Tour overview

• Duration: 7 hours
• Tour Type: Private
• Ages: All Ages
• Activity Type: Culture, Food, Iconic sites
• Language: English
• Time: 9:30 AM

Highlights:

• Stroll the historic neighborhoods of Makrygianni, Plaka, Anafiotika, and Philoppapos Hill and marvel at ancient monuments and neo-Classical mansions.
• Visit the Acropolis with an awarded archaeologist guide
• Savor freshly baked pastries and homemade sweet bread at a family-owned bakery and a neo-Classical gem.
• Boost your energy with a Freddo espresso or frappé coffee, the famous Greek-style iced coffees.
• Dig into the country’s largest open-air market for undiscovered “antiques.”
• Enjoy a cocktail on a rooftop with Acropolis views
• Taste It, See It and Experience It — In Athens!

Discover the best of Athens in a Day!

Tour snapshot

• Immerse yourself in the Athenian culture by exploring ancient masterpieces and mingling with hipsters in trendy neighborhoods. Explore the best of Athens in a day!
• Learn all about ancient Greek Mythology while visiting the Acropolis. The city that invented cities has survived for 5,000 years and remains a world-class destination for travelers. Taste it, see it and experience it with a Local Adventures local guide. Sure, the ancient monuments are exciting but wait until you taste the savory pies hot from the oven and shake up your own cocktail.
• Hands-on Element: Try wrapping your own gyros, at one of the city’s oldest establishments.
• Local Interactions: Meet local shop owners who have been continuing their family businesses, including a sandal maker who is also a poet and who has had customers such as The Beatles, Barbra Streisand, Lily Tomlin, and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Local impact — How you help the local community by joining this tour

• Your tour supports locally-run businesses, such as a sandal-maker, which helps preserve traditional crafts for the next generation.
• All of the stores your visit on your tour are 100% locally owned and run.

Full Itinerary

Begin just off the Acropolis Metro Station in Makrygianni, where you can see 5,000-year-old city remnants nestled beneath the new Acropolis Museum. Follow your licensed guide and walk uphill to admire the Acropolis and listen to myths and tales that formed Greek Mythology.

Stroll around Koukaki, one of Athens’s hippest and liveliest neighborhoods. Stop at Taki’s Bakery, which has been satiating neighbors since 1962, for a koulouri sesame ring or tsoureki, sweet Greek bread.

Immerse yourself in Athenian coffee culture by sipping a Freddo espresso or frappé coffee. In Greece, iced coffee drinks are popular year-round.

Next, visit the Acropolis Museum! Explore the new, modern and impressive Acropolis Museum with your awarded guide. Learn amazing details about all the masterpieces on display and grasp the opportunity to walk among the excavations underneath the glass floors!

Then, head to Philopappos Hill. Follow the trail with the marble monument of Philopappos, completed in 119 A.D., and the monument of Pnyx, where ancient Athenians like Pericles and Themistocles spoke. There’s a great view of the Acropolis. More great views await as you stroll Anafiotika, with its cobblestone alleys and the white-washed homes nearly stacked on top of one another.

Wander around the historic neighborhood of Plaka and stop for a delicious variety of local pites, or Greek homemade savory pies. Continue to the country’s largest open-air market for treasures, some billed as “antiques” but probably not.

Meet a sandal artisan and poet in his workshop. Three generations of his family have served celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker, The Beatles, and Barbra Streisand. Perhaps order a pair for yourself.

Then, try wrapping your own gyros at one of the city’s oldest establishments. It’s not so easy to get the pita filled with meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie, tomato, onion, tzatziki sauce, and, sometimes, French fries.

It’s cocktail hour, so we’ll finish up at a hipster bar’s rooftop which has breathtaking views of the Acropolis, the Roman Agora, and Hadrian’s Library. It’s a perfect spot to say “yiamas” to your new friends.

Itinerary

Routes