Visiting Olympia and then the beach?

[metsfan47]

We will be cruising the Mediterranean on the Norwegian Jade in June/July. One of our ports of call is Katakolon (Olympia), Greece. While there, we would like to visit the site of the first Olympic Games and then spend the rest of the day at the beach. Our cruise line offers an excursion that does those two things, but it is priced very high.

Are there private tours anyone can recommend that visit the site of the Olympic Games and go to the beach?

How can I contact them?

[Chairsin]

Rent a car and then you can do both on your own.

[alissa211]

You could check Tours by Locals (http://www.toursbylocals.com). We will be there in June with Holland America and I just booked a similar tour.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[adamdiane]

Rent a car and then you can do both on your own.

 

That's what we are doing in May.

The Avis office is at the of the port and Olympic is a 30 mins drive with free parking.

We are also visiting the winery nearby, find a nice taverna for lunch followed by some down time on the beach somewhere.

 

Adam

Edited April 14, 2016 by adamdiane

[DEL67]

I found a small group tour on TripAdvisor that had a guided visit to Olympia, , takes you to an agricultural center for wine and olive oil tasting and then to the beach; however, I do not know how long you have at the beach.

 

I cannot give you the name since I have not taken the tour, but you can find it by searching for Katakolon Greece in TripAdvisor and then choosing activities

[metsfan47]

I found a small group tour on TripAdvisor that had a guided visit to Olympia, , takes you to an agricultural center for wine and olive oil tasting and then to the beach; however, I do not know how long you have at the beach.

 

I cannot give you the name since I have not taken the tour, but you can find it by searching for Katakolon Greece in TripAdvisor and then choosing activities

 

Thank you so much for your suggestion.

I did search TripAdvisor and I believe I found the description you mentioned.

I have emailed the company for more information.

 

Thanks, again.

Fran

[littlelulu01]

Last year we booked a private tour. Taxi katakolon Greece. Car picked us up at the ship. Guy had a sign with our name. He took us straight to Olympia so we got to see it before the busses arrived. Then he took us to a beach and after asked if we wanted to be dropped off at ship or town and walk back. Cost was 140 euro for 4 hours. If you don't spend too much time in Olympia it will leave some time for beach. The car, Mercedes E320 sedan, could fit up to four passengers. Driver was efficient but mostly talked on his phone, didn't have much to tell us about area. I'm sure they have many drivers and so luck of draw who you get.

[Hlitner]

Funny you mention these options, because that is exactly what we did during our most recent visit in April (our 3rd or 4th visit to Katakolon). Your best bet is to simply rent a car (it helps if you can drive a manual shift). There are several rental car companies within easy walk of the pier but we prefer a small local company that has good prices, is the closest to the ship, and is very friendly. They are Dionysios Diplas Tourism Enterprises and you can find their web site at rentacarkatakolo.gr and there are a few other agencies in town you can find on Google. Our rental car was a small vehicle (all we wanted) that cost us less then 50€ for the day. We drove directly to Olympia and then on the return journey we stopped at one of the beach resorts (about 20 min from Katakolon) for lunch. In April, it was too chilly for us to swim (there were a few brave souls in the water). To be honest, we were not impressed with the beach...but we enjoyed lunch.

 

Hank

[superdave57]

Funny you mention these options, because that is exactly what we did during our most recent visit in April (our 3rd or 4th visit to Katakolon). Your best bet is to simply rent a car (it helps if you can drive a manual shift). There are several rental car companies within easy walk of the pier but we prefer a small local company that has good prices, is the closest to the ship, and is very friendly. They are Dionysios Diplas Tourism Enterprises and you can find their web site at rentacarkatakolo.gr and there are a few other agencies in town you can find on Google. Our rental car was a small vehicle (all we wanted) that cost us less then 50€ for the day. We drove directly to Olympia and then on the return journey we stopped at one of the beach resorts (about 20 min from Katakolon) for lunch. In April, it was too chilly for us to swim (there were a few brave souls in the water). To be honest, we were not impressed with the beach...but we enjoyed lunch.

