Elis: Tours & Tickets

Definitely take this tour if you are interested in a good overview of the archeological sites. Our great guide Christina would usually first take us to the most relevant spots and explain their history, and then give us some free time to explore them further on our own (or sit down and relax). She was very nice and knowledgeable (though sometimes she oversimplified a bit), had a wonderful English and a great way to interleave historical commentaries with ancient myths, information on modern Greece and trivia, and this made the time spent on the couch go faster. The hotels were quite nice and at least four stars, but this could depend on availability. Food was just appropriate. Unfortunately the sites are quite far apart, but going there for longer on your own would probably take at least an extra day. At the end of the last day we switched to the couch of the 1-day tour to go back to Athens. The new guide was quite worse, luckily there was really nothing more of interest.

Our guide, Steve (Stavros).who is an archeologist, was the perfect guide. He shared his extensive knowledge about the site; responded to each of our questions with additional information; and opened our eyes as to what Olympia offered at the time. So much more than we had understood it to be! Wonderful, engaging guide who demonstrated his understanding of the importance of Olympia far beyond being the site of the ancient Olympic games and its important role in the history of ancient Greece and Rome. Highly recommend hiring him for your own private tour. We all enjoyed the laurel wreath he provided my grandson as the winner of the 'race' at the ancient stadium. A great day!

This is an efficient way to see important ancient sights around Athens. This was great in a few different ways : The distances and sights covered is difficult to accomplish independently within the 3 days. Our guide, Maria Anna was very knowledgeable and the info gleaned from her was invaluable to my 12yr old history buff. The dinner and rooms for the 2 nights were good choices, lunches were pre ordered and on our own dime. Our 20 seater minibus was adequate, and the companionship developed over 3 days with our fellow travellers was the icing on the cake. The pace was hectic, with regular breaks. Have already recommended this to my friends.

We would have liked more commentary on the sites of Olympia and the history but our guide just read us a script on the Olympic Games. We enjoyed the museum but felt rushed! The honey farm was a great cultural experience but the beach stop was not much! Could have stayed longer in Olympia. Four of our group of 6 are teachers! Our guide was sweet but needs more experience. Maybe she needs to accompany a more experienced person to learn more about being a guide!

Without Magda’s insightful guidance, ancient Olympia would have been just another walk through ruins. She brought the old columns and statues to life for our group! Highly recommend hiring a guided tour for this excursion.