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Greece Undiscovered – Small Group route map

Arrive in Athens. Settle into your hotel, meet your Travel Director and fellow travelers, then enjoy a group dinner at a local restaurant.

Meals: Dinner

Guided city tour: Acropolis Museum, Hadrian’s Arch, Temple of Olympian Zeus, Panathenaic Stadium, Syntagma Square (Parliament and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier), and the neoclassical Trilogy. Optional dinner in Psiri.

Meals: Breakfast

Drive via Thermopylae to Ancient Dion for a guided visit to sanctuaries, theatres and Roman-era remains at the foot of Mount Olympus; continue to Thessaloniki for dinner.

Meals: Breakfast,Dinner

Choose: guided city tour of Thessaloniki’s historic center and Upper Town views, or a guided food walk through markets and bakeries. Afternoon at leisure (promenade to the White Tower, Modiano and Kapani markets, or Ano Poli).

Meals: Breakfast

Visit Vergina’s Royal Tombs and the Museum of Aigai with a Local Specialist. Continue to Metsovo for free time, then on to Ioannina for dinner.

Meals: Breakfast,Dinner

Explore Ioannina’s castle-town and lakeside promenade. Boat to the Island of Ioannina for independent time—visit the monastery linked to Ali Pasha, try syrup pastries, or see local silverwork.

Meals: Breakfast

Stop in Nafpaktos to see the Venetian harbor, defensive walls and the site of the 1571 Battle of Lepanto. Continue to Galaxidi for a two-night stay and a seafood dinner.

Meals: Breakfast,Dinner

Guided visit of Delphi: Sacred Way, Treasury of the Athenians, Polygonal Wall, and Temple of Apollo. Join a local chef for a pie-making class, then share lunch.

Meals: Breakfast,Lunch

Cross into the Peloponnese for a light lunch and Agiorgitiko wine tasting in Nemea. MAKE TRAVEL MATTER Experience with a beekeeping family focused on pollinator conservation. Continue to Nafplion for an orientation walk.

Meals: Breakfast,Lunch

Guided visit to Mycenae (Lion Gate, citadel, Cyclopean walls, tholos tombs) and to the theater at Epidaurus. Stop at a local olive grove for a pressing overview and tasting. Evening celebration with your group.

Meals: Breakfast,Dinner

Cross the Corinth Canal and return to Athens. Free time to revisit favorite sights, visit the National Archaeological Museum, explore Plaka and Monastiraki, or head to the Acropolis slopes for city views.

Meals: Breakfast

Transfer to the airport and depart.

Meals: Breakfast

What’s included

11 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 5 dinners included, featuring a pie-making lunch in Delphi and a light lunch with wine tasting in Nemea.
11 nights in handpicked 4–5 star hotels in Athens, Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Galaxidi and Nafplio.
Travel by air-conditioned 40-seat coach with double the standard legroom and onboard washroom.
Airport transfer on the final day of the tour (Athens).
Boat ride to the Island of Ioannina on Lake Pamvotis.
Expert Travel Director and professional Driver throughout.
Audio headsets for flexible sightseeing.
All hotel tips, charges and local taxes.
Luggage porterage between the coach and your hotel room door.
Complimentary Wi-Fi on the coach and at hotels where available.
Guided sightseeing with Local Specialists in Athens, Ancient Dion, Vergina, Delphi, Mycenae and Epidaurus, plus a choice of a Thessaloniki city tour or guided food walk, and a Nafplio orientation.
Culinary experiences and tastings as per itinerary, including a pie-making class in Delphi, a winery tour and tasting in Nemea, an olive grove visit and olive oil tasting near Nafplio, and an organic beekeeping visit with honey tasting in Arcadia.
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What’s not included

International flights to and from Athens are not included.
Arrival airport transfer is not included (only the final day transfer is provided).
Entry visas or travel permits (if required) are not included.
Travel insurance is not included and should be arranged by the traveller.
Any meals and drinks not listed in the Dining Summary (11 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 5 dinners) are at your own expense.
Optional experiences and activities not explicitly listed as included (e.g., optional dinner in Psiri) are extra.
Personal expenses and discretionary gratuities for your Travel Director, Driver and Local Specialists are not included.