 

Hank

 

Hank,

Seem to be following you in your posts. We are on the Jade in first week of September..Not sure what to do in Olympia and I am thinking about braving a car rental. I do drive stick..love it... would you do the same if you had to do it all over again in regards to Olympia...was this the best way to see the place and was the driving in the area dangerous or not for the weak? See excursions on the ships but most times, they are all overcrowded and more importantly over-priced. Your take?

[John Bull]

Hank,

Seem to be following you in your posts. We are on the Jade in first week of September..Not sure what to do in Olympia and I am thinking about braving a car rental. I do drive stick..love it... would you do the same if you had to do it all over again in regards to Olympia...was this the best way to see the place and was the driving in the area dangerous or not for the weak? See excursions on the ships but most times, they are all overcrowded and more importantly over-priced. Your take?

 

Not Hank, but we did the same as him (same local rental agency).

 

Easy-peasy. :)

Don't know if this arrangement is still the same, but

........ we booked over the 'net without commitment & stated our time. If we didn't show by shortly after that time, they'd not hold a car for us - which we rate as very fair.

........ return the car with the fuel gauge in the same place (there's a gas station just outside Katakolon, open 7 days). For Olympia & back 10 euros of gas is plenty. (35 mins / 20 miles e/w)

 

Driving is very easy, traffic very light. They give you a little photocopied map, but the route is simple (just one - or is it two? - turnings on the way).

Cars are modern & clean.

You don't need an international driving licence.

 

For four people the total cost with the smallest 4-seater is about the same as the Katakolon Express tour bus, but of course you have the flexibility.

 

Looking at the shore from the ship, the beach to the right (direction of Olympia) is pretty scruffy & featureless, with no facilities. Jellyfish while we were there. :eek:

There's another beach, adjacent the port to the left, which folk reckon is a little better & has a beach bar.

 

JB :)

Edited August 1, 2016 by John Bull

[dutchclogs]

We are visiting Katakolon next week and have booked Highlights of Olympia with The Travel Insiders.

The reviews are very encouraging. Will try to post afterwards as to how we found the beach (Agios Andreas) and the facilities. Will also look out for jellyfish!

[beverleyngo168]

Just got off the Jade and visited Katakolon. We visited Olympia by private tour with Mr Theodoros Mamousis of "Katakolon Taxi Tours to Olympia by Mamousis" on tripadvisor. We visited the olympic site, olympia town, and San Andreas beach. He was brilliant and was just 120 euros for all four of us in his 8 seater minivan. It's a fixed price for the whole minivan. He was brilliant and grew up in the area so knew a lot about the history of Olympia.

[dutchclogs]

We have now just disembarked the Celebrity Constellation. I can thoroughly recommend the Highlights of Olympia tour with The Travel Insiders. There were 11 of us in a 16 seater very well maintained, clean mercedes van. The tour was very well planned with commentary on the way from Elena, the sister of Despina co founders of The Travel Insiders. The company will customize the tour to whatever you like: we chose Olympia, a stop at the Agricultural Union for a free olive oil and wine tasting, then stop at the beach, a total of 5 hours. We could also have visited a monastery.

 

The beach btw was nice with bar/cafe and no jelly fish :)

[bearette]

Another vote for car rental. We booked right outside the port gate as well before hand so they were waiting with our name. I have twins so we also had two car seats. 50 euro total. Took us about 15 minutes to be off and minutes to drop off. The same company did the bus tours but I wanted longer than two hours. With kids I need the option to stop and eat or rest as needed.

 

The people who helped us said they looked for us at Olympia with their bus tours, but what was nice was we weren't in a hurry so we could avoid all the large groups so they never found us. If they were in one area we looked at another. At the end of the day we had the museum almost to ourselves and a virtually empty city to shop and have lunch. Cost us 10 euro for gas as well, but it made for a nice day.

We wanted to hit the winery on the way back but lingered over lunch and shopping in Olympia instead. I call it power shopping since it was 30 minutes to all aboard so if I liked it I bought it. We spent about three hours on the outdoor sites and another hour in the museum, but for most people that is too much time. I spent a lot of time letting my kids run through the flowers which for them was more exciting then the ruins.