Looking for a recommendation in Katakolon

We would like to visit the Olympia site and the Mecouri Winery, then back to Katakolon for shopping. The ships excursion is nearly $100 pp. I am looking for another option. Can anyone help?

No ideas from anyone? I looked at Tripadvisor and located one highly rated one but it is private and we are really open to joining a group at this port. Maybe the ships option is the way to go.

If you really want to do these two sites, I'd bite the bullet and do the ship's excursion. We usually limited our shore excursions to $100 pp.

When we went to the Med in 2008, I had planned to take the train from Katakolon to Olympia independently. We arrived in Katakolon and walked to the train station only to find out the train was broken down, so no transport available to Olympia.

We went back to the pier, but of course all the taxi's were gone, so we just shopped in town then went back to the ship for lunch.

Disappointed that we missed seeing Olympia. Only you know how disappointed you would be to miss it.

If you really want to do these two sites, I'd bite the bullet and do the ship's excursion. We usually limited our shore excursions to $100 pp.

 

When we went to the Med in 2008, I had planned to take the train from Katakolon to Olympia independently. We arrived in Katakolon and walked to the train station only to find out the train was broken down, so no transport available to Olympia.

 

We went back to the pier, but of course all the taxi's were gone, so we just shopped in town then went back to the ship for lunch.

 

Disappointed that we missed seeing Olympia. Only you know how disappointed you would be to miss it.

I think you make some good points. We have managed to arrange excursions on our own for the other ports and save some money in the process. We have decided to go for the ships excursion.

Thank you for your insight.

We rented a car there and the agent said that the winery would probably not be willing to give us a tour since they would be busy with tours from ships so if that's a priority consider that...

We went to Olympia and then a gorgeous beach and were delighted with the freedom and ability to escape the ship crowds.

We rented a car there and the agent said that the winery would probably not be willing to give us a tour since they would be busy with tours from ships so if that's a priority consider that...

 

We went to Olympia and then a gorgeous beach and were delighted with the freedom and ability to escape the ship crowds.

Can you please tell me which beach you went to and how far from the port it was? We're planning to go to Olympia but it does not sound like we'd spend more than 2 or 3 hours there so a beach stop might be lovely. I'm told there are many buses (several different private companies) that meet the ships in port and charge 10 euros per person (round trip) for Olympia. I had just thought we'd do that but if there is a nice beach in the area that would be worth the car rental to us.

Can you please tell me which beach you went to and how far from the port it was? We're planning to go to Olympia but it does not sound like we'd spend more than 2 or 3 hours there so a beach stop might be lovely. I'm told there are many buses (several different private companies) that meet the ships in port and charge 10 euros per person (round trip) for Olympia. I had just thought we'd do that but if there is a nice beach in the area that would be worth the car rental to us.

Check out this :

http://www.katakolon.org/beaches.html

We went to Kourouta Beach...it was great to have an umbrella for shade as it was very hot and sunny.

Check out this :

http://www.katakolon.org/beaches.html

 

We went to Kourouta Beach...it was great to have an umbrella for shade as it was very hot and sunny.

Were there any jellyfish in the water? At the beach close to the pier there were several jelly fish and the CD warned that they sting.

No ideas from anyone? I looked at Tripadvisor and located one highly rated one but it is private and we are really open to joining a group at this port. Maybe the ships option is the way to go.

If you want to do a group thing, check out: http://olympictraveller.com They offer semi-private tours, are very highly rated on TripAdvisor, and one of their associates, Niki Vlachou, regularly appears with Rick Steves on his shows about Greece. We're going next month and have booked 3 tours with them as follows:

Katakolon 65 eu p/p - up to 25 people

Athens 65 eu p/p - up to 25 people

Santorini 58 eu p/p, up to 18 people, less a 15% discount on this one for booking multiple tours :)

Correction to my previous post!! The discount for booking 3 tours with Olympic Traveller is 30%, not 15%!! :p

Thanks very much Rachelfran and Got2Cruise. That website says it all. Also agree with Borasue's recommendation. If we were looking for a group tour in Katakolo we would book with Niki Vlachou.

Were there any jellyfish in the water? At the beach close to the pier there were several jelly fish and the CD warned that they sting.

No jellyfish

In fact, when we got back to our ship someone was talking about jellyfish at the beach and we had no idea what they were talking about

Jellyfish are episodic/seasonal so the answer to "were there jellyfish there" will always depend on when the other person happened to visit. Same goes for sand flies and mosquitoes.

Jellyfish are episodic/seasonal so the answer to "were there jellyfish there" will always depend on when the other person happened to visit. Same goes for sand flies and mosquitoes.

I suppose it also depends on the beach because they were not at the beach I was at but they were at another that someone else on my ship visited on the same day.

If you want to do a group thing, check out: http://olympictraveller.com They offer semi-private tours, are very highly rated on TripAdvisor, and one of their associates, Niki Vlachou, regularly appears with Rick Steves on his shows about Greece. We're going next month and have booked 3 tours with them as follows:

Katakolon 65 eu p/p - up to 25 people

Athens 65 eu p/p - up to 25 people

Santorini 58 eu p/p, up to 18 people, less a 15% discount on this one for booking multiple tours :)

We have been looking at the same excursions for our Rhapsody of the Seas Cruise in October. I am curious to see what others think about this company. Echokat