Home > Athens > Athens Shore Excursion: Small-Group Food Tour
USD $91.00
Athens Shore Excursion: Small-Group Food Tour
Athens, Greece
During your time in port in Athens, wander through its historic streets while indulging in traditional Greek cuisine. This food walking tour allows you to savor a wide variety of local delicacies, ranging from the mouthwatering, syrupy 'loukoumades' to traditional 'bougatsa,' 'pastourma,' rusks and olives. You’ll also discover Greek herbs and spices at the Varvakeios food market. Numbers are limited to 14 people on this small-group shore excursion, ensuring you'll receive personalized attention from your guide.
Embark on a culinary journey of taste, color, smell and texture, right below the striking Acropolis in the heart of Athens’ historic city center. This food tour offers an array of colorful and enticing treats. Visit delicatessens, aromatic bakeries and sweet shops, restaurants, dairies, spice merchants, grocery stores and pie shops where you will sample traditional Greek food, including the ever-popular koulouri, a circular bread with sesame seeds.
Your licensed guide will lead you on a food stroll and introduce you to small, hidden specialty food shops. Listen to commentary about the unique and intricate culinary heritage of Greece, as well as the famous Mediterranean diet, hailed today as a model of healthy living.
A genuine Athenian food tour would not be complete without a visit to the vibrant and central Varvakeios food market. Its bustling energy and colorful world of fruit and spice stalls and meat and fish vendors truly make for a cultural experience.
Worry-free Shore Excursion: We will ensure your timely return to the Athens port for this activity. In the rare event your ship has departed, we will arrange for transportation to the next port-of-call. If your ship is delayed and you are unable to attend this activity, your money will be refunded. See our terms and conditions for full details.
This was a fantastic tour in spite of a rainy day in Athens. We ate street food, sampled different foods in small shops, ate pastry in a friendly café, and topped it all off with a huge gyro in a cozy restaurant. At the start of our tour there was a difference in the pick up time at the end and the time stated in our voucher but it was worked out with our tour guide and our taxi driver and at the end of the tour our driver was exactly where he promised to be to pick us up.
Review by: toole.michael, June 2017
Great tour! My only advice would be do NOT eat breakfast! You will get TONS of food throughout the tour and then end with a Gyro lunch... so come hungry!
Review by: Jennifer M, December 2016
Great alternative tour and a unique way to see Athens._br/_ Our guide was wonderful._br/_ TONS OF FOOD, GO HUNGRY!
Review by: CATHERINE R, October 2016
If you like to eat and this is not your first trip to Athens or you're looking for something different, consider this tour. Our guide was knowledgeable and entertaining as she led us through back streets, food markets and specialty shops to taste and learn about the food culture of Greece. We enjoyed nibbles and samples throughout the morning as we walked off the calories we consumed!
Review by: nolajb, September 2016
Great guide, great foodie experience.
Review by: sumo501, September 2016
I was disappointed. First of all, this was suppose to be a food tour. Our first stop a small church where we spent a 45min talking about family and how it affected are eating habits. Then we walked a brisk pace there the city. She never looked behind see if we had left anyone behind. Finally one of us told her to_br/_ slow down.In fact one of the person on the tour tripped and fell. We maybe at the most visited 6 vendors._br/_ Didn't really taste that much of the local foods. We stopped at a cafe for green beans and wine. I was expecting more for lunch. Then went to a gyro place later. After the tour she showed on the map where we to meet our returned transportation. We weren't even allowed time to browse thru a food store that_br/_ had unique olive oil, relishes, etc that she demo. Boy, did she take off after our tour was over as if she_br/_ didn't what to be here. Had much better food tours than this.
Review by: janerae, September 2016
The food tour of Athens was a highlight of our trip to Athens. The group was small and the tour guide interesting and well versed in Athens history. The food was excellent and we had plenty of time to walk the calories off. After the tour we had time to visit the new Acropolis Museum which is a must to see. You walk over the excavated market area of Athens on glass floors a real experience and quite exciting.
Review by: Scott M, August 2016
Great experience , great way to see the real Athens . Food was fantastic , guide informative and day was very pleasant . Pick up and drop off at cruise port was flawless .definately a great day .
Review by: haysey, August 2016
Great way to spend limited time in Athens.
Review by: Patti P, August 2016
This was an excellent, walking tour. You will get plenty of food and information. It was first thing in the morning so I suggest you don't eat a big breakfast. There is a lot of walking on this tour.
Review by: R A A, August 2016
Excellent tour, very interesting and informative. Our guide was very knowledgeable and informative and very helpful about return trip to the boat. I would highly recommend this tour.
Review by: Lonna H, July 2016
One of the best tours. Loved the snippets of Greek history, lifestyle that were seamlessly woven into the tour. We loved that we ate where Greeks eat, not where tourists eat.
Review by: curtis613, May 2016
This tour was very informative and a lot of fun._br/_ Our guide however was very speedy she left everyone in the dust, the handicapped and the nonhandicapped had a hard time staying up with her . She was nice, but even after several requests she would not slow down. This would not have been an issue, but we called ahead and informed the tour of my disability and we're assured it would be no problem. It was very difficult, but still a good tour.
Review by: Deanene H, July 2015
I am so happy that I found this small food tour. It was amazing. I learned which foods are traditionally Greek and tasted so many good foods. The meat and seafood market was a highlight. But, there were so many others. We tasted camel meat too. You have to take this tour.
Review by: cynthia p, June 2015
A very interesting way to understand the ways of Athens! The fish market, the meat market and the fruit and vegetable market were an impressive background to the actual food sampled. Good food seems to come with enthusiastic cooks and interesting people!
