Greek Spotlight with Cruise Small Group (Moderate C Cabins) - From £1,865

Europe Greece
OVERVIEW
From Athens, you'll travel to Nafplio, Mycenae and Delphi, passing beneath the Lion Gate into a Bronze Age citadel before exploring Delphi’s temple ruins on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, once sought for the words of its oracle. Near Kalambaka, you look across Meteora’s immense rock pillars to monasteries built high above the Thessalian plain. Then you'll board your Aegean cruise, hear the low hum of the ship and catch sight of islands across the water. Explore Mykonos, walk Ephesus’ marble streets and call at Patmos before sailing on to Santorini, where you gaze across the caldera from villages perched above volcanic cliffs.
EXPERIENCES
Archaeological Site of Mycenae: Walk through the Lion Gate past the royal beehive-tombs where Schliemann uncovered golden treasure, while hearing tales of Agamemnon from your Local Specialist.

Athens: Delve into Athens with a Local Specialist. See the iconic highlights of this ancient city, from the Acropolis to the site of the first modern Olympics.

Delphi: With your Local Specialist, walk to The Sacred Way once lined with offertory temples. See the reconstructed Athenian Treasury and pass the superb Polygonal Wall to reach the Temple of Apollo, where people once sought divine wisdom from the mysterious Oracle.

Ephesus: Discover one of the world's finest ancient sites. Led by your Local Specialist, walk the Arcadian Way, see the Library of Celsus and Amphitheatre.

Meteora: With a Local Specialist, visit one of the remarkable centuries-old monasteries of Meteora, teetering on towers of rock and arguably the most spectacular place to visit in Greece.

Nafplion: Visit Axion Esti, a family-run organic beekeeping facility in Argos. Meet Sophia and Anthony and learn how their passion for bees has grown into an award-winning operation. Suit up to see the hives up close, explore the museum, and sample local honey while discovering the importance of pollinators to the ecosystem. Your visit directly supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 15: Life on Land.

Spend three nights cruising the Aegean, crossing deep-blue waters between Greece’s islands with rugged coastlines and whitewashed towns appearing along the way.
DEPARTURE DATES AND PRICES
Tour
Departs		 Tour
Returns		 Starting From
(price per person)		 Definite Departure
What's this? 		Book Now!
04/04/2027 12/04/2027 £1,955   Book
11/04/2027 19/04/2027 £1,955   Book
18/04/2027 26/04/2027 £2,022   Book
25/04/2027 03/05/2027 £2,022   Book
02/05/2027 10/05/2027 £2,175   Book
09/05/2027 17/05/2027 £2,175   Book
16/05/2027 24/05/2027 £2,175   Book
23/05/2027 31/05/2027 £2,175   Book
30/05/2027 07/06/2027 £2,175   Book
06/06/2027 14/06/2027 £2,175   Book
13/06/2027 21/06/2027 £2,175   Book
20/06/2027 28/06/2027 £2,175   Book
27/06/2027 05/07/2027 £2,175   Book
04/07/2027 12/07/2027 £2,175   Book
11/07/2027 19/07/2027 £2,175   Book
18/07/2027 26/07/2027 £2,175   Book
25/07/2027 02/08/2027 £2,175   Book
01/08/2027 09/08/2027 £2,022   Book
08/08/2027 16/08/2027 £2,022   Book
15/08/2027 23/08/2027 £2,022   Book
22/08/2027 30/08/2027 £2,022   Book
29/08/2027 06/09/2027 £2,175   Book
05/09/2027 13/09/2027 £2,225   Book
12/09/2027 20/09/2027 £2,225   Book
19/09/2027 27/09/2027 £2,225   Book
26/09/2027 04/10/2027 £2,225   Book
03/10/2027 11/10/2027 £2,135   Book
10/10/2027 18/10/2027 £2,135   Book
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ITINERARY

You'll arrive in Athens and find antiquity threaded through the city: marble columns beyond cafe tables, temple ruins beside narrow streets and the Acropolis high above the rooftops. After checking in, you can explore the streets at your own pace, perhaps turning into Plaka where pedestrian lanes curl past neoclassical façades and bougainvillea tumbles from balconies. You might catch the roasted scent of Greek coffee from a kafenion or pick up a sesame-crusted koulouri from a bakery. Later, meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers, ready to begin twelve days together in Greece.

With your Local Specialist beside you, you'll make the climb to the Acropolis, the Parthenon waiting at the summit in pale marble as Athens stretches far below. From there, you'll move through the city’s great classical landmarks, following the long curve of the Panathenaic Stadium, passing the surviving columns of the Temple of Olympian Zeus and slipping beneath the clean stone lines of Hadrian’s Arch. At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, pause as the Evzones perform their ceremonial change, the hard strike of nail-studded tsarouchia sounding across the paving while white pleats sway and red caps flash against the stone. At Vryssaki Art Cafe, settle into the terrace for something sweet, with the Acropolis framed above the rooftops. Then leave Athens behind and peer down into the Corinth Canal, its narrow ribbon of water cut deep between sheer rock walls. In Nafplio, the evening is yours. Perhaps choose an Optional Experience to look up towards Palamidi Castle, out across the harbour to Bourtzi Fortress and towards the Sleeping Lion carved into the rock before sharing dinner at a family-run local restaurant.