Additional information

  • 11 Breakfast (B)
  • 5 Dinner (D)
  • 2 Lunch (L)
  • Top-rated dining, from farm-to-table to local restaurants
  • 4 & 5-star stays
  • Business class coach with extended leg room
  • Athens: Taste seasonal dishes built around olive oil, grains, legumes and coastal produce, paired with wines from native grape varieties grown across mainland and island vineyards.
  • Delphi: Join a pie-making class in Delphi with a local chef, preparing savoury pies rooted in Central Greece’s mountain cuisine, a long-standing staple in village kitchens. Work with thin pastry and fillings of seasonal vegetables, herbs and local cheeses, then sit down together to taste the pies fresh from the oven.
  • Athens: Visit the Acropolis Museum with your Local Specialist to examine sculptures and architectural fragments from the Parthenon and other Acropolis buildings. The top-floor gallery aligns with the Parthenon’s orientation, allowing you to view surviving frieze sections in their original sequence.
  • Vergina: Visit the Royal Tombs at Vergina with your Local Specialist and see the tomb traditionally identified as Philip II’s. You’ll learn how the discovery of the burial complex reshaped understanding of Macedonian royal history and funerary practice.
  • Nafplion: Meet an expert sommelier at a Nemea winery and learn about the evolution of Greek wine making, dating back to antiquity. After touring the winery, sample some of the delicious and elegant Greek wines, expertly paired with piquant local cheeses and tasty cured meats.
  • Thessaloniki: Join your Local Specialist for an introduction to Thessaloniki’s historic centre, exploring key districts shaped by successive empires. You’ll move through the city streets before continuing to the Upper Town for views across the harbour and Thermaic Gulf.
  • Thessaloniki: Walk with your Travel Director through central markets and bakeries, tasting sesame koulouri rings, local cheeses, cured meats and bougatsa pastry. You’ll see how Balkan, Anatolian and Mediterranean influences shape the city’s everyday food culture.
  • Nafplion: Stop at a local olive grove to learn the steps from harvest to pressing, including how timing and temperature affect flavour. You’ll taste olive oil and learn how producers assess fruitiness, bitterness and peppery finish as markers of freshness and quality.

Step inside the Acropolis Museum to see original frieze panels in the light-filled Parthenon Gallery, along with sculpture and architectural fragments recovered from the sacred rock. The displays align with the original temple, connecting artistry to place.

Continue on a panoramic orientation past Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the marble Panathenaic Stadium, Syntagma’s Parliament and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the 19th-century neoclassical Trilogy—an elegant snapshot of Athens from antiquity to modern nationhood.

Visit the narrow coastal pass of Thermopylae and view the monument to King Leonidas, a focal point for remembering the Spartan-led stand against Persia in 480 BC. Sense the strategy dictated by the narrow pass of Thermopylae, where topography shaped tactics.

Discuss the Persian Wars with your Travel Director, considering how the terrain of the Hot Gates delayed a vastly larger force and entered legend. This stop places ancient history into its rugged geographic setting.

Explore the Macedonian sacred city at the foot of Mount Olympus with your Local Specialist, moving between sanctuaries set among springs and shaded paths. Trace civic life at the Hellenistic theatre and admire Roman-era mosaics in villas that faced the central streets.

Learn why kings honored Zeus here before campaigns and how Dion’s shrines, baths and public buildings document daily life in the Macedonian heartland across centuries of shifting rule.

Join a Local Specialist to read Thessaloniki’s layers—Roman roads and forum, Byzantine churches with brickwork domes, and neoclassical facades shaped by trade and empire. Continue to Upper Town (Ano Poli) for sweeping views across the Thermaic Gulf.

Hear how fires, fortifications and migrations forged the city’s character. This is an included Choice experience—select it instead of the food walk to focus on architecture, urban history and panoramic perspectives.

Set out on a guided food walk through bakeries and market lanes, tasting koulouri and bougatsa alongside local cheeses and cured meats. Browse the Modiano and Kapani markets, where spice stalls and olive vendors evoke the city’s trading lifeblood.

Discover how Balkan and Anatolian influences shaped everyday recipes and café culture. This is an included Choice experience—choose it instead of the historic tour to savor Thessaloniki through its flavors and stories.

Step inside the tumulus at Aigai to see the Royal Tombs, including the burial chamber widely attributed to Philip II, father of Alexander the Great. Examine gold funerary treasures, weapons and ivory inlays displayed in a dimly lit museum built into the mound.

Your Local Specialist highlights the painted hunting frieze and explains how the discovery transformed understanding of Macedonian power, ceremony and artistry in the 4th century BC.

Walk the fortified castle quarter of Ioannina, where mosques, stone houses and chapels reflect Ottoman and Byzantine legacies. From the promenade, board a small boat across Lake Pamvotis to the Island of Ioannina, one of Europe’s rare inhabited lake isles.

Stroll lanes lined with workshops and monasteries, and learn about Ali Pasha and the city’s silverworking tradition. The still waters and mountain backdrop set a contemplative mood.

