Explore ancient Olympia with a Local Specialist, seeing the stadium where competitors gathered for the Olympic Games, the athlete’s gymnasium and the remains of the Temples of Zeus and Hera. Visit the archaeological museum to deepen your understanding of the site.

Olympia was a religious sanctuary as well as a sporting centre. Its ruins recall contests held in honour of Zeus and the Heraia, women’s games associated with Hera, giving the familiar Olympic tradition a broader ancient setting.

• 8 Dinner (D)
• 11 Breakfast (B)
• 5 Lunch (L)

• Selected hotel dinners plus a locally hosted meal
• 4-star hotel and overnight cruise stays
• Deluxe coach, and cruise travel

• Athens: Visit the Acropolis Museum containing remarkable antiquities giving visitors an insight into the lives of Athenians centuries ago.
• 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.
• Corinth: Cross the amazing rock-cut channel dividing the Peloponnese from mainland Greece. Join a Local Specialist and gain insight into Corinth’s eventful past.
• 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.
• Archaeological Site of Olympia: Join a Local Specialist to view the stadium of Olympia which hosted the ancient Olympic Games and Heraia, the women’s games in honour of Hera. See the Temple of Zeus, athlete’s gymnasium and the stone marker where the sprint began.
• 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.
• Thermopylae: See the Leonidas Monument dedicated to the brave warrior and his 300 Spartans.
• 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.
• Mykonos: View the Windmills of Kato Mili and wander the beautiful blue and white streets of Chora.
• 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.

Trafalgar

Walk Delphi’s Sacred Way with a Local Specialist, passing monuments that once marked the route to the Temple of Apollo. See the reconstructed Athenian Treasury and the Polygonal Wall while exploring the sanctuary’s dramatic mountainside setting.

People travelled here from across the ancient Greek world to consult Apollo’s oracle. The surviving structures and statues also evoke the Pythian Games, held in the god’s honour, making Delphi a centre of both religious authority and cultural competition.

Meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers over a hosted light meal in Athens. It is a relaxed opportunity to get acquainted with the group and hear about the places you will explore across Greece and the Aegean.

In a capital where ancient ruins sit alongside busy neighbourhoods, the gathering offers a welcoming introduction to contemporary Greek hospitality. The focus is conversation and connection rather than a formal sightseeing programme.

Explore Athens with a Local Specialist, visiting the Acropolis to admire the Parthenon and seeing city landmarks including the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Hadrian’s Arch and the Panathenaic Stadium, site of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.

Visit the Acropolis Museum to see antiquities that bring ancient Athenian life into focus. Its displays add context to the hilltop monuments and to the enduring influence of a city central to the development of classical Greek culture.

See the Corinth Canal, the narrow, rock-cut waterway separating mainland Greece from the Peloponnese, and explore ancient Corinth with a Local Specialist. Discover the setting of a city whose position between land and sea made it a prize for successive powers.

The canal’s steep sides show the scale of the engineering feat, while Corinth’s archaeological remains speak to its long commercial and political importance. Together, they reveal why this crossing has mattered for centuries.

Walk through Mycenae’s Lion Gate with a Local Specialist and see the remains traditionally associated with Agamemnon’s palace. Visit the monumental beehive tombs, including the Treasury of Atreus, built with vast stone blocks and a soaring corbelled chamber.

This fortified Bronze Age centre lent its name to the Mycenaean civilisation. Its royal architecture and burial places offer a tangible setting for the legends of kings and warriors that have shaped Greek storytelling.

Visit the ancient theatre of Epidaurus, celebrated for its carefully proportioned stone seating, and view the Sanctuary of Asclepius nearby. Explore a place where performance and healing formed part of a wider sacred landscape.

Asclepius was the Greek god of medicine, and his snake-entwined staff remains a familiar medical symbol. The theatre and sanctuary together illuminate how ancient visitors came to Epidaurus for worship, treatment and communal life.

Meet the family behind Axion Esti, an organic beekeeping facility near Argos. Suit up to see the hives up close, explore the farm’s museum and taste local honey while learning how it is produced.

Hear how the family’s work supports pollinators and the surrounding ecosystem. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® visit connects the flavour of regional honey with the practical importance of biodiversity and directly supports the United Nations’ Life on Land goal.

Join the Karabelas family at their olive and wine farm near Olympia for a hosted, home-cooked lunch. Share in traditional Greek dancing and hear the family’s stories of life and work on the land.

