7-Day Peloponnese Private Tour - with Lunch, Guide, Ticket & Hotel Options

A cultural journey through Ancient Greece for the whole family

Greece is one of our top bucket list places as we're big into culture and history. And our kids have both learned some classical Greek history in school over the years so we were keen to give them the opportunity to see it all IRL. Outdoor classroom. Making plans to do international travel during pandemic times is anxiety inducing. It was our first time to attempt flying since the start of the pandemic. We took as many precautions as we could reasonably make. Masks on the plane. We were all double vaxed (+ booster for the adults). Greece turned out to have more Covid measures than the U.K. & most restaurants requested to see your vax card before letting you sit inside. Outdoors, not so much. Buffet breakfast in hotels require you to put on plastic gloves before handling anything. Overall it felt that the Greeks are quite cautious with Covid. We had 7 full days (plus an evening when we arrived) in Greece. It was a jam packed itinerary so we got to see A LOT in the time we had but also exhausted. 😅 It was early rise most mornings & the longest we stayed were 2 nights (in Galaxidi). The rest of the places we stayed at were just for 1 night so it was a lot of moving luggage around & repacking everything every morning. I would recommend packing light for such an itinerary so that you wouldn't have so much to lug in & out of each hotel you go to. That gets old really quick. What to pack. We were there the last week of October and the highest it got for us was low 70sF in Athens on our very first day. The rest of the time it was fluctuating between 50s & 60s, with a lot of variable rain, wind, & overcast. Basically, bring layers & wind / rain gear. The Peloponnese is extremely rugged & mountainous terrain & there is a lot of microclimate effect because you're in 1 valley & it's one weather, but you go over a mountain & it's something else because the mountains are like barriers to moisture & air movement. Hiking boots & walking poles recommended. The set up of this trip was unlike any other kind of holiday we have ever taken. Largely because it is Covid times and so we didn't want to risk arriving in places and finding vital amenities we need as travelers have gone out of business. Being able to depend on the experts like Warmpenguin who have their ears to the ground (as it were) with what's still operating, the new Covid rules, etc. was a load off. Even though this is a package tour, you can customize your itinerary with Warmpenguin & express any particular interests you might have. Like, if you particularly enjoy hiking & outdoors or food & wine or ancient history. There is a lot of flexibility. Having our own driver & vehicle for the entire time was also such a convenience. Yannis was way more than our driver. He also doubled as guide, recommending restaurants, and also gave us an insight into Greek culture & the more current & modern Greek history. Most of what we focus on about Greece tend to be classical Greece as Westerners & we had little notion about more recent history. We spent many hours in the car together criss-crossing the Peloponnese discussing politics, economics, history, culture, and more. Greece is such an amazing place & way more than the picture perfect travel photos of the islands (though it is those things too) that most people outside of Greece often see of Greece. Really enchanting. The walking tour of the Acropolis in Athens & getting some history of the neighborhoods nearby was really good. The Parthenon & antiquities stuff are great, but I am equally fascinated by the story of everyday folks & their communities. Loved walking through the Plaka neighborhood on the way up to the Parthenon and hearing the story of how that neighborhood came to be. 6 hrs in Athens was probably too short for all we would like to do, but when u only have 7 days for the Peloponnese, we do what we can. Loved the boutique Hotel Ganimede in Galaxidi. Amazing (award winning) Greek breakfast. Very cute town too. Unfortunately didn't get a chance to really explore the town. The hike down to the olive grove from Delphi was fantastic (I'm going to run out of adjectives for "awesome" soon) & one of the highlights for me. Our guide, Hilda, pointed out all the wild herbs & plants locals use for cooking & medicine on our trail. The views especially in the early morning are not to be missed. Delphi was just amazing. The views, the history, etc. And we learned so much from the guide. Do not miss Delphi. The train ride was really good too. Loved seeing the mountain canyons we went through. Can really see where all the myths & stories came from as the landscape really sparks the imagination. We didn't really see much in Kalavryta except to have one of the best meals we had in Greece!! Oinomageireio The Kastria cave lakes were cool to see but probably not up there at the top of the list. If we had to cut anything from the trip, we'd probably cut this one. Good for a rainy day excursion though as it's inside. And also in the months where the water levels are higher. On the way to Olympia, Yannis tried to get us a tour to learn about the making of olive oil, but unfortunately there happened to be a lot of cruise ships that had come in that day and they took up all the tours to just about everything in that area. That would have been really interesting to see & learn about. Maybe book this ahead of time if you really want to get this in. Loved visiting Olympia. And we learned so much about how ancient Greeks worshiped their gods. A real insight into their culture and how they saw their purpose & relationship to creation. I ran a race with my 12 yr old down THE original olympic tracks; in my hiking boots and all the rocks and pebbles on the tracks. 😂 Yeah, so maybe dress to run for this visit if you want to do this. We visited Mystras & Sparta on the way to Monemvasia. Mystras is a Byzantine fortified town (no longer in use) so it's not an ancient Greek site. But really fascinating to visit. A lot of steep climbs so be prepared gear wise. Monemvasia has got to be the cutest place on this trip. The feeling one gets when one see Hobbit holes or the Ewok treehouse village or tiny homes. Well, it's how I feel at least. It was a bit windy the 1 night we stayed here, but maybe in warmer months I could see staying here for a few nights and just explore the rock & relax at one of the many cafes or bars with the spectacular views of the Mediterranean. No cars on this rock as there are only walking paths here. Cars need to stop at the entrance to the rock. Yes, it is literally a rock that people have built a labyrinth of a town on. Nafplio was just so charming. It really looked like we could have been in Italy or Spain. We can definitely see us going back to just hanging out in the Nafplio & Monemvasia area and just enjoying the restaurants, wine, cafes, and seeing just a few ruins nearby. Could spend a whole week just in that corner of the Peloponnese. Mykines (Mycenea) was really one of the highlights. The visit was a bit short as it was our last day & we were on a tight schedule to get through everything. This site predates classical Greece by 700-800 yrs during the Bronze age and is the source of the Greek epic poems like the Iliad & Odyssey. The visit to the winery was good, but would be even better if they also showed us the vines in the vineyard and gave a bit of a talk about how they grow & care for the vines, the harvesting, etc. They told us mostly about how the wine is made after the grapes are harvested & we also got to taste the wine. Greek wine is amazing btw. Corinth -- the main ruin seems mostly Roman though still interesting. I guess if we were to skip another bit it might be this one. For Corinth the acropolis on top of the mountain overlooking the whole bay was the highlight. I think we would be OK with focusing our visit here just on the acropolis part. And if you're in the area anyway, check out the Corinth canal built in the late 1800s that cut across the isthmus. It's a feat of engineering. Apparently people bungee jump into it from one of the bridges it's so deep. We ended our epic journey with 1 last night in Athens. Not much time nor energy for anything else but dinner. As much as we saw the Peloponnese we didn't even get to every corner of the peninsula. Being so mountainous, getting around is slow going so even though distance wise it might not look far, it takes a long time to drive from place to place. Working with Warmpenguin to plan this trip was great. They really took care of us & listened to our preferences. All the hotels we stayed at were very comfortable. If you are looking for stress-free family trip to Greece, this is a great option. And maybe even more fun to go with extended family like aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents etc. This could be a 8-10 people trip for sure.

via Tripadvisor