Stroll the Venetian harbor of Nafpaktos, enclosed by curved quays and a sea gate and defensive walls rising toward the hilltop castle. Monuments on the waterfront mark the Battle of Lepanto (1571), including a statue of Miguel de Cervantes.

Place this decisive naval clash in its geographic context at the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth, where fortified masonry and a commanding position once controlled Mediterranean passage.

Follow the Sacred Way past votive buildings, stopping at the Treasury of the Athenians and the interlocking stones of the Polygonal Wall. Your Local Specialist leads the ascent to the Temple of Apollo, where the Oracle of Delphi shaped decisions across the Greek world.

Hear how ritual, pilgrimage and politics converged on Mount Parnassus and how inscriptions and architecture preserve centuries of consultation and civic pride.

Join a hands-on cooking class with a local chef, learning to roll delicate pastry and fill it with seasonal greens, regional cheeses and herbs. Bake your creations until the crust turns blistered and golden.

Sit down to share a lunch that reflects Central Greece’s mountain kitchens, where portable pies long sustained shepherds and villagers. Culinary tips and stories bring home techniques you can recreate.

Sample Agiorgitiko wines in one of Greece’s most storied regions, comparing youthful, fruit-forward styles with structured, oak-aged expressions. A guided tasting unpacks terroir, elevation and winemaking choices.

Enjoy a light lunch paired with local cheeses and cured meats as you learn how vineyard site and ageing influence aroma and palate. The session highlights Nemea’s heritage and its modern resurgence.

Meet a family of apiarists in Arcadia and put on a beekeeper’s suit to step into the hives under expert guidance. Understand hive behavior, seasonal blooms and the craft behind single-origin honeys.

Conclude with a guided honey tasting, exploring floral notes, texture and finish. Your visit supports SDG 15: Life on Land, advancing pollinator health and sustainable rural livelihoods in the Peloponnese.

Join an orientation walk through Nafplio’s neoclassical lanes and waterfront, beneath the ramparts of the Palamidi fortress. Note the Bourtzi sea tower offshore and the Italianate facades that frame the squares.

Hear how Nafplio became Greece’s first capital after independence, blending Venetian heritage with 19th-century statehood. Suggestions for cafés, gelaterias and photo spots help you linger in the town’s easy rhythm.

Enter through the Lion Gate to walk Mycenae’s citadel, tracing Cyclopean walls that guarded Late Bronze Age power. Your Local Specialist highlights palatial ruins and grave precincts linked to Homeric legend and archaeology.

Visit monumental tholos “beehive” tombs and discuss far-reaching trade networks, craftsmanship and elite burial as you connect this hilltop stronghold to the wider Mycenaean world.

See the ancient theatre of Epidaurus, famed for its remarkable acoustics and clear sightlines. Explore the Sanctuary of Asclepius, where healing cult practices combined with architecture and landscape design.

Understand how performance, ritual and wellness intertwined in the 4th century BC, and why Epidaurus remains a benchmark of classical design and civic imagination.

Walk an olive grove with a producer to follow the journey from harvest to pressing, learning how fruit variety, ripeness and temperature shape quality. In the mill, techniques and timing come to life.

Conclude with a guided tasting of extra virgin olive oils, assessing fruitiness, bitterness and a peppery finish—the hallmarks of freshness prized by cooks and connoisseurs alike.

Pause at the Corinth Canal to look down into a 6.3-kilometre cut through the Isthmus, completed in 1893. The sheer limestone walls and narrow channel reveal the ambition behind linking the Aegean and Ionian seas.

Learn how this engineering feat of 1893 shortened sea routes once forced around the Peloponnese, and capture photos from the bridge as vessels navigate the passage below.

Opt for an evening in Psiri, Athens’ lively neighborhood of cafés and tavernas. Settle in for a taverna dinner featuring classic Athenian meze and grilled specialties, paired with local wine or beer.

Streetside tables, murals and the hum of small bars create a relaxed urban atmosphere. This experience is bookable on tour at additional cost and is a popular way to sample city nightlife and cuisine.

Discover classical Athens as you join a guided walking tour on the Acropolis, standing before the Parthenon’s Doric columns and pausing by the Caryatids of the Erechtheion. Walk through the gateway of the Propylaea and take in views across modern Athens from this sacred limestone plateau.

Hear how Pericles’ 5th-century BC building program expressed civic ideals, religious devotion and technical mastery in Pentelic marble. Your Local Specialist unpacks sculpture, proportion and myth—revealing why the Acropolis remains the emblem of Athenian democracy and craft.

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