Piraeus (Athens), Greece Port Reviews

A lot of walking…. A Lot

No left cruise, very easy, safe & taxis everywhere!

Great guide. Was awe inspiring to be on the Acropolis. Very accommodating restaurant for lunch.

Way too hot in July to go to the Acropolis.

I was in greece a few days early and we had a lovely time.

Athens was very commercialized. Our shore excursion was disappointment. It was supposed to include photo opportunities of historical sites. Instead we saw them from a distance and needed great zoom capabilities for our cameras. We also only had a few seconds to take photos while our bus moved through the traffic. The highlight of our tour was a 2 hour talking tour at a small zoo which did not have many animals.

Athens is a very large, congested city. It has seen better days. There was a lot of graffiti everywhere. We did make it to Mount Lacabettus. The view was exceptional.

If you want to go INSIDE the Acropolis/Parthenon, I suggest you purchase an excursion that includes tickets. The lines to purchase tickets are extremely long (possibly an hour or more) as are the lines to get in once you have your ticket. I can only assume they only let so many people in at a time. Athens was a disappointment. Every building (and even some statues) were COVERED in graffiti. Worse, traffic is so bad that the hop-on/hop-off buses took forever to get from one point to the next. You can get the City hop-on/hop-off from the main hub at the Acropolis. However, these busses only go in one direction and from the Acropolis, it goes directly to stop A-5. The Plaka, (the main square/market place for shopping, tavernas, etc) is A2. You have to ride the entire route before getting there. There are some stops that are within a block or two from the Plaka. If you're not doing an excursion and wish to see the Acropolis and visit the Plaka, save yourself some time and check the stopping points that are within a few blocks of the Plaka and get off there and walk to it. You'll have more time to enjoy it.

We booked an outside excursion with cruise planners called exclusive Athens with free time in Plaka. This was a wonderful excursion and our tour guide was marvelous. Some of our group decided to climb the acropolis, but we decided to go to the Acropolis museum, which I highly recommend. We paid 15 euros per person.

Booked onto the official transfer coach as we were a bit nervous about getting back in time otherwise. Tour guide was very friendly and efficient, answered questions and places we might want to visit, and turned up on time to get us onto the return coach so what more could you want. Athens itself, obviously 4 hours unsupervised was not enough to see much but we made it to the acropolis, did some shopping and had a very nice slow lunch at a back-alley restaurant. Think we made the right choice for a first visit with kids in tow.