This Be My Guest experience places a meal within its agricultural setting: olive trees, wine production and family hospitality are part of the encounter. It offers a personal perspective on rural Greek traditions rather than a conventional restaurant stop.

See the Leonidas Monument at Thermopylae and pause at the landscape associated with the stand of the Spartan king and his forces against the Persian army. The visit gives a physical setting to one of antiquity’s best-known battles.

The terrain has changed since 480 BCE, but the place remains closely linked to the story of resistance at the pass. It is a concise historical stop centred on the memorial and the events it commemorates.

Visit the monasteries of Meteora with a Local Specialist, entering centuries-old Eastern Orthodox foundations perched on immense sandstone towers above Kalambaka. Take in the contrast between the sheer rock formations and the quiet religious spaces built upon them.

Monastic communities established themselves in this difficult-to-reach landscape in search of seclusion. Today, the UNESCO-listed setting preserves a striking meeting of geology, architecture and living spiritual heritage.

Cruise the Aegean aboard MV Celestyal Discovery on a four-day voyage linking Greek islands with Turkey’s Aegean coast. The sailing calls at Mykonos, Kusadasi, Patmos, Rhodes, Crete and Santorini, with time in port to experience their different histories and landscapes.

From whitewashed island towns to volcanic cliffs, the sea passage makes the changing geography part of the experience. An included shore experience at Ephesus adds a guided encounter with the ancient world; other shore excursions are optional.

Wander the lanes of Mykonos Chora, where whitewashed houses, blue details and bougainvillea frame the island’s winding streets. View the Windmills of Kato Mili, a group of historic mills overlooking the waterfront.

The compact old town invites exploration on foot, with each turn offering a different glimpse of the harbour or closely packed Cycladic buildings. The windmills recall the island’s former grain-milling trade and remain one of its most recognisable coastal silhouettes.

Explore ancient Ephesus with a Local Specialist on a complimentary shore experience from Kusadasi. Walk through the archaeological site and see the Library of Celsus, the great theatre and the route known as the Arcadian Way.

Ephesus was a major city of the Roman world, and its surviving streets and monumental buildings convey the scale of urban life on this coast. The guided visit brings context to a site where civic architecture and daily life once met.

Explore Rhodes’ medieval Old Town independently, tracing its thick stone walls, gates and cobbled lanes during the cruise call. The fortified streets offer a close-up view of the capital shaped by the Knights of St John.

This UNESCO-listed walled city preserves layers of medieval and later history within a working town. Its narrow passages and imposing defences make it rewarding to explore on foot, without a guided excursion or a fixed route.

Try your hand at preparing local Greek dishes during an interactive cooking lesson in Delphi. This hands-on experience offers a different way to engage with the region, through ingredients, preparation and the shared pleasure of making food.

Rather than simply ordering from a menu, you can learn about everyday culinary traditions in a participatory setting. This is an optional experience at additional cost and is bookable on tour; the specific dishes may vary.

Visit the Cave of the Apocalypse and the Monastery of St John on a shore experience in Patmos. The cave is traditionally associated with St John’s visions recorded in the Book of Revelation, while the hilltop monastery is a defining landmark of the island.

Together, these sacred places reveal why Patmos holds such importance in Christian pilgrimage. The visit is an optional experience at additional cost and is bookable on tour.

Discover more of Rhodes’ ancient and medieval history on an optional shore experience. The itinerary highlights the island’s connections to the Knights of St John and to the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The Colossus no longer stands, so this is an encounter with its story rather than a visit to the monument itself. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour; confirm its route and included visits when booking.

Explore the Palace of Knossos near Heraklion for an encounter with the Minoan civilisation. Its courtyards, rooms and vivid reconstructions introduce the scale and complexity of one of Crete’s most significant Bronze Age sites.

Knossos is also entwined with the Greek legend of the labyrinth and the Minotaur, though the archaeological remains tell a wider story of Minoan life. This visit is an optional experience at additional cost and is bookable on tour.

Visit the cliff-top village of Oia on an optional Santorini shore experience. Explore its lanes and take in views across the caldera, where white buildings follow the edge of the island’s volcanic cliffs.

Oia’s setting makes the relationship between village and landscape especially vivid, with the Aegean visible far below. It is also a sought-after place to watch the changing evening light. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.