Review by: DANIELLE E, February 2015
We had a great time. If you have seen all of the historical sites and are interested in seeing some of the "real" areas of Athens I would recommend this tour. We walked away stuffed and with the knowledge of how the Greek people really eat.
Review by: NorthUmpquaFarms, November 2014
This is an excellent tour. We are still telling friends stories from this tour and its experiences. This is a tour of the REAL Athens old town -- not the tourist area. Food shops and restaurants were very good and the vegetable and fish/meat markets were interesting (and clean). We take food tours often in our travels and find it a great way to really experience an area. The cruise ship pick-up was easy and on time. However, the ride back to the ship was several hours after the end of the walking tour and a substantial distance from the end of the tour as well as being within an hour of sailing time. We opted to cancel that ride and our guide was nice enough to call us a taxi and arrange a fare to take us to our ship. I would highly recommend this tour.
Review by: Paul W, October 2014
This was a fantastic way to see a new city from a different perspective. Despina our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable about the history of Greek food and drink and how it was interwoven with other more recent cultures. Our tour group was nice and small and ranged in nationalities from Europe to Asia. We would strongly recommend this tour and will definitely use this tour company again.
Review by: annie, October 2014
we had been to athens before, but never saw what we saw on this tour, fresh meat market, spice store, we even saw a garden that grows up vertically to save space...highly recommend this tour
Review by: yellowpatch, October 2014
A really fun experience, especially for when you are all "ruined" out on tour. We thoroughly enjoyed starting with bread for breakfast and working our way through a typical Greek day. There were plenty of samples along the way to satisfy any hunger pains, plus the walk through the meat and fish markets was particularly interesting.
Review by: Andrew N, October 2014
We had a wonderful time on this "Shore Excursion." We were on a cruise ship and did not want to do the "typical" tour of the Acropolis, etc., so we found this Food Tour online and booked it right from the ship. They were waiting to pick us up right from the port and after a slight confusion about which tour we were on, we met our guide, who took us on a fabulous tour of Greek food. The guide (Artemis) was really great and it was fun being with a local for the day. It was great seeing stuff that the typical tourist would probably miss. Although I was somewhat nervous about getting back to the ship on time, our ride back met us at exactly the precise time we were told, so it was a wonderful day in Athens!!
Review by: Simone C, June 2014
We had a blast!
Review by: Dorene A. C, January 2014
Our guide Artemis was outstanding-funny, knowledgable, perceptive. She took us to a wealth of hidden culinary gems, which , I would submit, very few people would stumble upon on their own. My only request would have been to spend some time in the sausage and cured meat store sampling some of their wares. I have been recommending this tour to everyone I had met on Holland America's Rotterdam cruise, if for no other reason than to be led around by one's "nose' to sample some of Athen's food treasures by a larger than life guide reminiscent of the lead actress in " My Big Fat Greek Wedding "! A raving success, and one of our most precious memories on a trip chock full of them. cordially, David and Dorene Cohen
Review by: Alison O, December 2013
Sophie was an excellent guide and gave our small group of 8 an in-depth tour of a local part of Athens. Of the 12 stops we had tastings at eight so don't overdo breakfast before you go. We also learnt much about social history, current economics and a little politics so came away thinking it was money very well spent.
Review by: Fiona H, December 2013
We really enjoyed this Tour. My Husband was not impressed when I told him I had booked this tour. He thanked me at the end!
Review by: Katherine S, October 2013
This tour was a mixed bag for us. The food we tasted was all delicious, the guide was knowledgeable and it was very interesting to see non-touristy parts of Athens. We were a bit disappointed with the amount of food that was involved, as other tastings tours that we have done included a larger amoun
Review by: Stephanie R, July 2013
This tour is a fantastic way to see a more local area of Greece. Market visits and tastings at local shops are fabulous. Our guide was very knowledgable and accommodating. Although there are no meat tastings included, there isn't room for more food once you are done. Would highly recommend for someone who has already taken in all the typical tourist sights.
Review by: Carol K, July 2013
Excellent way to experience Athens.
Review by: Scott C, July 2013
My mother is 67 and not very physically active, but was able to enjoy the tour with no problems. She was extremely pleased with the guide, Vangelos. He was very professional and informative, and went to great lengths to ensure she made it back to the boat in time. Vangelos alleviated any fears my mother had of getting lost by personally escorting her to the place she needed to be in order to get back to the ship. She tasted breads, cheeses, fruits, pastries, juices and wines. The walking was reasonable (about a mile), with the biggest challenge being the cobblestone. The guide was very good at trying to keep them in the shade, which was great since the temperature was a balmy 90 degrees (f). Recommend a shopping tote since there was time for shopping on this tour, and wear casual clothing with comfortable shoes.
Review by: Marilyn H, June 2013
The taxi driver picked us up on perfect time. But he wasn't clear about where we were supposed to meet our tour guide, so we sat in the metro square for an hour and 15 minutes. Finally we called and were reunited. Our tour guide was positively charming! So knowledgeable and fun. This was one of the definite highlights of our two-week trip! I have told so many people about this delightful day in Athens, seeing another layer of the city because we had already visited the acropolis. Can't recommend her highly enough! Much better than any shore excurisons the ship offered. Big win!
Review by: Mandolin222, October 2012
My friend and I were on a 12 day cruise, hitting 10 ports of call. Athens was my favorite port all because of this tour. It was a wonderful experience, especially getting to see the non-tourist areas of Athens. The food was amazing and Despina was the friendliest, most knowledgable tour guide of our entire cruise. I would definitely do this tour again, or any other tour that Despina was leading!
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