Greece Small Group Trips

Our guide, Sapfo, was truly excellent. Without doubt the best group leader you could wish for. She was interested and engaged with everyone in the group. She was knowledgeable. She was super organized and nothing was a chore. Our group dinners every night were a big success. Her restaurant choices were excellent. Our driver, Georgiou, was also really great. He kept the Mercedes mini bus immaculate. He was a careful and considerate driver and you always felt safe even on the tight back roads of the Mani Peninsula. Itinerary is good except that Monemvasia should be included as part of the tour proper and Sparta dropped from the itinerary. Make sure you take the optional extra of visiting Monemvasia if offered. It is well worth it. Overall I would say the tour is best described as “very full on”. A lot of the ancient and medieval sites have many many steps and some of the stones are very polished from so many people stepping on them over thousands of years. So I would recommend wearing hiking shoes if you have them also also bringing walking poles if you have them. Both will help with climbs, of which there are quite a few as I say. Overall the accommodation was ok (but not brilliant) except for Hotel Galaxy (they need to axe Het Galaxy). The Pantheon City Hotel was the best. Our group got on well, and I think that was in large part due to our guide Sapfo.

A lovely trip from start to finish, great leader, good group and just loved the different Greek Islands. The itinerary was just right with plenty of free time for relaxing.

There were many highlights of this tour (in October)! The food was excellent - both the breakfasts in the hotels and the restaurants recommended by our tour leader George. The hotels all had very good accommodation. The guided tour of the Acropolis in Athens was fascinating. The 7 hour ferry ride from Athens to Naxos was tedious but smooth and comfortable. Naxos is a charming island - we loved the old town with its narrow, winding streets. The 5km walk to Apiranthos was very enjoyable, with wide views and the jangling bells of the goats. Then on to Santorini - what a stunning landscape! Discovering its volcanic history was fascinating, and the 10km hike along the caldera was tiring but gave fascinating, varied things to see. The prehistory museum in Fira with its nearly 4000 year old frescoes was amazing. And the boat trip was exciting as we visited and hiked up a recent volcanic island, and enjoyed a tasty dinner and a sunset on board. Throughout the trip our tour leader George was well organised, patient, knew many good restaurants and had a lovely sense of humour. Plus he taught us a lot about Greek history and culture. This tour is highly recommended!

Our guide Charlotte was the amazing...very knowledgeable, organised and efficient {a lot of coordinating transport from island to island}. Most of all she has a wonderful kind and caring personality...and managed to smile all the time!

I've recently completed the combined Corfu South and North walking trip along the Corfu trail. The walking was excellent with a mixture of walking through olive groves, coastal walking, and hilly terrain. Our guide Spiros was extremely passionate about the trail and caring for it and was a wealth of information. There were lots of opportunities to swim in the evenings though the October weather can be a little challenging. Accommodation and breakfasts were variable but generally OK. Spiros took us to some lovely establishments to enjoy the typical Corfu food which was very good. Overall a fantastic walking trip. Note that the south walks are a bit tougher due to the longer lengths.

With every trip I have done with Explore, the guides were excellent. Charlotte, the Greek island wander guide matches this excellence and then easily exceeds it. Because of how thorough, friendly and helpful she was, the trip was superb from end to end and for every detail. Even when I had free time, if I asked for information about what I planned to do, she was helpful. Every question was answered with a smile The trip itself was fantastic; a wonderful balance between tour led excursions, hikes and free time