/fr/cont...desguides.aspx. try your luck at negotiating a price and services, via e-mail.

Happy traveler is right... you can go to a greek-based agency, but the above will enable you to compare prices & services.

Oops, I mistyped a walking tour link, its: athenswalkingtours.com

You could contact these people:
http://www.greecetravel.com/taxi/

The website has a lot of good info on Greece in general and Matt Barrett has been recommending George the taxi driver for years. We used him for an airport/hotel transfer a long time ago, we actually got his mate, it wasn't George but we were happy enough. We did pay more than the going rate for a taxi though. If you contact a few different companies you should be able to find something you want.

Kay

THe Matt Barrett website constantly promotes George the TaXI Driver as if he really is going to drive your taxi. In actuality "George" now has more than 50 taxis -- thanks to the free advertising that Matt Barrett gives him (it is widely believed that Matt Barrett has a financial interest in many of the places & services he promotes tireless on his website).

and the prices charged by "george" and his "sons" and his "mates" are higher than the rates quoted by my link which displays the official 2010 taxi rates.

George is probably too busy counting his money to get behind the wheel of a taxi these days! If you want a tour, look for a tour guide who can accompany you into the sites, not a taxi driver with a good line of chat. For that, you should contact one of the reputable travel agencies, some of which have been mentioned in earlier posts.

For the trip from the airport to your hotel, any taxi from the rank outside Arrivals will do, and it is only a few steps away. Agree on a price before getting into the taxi. If you are able to climb a few steps and handle your own luggage, the metro to Syntagma Square is also nearby, and will cost only €20 for the four of you.

When I was in Greece last year I used Paul with www.athenstaxi.org. I scheduled a trip from Athens to Mycenae, Tiryns, Nafplion, Epidavros, Ancient Corinth and back to Athens. I made a reservation online with an agreed price, but I was not required to pay until after the completion of the tour (I used cash [euros]). He picked us up promptly at our hotel at about 8:00a.m. The car, a Mercedes, was nice and in good condition. Paul was very nice, polite and informative. Once we would arrive at a location. We would go in, see things at our leisure and return to the car where he was waiting. We never felt rushed. He returned us to our hotel in Athens around 6p.m. I would highly recommend him.

Don

Taxi tarrifs appear now to be fixed between the airport, the city centre and other areas. I am sure this was the reason for the driver/owner strikes at the turn of the year. Examples of costs for additional taxi services and rates for destinantions can be found here:

http://www.aia.gr/pages.asp?pageid=988&langid=2

Bill

Bill, THANKS for that llink! I am printing it out. I did have a link to a car-hire site which gave similar prices... but I was unsure whether the numbers were official.

Now we have a quick link-answer to give to the never-ending queries "How much from the Airport to Syntagma?"