We have booked a cruise this October from Athens to Venice and ar I. The beginning stages of planning our pre-cruise stay in Athens. Our flight will arrive from the States at 11am on a Tuesday. The cruise leaves on Friday, giving us three nights in Athens for our first time visit.

We are two active 70+ yrs old that can do stairs. We love the outdoors, gardens and photography. We enjoy museums, to an extent, but can become overwhelmed with information overload and lots of people.

That being said, we plan to see the National Archaeological Museum and the Acropolis for sure..maybe the Temple of Poseidon for sunset? One place that is intrigue to us is Meteora for the uniqueness of seeing the monasteries perched on the top of those rock formations. We do not plan to rent a car. Do we have time for that tour?

We are open to suggestions on how best to utilize our time in Athens…especially the first day after our flight arrives.

Thank you for any suggestions you might have.

The journey from Athens to Meteora is quite long and I don’t think a sensible choice unless you can spend at least one night.

If you like gardens you might enjoy the Stavros Niarchos centre. When we visited there was courtesy shuttle from Syntagma square. It featured on one of Monty Don’s programs some years ago.

Heaps of great galleries and museums in Athens.

On your first day I suggest you just explore central Athens on foot or do a walking tour. We enjoyed our walk with Alternative Athens.

Look at the options for things to see in Athens; I think you'll have plenty to do with 2.5 days in Athens without leaving the city.

We used all of Rick Steves' audio tours of Athens, though usually not in the order that he did them. I especially like the Anafiotika neighborhood, and that was not somewhere that we would have know how to get to on our own. We very much enjoyed the view of the Acropolis from a rooftop bar off Monasteriki Square. Actually, I enjoyed the view of the Acropolis from any angle.

We hired a local guide for a half-day wallking tour that included the Acropolis and the New Acropolis Museum. I am very interested in ancient Greek history, so to have a private guide for this part of Athens was very meaningful to me. Our hotel was close to the Acropolis entrance; on several mornings, I took a walk nearby towards Aeropagus Hill, to admire the Acropolis as the sun rose. It was wonderful! You will also enjoy the Archealogical Museum.

The Temple of Dionysus does look fabulous, but it's a long way from Athens. If you want to go there, you'll have to decide if that's how you want to spend your time in Athens.

I agree about not leaving Athens. You just don't have the time. You will have jet lag when you first arrive. And there is so much to see and do in Athens. 3 nights is not a lot of time. You basically have 2.5 days. On arrival day, it's best to just walk and wander and explore and be outdoors. The Plaka is fun to explore.

We did a walking tour of the Acropolis with Athens Walks. Our tour guide was great. I highly recommend.

In addition to the National Archeological Museum, I highly recommend the new Acropolis Museum, which contains the original Karyatids. This museum pairs well with a tour of the Acropolis. If these 2 museums are enough for you, I can suggest the Athens Flea Market (outdoors) and the Central Market of Athens, which contains a huge fish market and a huge meat market, among other things. Lots of produce, etc. And there are cafes inside the market where you can have lunch.

Don't forget about the Changing of the Guard ceremony. That's fun, too.

We did a pre-cruise and post-cruise visit last fall. One problem with our trip was the TWO TAXI STRIKES. Pre-cruise there fortunately was only a strike on the two days between our arrival and departure. That meant that we had no taxi service on our two days to see the city. One day we used the HOHO bus - worthless to see the sights but fine as transportation, with an employee at each stop. We only got off at the National Archeological Museum. It was disappointing except for the fantastic Myceanean gold mask and other gold.

After returning to Athens post cruise there was another taxi strike on the day we flew out. The only alternative the hotel clerk had heard of was someone charging hundreds of Euros. Fortunately our hotel was a block from the Metro where there is a line that services the airport.

For non-metro rides from airport and to the cruise port, I suggest using Welcome Pickups. You know the fare in advance. We didn’t use them on our disembarking since we weren’t sure how fast we could get off the ship. Although I confrmed that we would be charged the meter fare ( and that was in front of the policeman directing the traffic ! ), the cabbie tried to charge us up to €150 for the ride.

Note that Welcome Pickups and other services are still taxis and observe the strikes.

Incidentally, a friend was in Athens 2-3 weeks later for her cruise and missed another taxi strike by one day.

Thanks to all whom have replied. We have been convinced to skip Meteora as it is just too far. The 14 hr trip there seems exhausting.

The taxi strikes are concerning. We ran into that same issue when leaving Paris for the airport a few years back.

Unless you have mobility issues public transport in Athens is easy and affordable. We’ve never used a taxi in Athens, although I’m sure there are out of the way places where one might be required.