Olympia Tours??

Hi Everyone!

We are taking a Eastern Med Cruise with RC in October and one of the ports is Katakolon Greece. We are thinking of booking through RC the Olympia On Your Own excursion which basically only covers the transportation. The total cost of the transportation is $38 and then entrance into Olympia & Museum is 9 euros each.

We are wondering if anyone has an suggestions for a cheaper transportation to Olympia. We found a tour through Olympia Tours which is about $40 per person but I think that we could easily navigate around Olympia ourselves and save the money.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and please let me know if you think the tour is a must while in Olympia.

We used katakolon-express.com for transport (15€) and Rick Steves' self-guided walking tour. Entry to the site was not included. I thought it did help to have a guidebook (or perhaps a guide) for this site. The museum was definitely worth a visit.

We used katakolon-express.com for transport (15€) and Rick Steves' self-guided walking tour. Entry to the site was not included. I thought it did help to have a guidebook (or perhaps a guide) for this site. The museum was definitely worth a visit.

We used the Rick Steves' self-guided tour as well. At Olympia, it took a while to get our bearings, as some of the ruins are VERY ruined and it isn't immediately obvious where you are in relation to the guide. Once we figured it out, we found it to be quite adequate. And the museum is a MUST see...it really helps put the site into perspective and has a couple of pretty spectacular items. Many ways to get to the site. It's pretty pleasant and laid back, compared to many other "popular" cruise excursion sites. If you can swing it (we treated ourselves) we booked a private driver to get us there. This gave us the site itself to ourselves for over an hour before the ships' busses started showing up. I think we two of only about 20 people there for that time. It was a fall morning, pleasant weather, lots of olive trees and nice view of the surrounding mountains. VERY pastoral and lovely. Even when the busses arrived though, it was still low key and pleasant. Also, our driver took us to a more out of the way restaurant for lunch, which was another bonus. And we were back in Katakolon to do our "touristy gift" shopping before the busses got back. Take advantage of the wi-fi at many of the dockside cafes for a few minutes to catch up on email at a faster speed than you can get onboard.

We had a group of 6, with 2 young kids, so we took a private tour with Mr Theo. It was a good day out.

A 2 minute summary of what we saw.

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This is Mr Theo.

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While in Katakolon, we booked a Chauffeur Service from Avis to take us to Olympia and to the winery. We hadn't booked a guide for the site, but the Avis driver was really informed and he told us so many things on our way there, plus he gave us good tips and a guide book for Olympia site&museum. The winery was excellent too, we took a tour, the wine taste and we had some snacks (it was all arranged from Avis). It was a really nice day. You could always rent a car and do it yourself, although we enjoyed our ride there, we got so many information! there local site is http://www.katakolo-rentacar.com

you can find plenty of info for the area as well. the free Wi-Fi is a plus!

When you get off the boat, there are tons of bus companies that take you to Olympia for 10e each. It's the same as the bus from the ship, but much cheaper. We decided to rent a car, only 35e, and see the beaches as well.

We were very bored in Olympia and not impressed. We don't love those types of sites, although Ephesus was awesome. But at least we saw it! The beaches were very pretty.

We also took the Katakolon Express. Our short time in Olympia here.

We just hired a taxi with another couple for a half day. They are parked about 100 yards from the ship and you can negotiate a rate between drivers. Remember, you get a guided map of the ruins with your admission. And it is ruins. The museum is about a 15 minute walk on the other side of the road. And to us, there is not much in the museum.