Private tours to Olympia from Katakolon

We will be in Katakolon in April with Holland America and we want to take a tour to Olympia. Any suggestions on good tour operators in this area that offer a rate better than the rate offered by the ship for this tour?

We spent a day with George Letsios from Taxi Katakolon and were pleased with the service. We combined Olympia with the Temple of Epicurious Apollo which all told took about six hours. George was great. He had a DVD player in the back and had videos for you to watch about both sites. At Olympia, he can't accompany you but he also had the various picture guide books that he let's you take with you. He also stopped in one of the small villages so that we could look across the olive/grape orchards in the valley. He also drove us on one of the nearby beaches as we were heading back to the ship as a taste of the sea in the area.

Send George an email and see what he can do for you. I have no idea what rate the cruise line was offering but if you want maximum flexibility you can't go wrong with a personal driver...

Edit: I just noticed a post that said George passed away which is sad. He did have a business partner Takis who may still be operating.

We went on a private tour to Olympia while docked in Katakolon. Our tour was good and it was with a guy very highly recommended on Trip Advisor. I forget his name- I remember communicating with George as Spree75 mentions, but I'm not sure if we went with him or someone else. It was ok, but our guide just dropped us off at the entrance to the Olympia ruins and sat in his car while we walked thru alone. If you want to have any real idea of what you're looking at, check to be sure your guide will accompany you through the site, otherwise, you're basically looking at piles of rocks.

We went on a private tour to Olympia while docked in Katakolon. Our tour was good and it was with a guy very highly recommended on Trip Advisor. I forget his name- I remember communicating with George as Spree75 mentions, but I'm not sure if we went with him or someone else. It was ok, but our guide just dropped us off at the entrance to the Olympia ruins and sat in his car while we walked thru alone. If you want to have any real idea of what you're looking at, check to be sure your guide will accompany you through the site, otherwise, you're basically looking at piles of rocks.

the greek tour companies are not licensed to accompany you through the sites but they can arrange for a licensed guide to meet you or they are usually available at the ticket office of major tourist sites eg Acropolis

We were with the late lamented George 2 years ago for Olimpia and he dropped us off at Olympia and went up to the ticket office to get priority tickets and gave us guide books to explain what we would see on the site

afterwards he drove us to an amphitheatre and a mountainside monastery before our trip back to the ship

We will be in Katakolon in April with Holland America and we want to take a tour to Olympia. Any suggestions on good tour operators in this area that offer a rate better than the rate offered by the ship for this tour?

We did a Med cruise last September and I booked private tours for all ports. In Katakolon, based on CC recommendations, Rick Steves & TripAdvisor, we booked a semi-private tour (up to 25 people) "Olympic Experience." While we booked thru OlympicTraveller.com with Christos Dorziotis, others booked the same tour thru OlympicTours.gr with Niki Vlachou. It was a great experience, our guide Ioanna was wonderful, and the tour included a great lunch buffet at a local restaurant with wine, all for approx $75 per person, plus ticket costs of $10; a comparable HAL tour was $145 p/p.

We also used the same company for tours in Athens (recommend) and Santorini (would not recommend).

There is a train that runs a few times a day direct to Olympia when a ship is in port, we used it last year and it was fairly cheap, can't remember if it was €10 return or each way! Then it's a short 5 - 10 minute walk to the site where you paid the entrance fee, headphones were available in multi languages. It was fairly easy to do on your own