Start with ancient Mycenae, where your Local Specialist unpacks a world of royal tombs, mighty ruins and Bronze Age drama that did not come to play. Then swap warrior kings for winged workers at Axion Esti, a family-run organic beekeeping facility in Stemnitsa. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience is sweet, hands-on and properly local. Meet Sophia and Anthony, zip into beekeeper gear, get close to the hives, nose around the museum and taste honey straight from the source while learning why these tiny pollinators are big-time ecosystem heroes. After all that buzz, grab lunch in Mycenae your way before the road calls again. This afternoon, continue to Delphi and settle in for a free evening in this storied mountain town.

Along Delphi’s Sacred Way, you'll climb with your Local Specialist towards the Temple of Apollo, the path winding higher across the hillside with the vast olive groves of Amfissa spread out below. This was the road to the Oracle, once trod by Alexander the Great before setting outo to conquer the known world. As you continue through the sanctuary with your Local Specialist, you’ll hear how athletes once competed here alongside musicians and poets in the Pythian Games, all in honour of Apollo. Perhaps choose an Optional Experience and take your seat for a hosted lunch at a local restaurant, passing plates across the table before continuing north. At Thermopylae, beneath the slopes of Mount Kallidromos, you’ll look across the broad plain that today covers what was once a narrow passage between mountain and sea, held by King Leonidas and his Spartans. Then continue through central Greece to Kalambaka for dinner at your hotel.

At Meteora, you’ll travel with your Local Specialist into a landscape of sheer sandstone pillars, with monasteries set so high above Kalambaka that stone and sky seem stitched together. Visit one of these 14th-century retreats and move through its stone-built spaces, then look back towards Kalambaka from a height monks once reached only by rope and ladder. Hear how people and provisions were hauled up the rock face, suspended between the ground below and the monastery above. Later, return to Athens with the rest of the day free to spend your way. This evening, perhaps choose an Optional Experience and gather at a taverna with your new friends, where traditional Greek dishes and drinks pass around the table and you might find yourself on the dance floor before the night is over.

You'll board your cruise and settle into Greek island life with Mykonos waiting as your first port of call. In Chora, you'll wind through narrow lanes between whitewashed buildings, perhaps pausing when a tucked-away courtyard tempts you in with lazy cats stretched beside the tables and locals nearby. On the Island of the Winds, you pass blue-painted doors, tiny chapels and bougainvillea spilling over courtyard walls as the breeze catches the awnings above you.

Kusadasi is your first port of call, where your complimentary Shore Experience takes you to ancient Ephesus to follow marble streets between soaring ruins and ingenious traces of Roman life. Back on board, you sail to Patmos, an island bound to the story of St John and the Book of Revelation. Choose today’s Optional Experience where you'll enter the Cave of the Apocalypse, its rough rock enclosing you in cool shadow, before visiting St John’s Monastery high above the island. From Roman grandeur to a cave associated with one of Christianity’s most powerful visions, you experience two ancient worlds within a single sweep of the Aegean.

In Crete, you'll choose how to experience the island. Perhaps wander through the Palace of Knossos, taking in its vivid wall paintings and monumental Minoan ruins, or travel inland through the countryside and taste Cretan food. Back on board, you sail towards Santorini, searching the horizon until its volcanic cliffs and pale villages appear ahead. Add this afternoon’s Shore Experience and travel through villages and vineyards towards Oia, gazing at church domes and white walls scattered across the slopes above the caldera. From here, you can look out across the immense curve of the flooded crater, with vineyards behind you, islands in the distance and Santorini suspended between volcanic rock and sea.

Athens comes back into reach as your Aegean cruise ends at Lavrio Port. After nine days of ancient cities, island ports and some of Greece’s most storied sites, you disembark and say goodbye to your fellow travellers. Your flight from Athens should be scheduled no earlier than noon on disembarkation day.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
  • An expert Travel Director and professional Driver
  • Audio headsets are provided throughout your holiday to enhance your included sightseeing experiences
  • Cherry-picked hotels, all tried and trusted
  • City orientation tours
  • Extensive variety of Choice Experiences
  • Luxury air-conditioned coach with Wi-Fi in most countries
  • Many meals and daily breakfasts included
  • On occasion, hotels of similar standard and location may be utilised.
  • Spend three nights cruising the Aegean, crossing deep-blue waters between Greece’s islands with rugged coastlines and whitewashed towns appearing along the way.
ACCOMMODATION
DAY 1: Athens Centre Square , Arion - Meals:
DAY 2: Rex - Meals: Breakfast
DAY 3: Pythia Art - Meals: Breakfast
DAY 4: Edelweiss - Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
DAY 5: Athens Centre Square , Arion - Meals: Breakfast
DAY 6: MV Celestyal Discovery - Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY 7: MV Celestyal Discovery - Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY 8: MV Celestyal Discovery - Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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