Meteora Monasteries and Hermit Caves Day Trip with optional lunch

Totally worth the long drive!

Overall great experience. Upon arrival at the meeting location, there was a bit of confusion with people getting on the right bus but once it was sorted out, we were on our way. Highly recommend to get there early if you’d like to sit with your group. The restaurant at the pit stop had plenty of food and snack options and many bathrooms. The buses were indeed air conditioned with usb power ports and WiFi. Upon arrival to Meteora, we were divided into different groups based on the tour guide and language you selected. Our tour guide, Katerina, was a young lady native to Meteora who was extremely knowledgeable and shared unique insight and personal experiences about each of the sites we visited. It was as if we had a private tour to be honest. The restaurant for lunch was a local spot that was delicious! We were able to visit the hermit caves, 3 monasteries, and countless other photo spots. It was one of our favorite tours that we’ve done while here in Athens. The 4 hour trip back and forth was totally worth it! Highly recommend!

Meteora Tour VS Meteora Photo Op

Overall the tour was good but I recommend not doing a day tour but taking the train to the area and spending a couple nights there, or booking a multiple day tour. The five hour drive to and from the monasteries was great! It was well organized and it was a very smooth ride. The bus was air conditioned, had WiFi, a place to charge your electronic devices, and cold bottled water. After the long drive, we got to the town below the monasteries and the tour guide got on the bus and they took us to a restaurant for lunch. If you bought the ticket including the lunch, you went to this restaurant and your lunch was all ready for you. It was a pre-made plate and you got what you were given plus a drink. We did not get the inclusive lunch because 30 CAD seemed a lot for a lunch considering Greece is quite cheap. Because we didn't buy the lunch we couldn't sit in the restaurant without buying anything, so we wandered the streets until we found a bench on the side of the road where we ate the lunch that we brought. We were only given 40 minutes for lunch, 20 of which we looked for a place to sit. We felt quite rushed. Note that across from the restaurant was a convenience store with some ice cream and sandwiches. You could've gone to the restaurant and ordered food for less than 30 CAD but they only give you 40 minutes... In a similar way, the refreshment stop on the way to and from Meteora was super expensive! It was 27€ for one meal and a drink. Every tour bus stopped there and no matter what you bought, you'd be ripped off. We only had 20 minutes to go to the bathroom and get a snack with 5 other tour buses also stopping there. It was super rushed! The monasteries themselves were beautiful and definitely worth a visit. I wish the time at each monastery was longer but it's difficult to see 3 monasteries in 5 hours. All you could do is look at the museum and church at each monastery and then walk back to the bus. Note that if you don't speak Greek, then you won't understand much. We wanted to know more but no one was there to answer our questions. As well, there were no books explaining the religion or their practice. There is a lot more in the Meteora area what would've been nice to see, but we didn't have enough time and that's not the tours fault. The tour itself was pretty good except for a few things. The tour guide knew his history and gave a great tour, but if you tried to have a conversation with him, he was not interested. He was not a very friendly guy unless you were a woman... Also, the bus stopped 5 times to allow people to take photos. Just photos. You literally stop, get out, take a photo, get back in, drive a minute and do it all over again about 3 times in a row. It was a waste of time. If you're interested in just taking photos then you'll like this tour, but I also recommend Google images instead (it'll be cheaper). Considering the rushed refreshment stops, the quick lunch, and the quick visits at each monastery, the photo ops should've been cut out of the tour.

Fantastic tour of breathtaking scenery

Wonderful tour with interesting insights of three Meteora Monasteries. The trip from Athens is long and grueling, but the sights are worth it!

wonderful place and excellent tour experience

the most beautiful landscape, and the monasteries themselves are incredible. Definitely a must see. The bus ride from athens was pleasant and air conditioned, and they waited for me for 5 minutes to get on when I had trouble finding the pick up location and we still arrived on time. The tour guide was very knowledgeable, accomodating and fun. The prepaid meal before going up the mountains wasn't gourmet but was tasty and filling

Amazing experience!

This was such a cool idea and an amazing trip! Our tour guide was Maria and she was amazing! She was super nice and knew so much about Meteora! The whole town and monestaries are beautiful and will leave you in awe. This is a trip you will not forget.

Breath taking experience

The tour guide was awesome! She really knew the place and provided us with a lot of interesting details. She was also very funny. Meteora is incredible. Its history and beauty are breathtaking. Even with the high temperaturea of the day, the tour was totally worth it. The restaurant had vegetarian options and there the guide always stopped the van for us to photograph the landscapes. The only thing I didn't like was the bus. I'm tall and my legs just would't fit. I had to travel around over 8 hours being squeezed.

Monasteries tour

The guide was very knowledgeable about the history of the region and monastaries. He was very expressive and he articulated very well. The exceptional driver helped us take pictures. Highly recommended.

Magnificent Meteora hermit caves and monasteries

The scenery was magnificent near the monasteries and the monasteries each had unique features. The negatives—food was mediocre at best. It would have been helpful to know about dinner stop at 8 ahead of time. We had under ten minutes to eat due to being at the end of the line of three tour buses so we finished our meals on the bus. Our long distance driver was very uncommunicative and couldn’t answer any questions. We understand he had limited English but he couldn’t tell me about stops on the return trip. The bus driver in Meteora was wonderful as was our guide. This was a great trip if you have the time and energy For a very full day.

MAJESTIC METEORA 😀

Excellent, efficient organisation and communication. Large a/c tourist bus with wifi left Athens on time and on arrival we were immediately divided into groups of 12 into a new Mercedes minivan. Great guide, knowledgeable and friendly.Long day but most enjoyable. Meteora is not to be missed.

Love Meteora. The view is stunning. The history is heartwarming.

I love all monasteries and hermit cave. I love the view and history behind it. Meteora becomes one of my favourite place in Greece. The local guide is super friendly and knowledgeable.

Not worth the money at all

The tour guide does not go into monasteries with you to explain the history and you barely get 20-30 min per stop, way too expensive, really bad experience and our guide was someone way too terrible that she was showing us pictures of her cats instead of explaining where we are… the lunch restaurant is also average. Overall do not choose this tour!

Amazing experience!

Wow, amazing trip, albeit long, the tour started at the train station (which was almost 5 hours) and ended up in Meteora! Impressive way the monks lived and the monasteries built onto of these rocks. Beautiful scenery and a must see. It’s a long day so be prepared

Otherworldly Experience

Beautiful views, once we got there. The trip is long, coming from Athens. It takes nearly 5 hours one way. Just be prepared! The bus stops at 2 1/2 hours into the drive, (for 25 minutes), at a rest stop where you can use the facilities and buy food. Once you do get there the scenery is great!

Amazing

This was incredible - worth the long drive to get there! This place is absolutely stunning. Our tour guide was really great - he was very engaging and shared so much interesting information with us! Would definitely recommend!

We had a brilliant...

We had a brilliant experience for the day. Once we got onto the smaller transport we realised we had a brilliant team taking care of us. The driver was awesome and the guide was brilliant. He enthusiastically shared his depth of knowledge of the area. Both of them helped all passengers with taking photos. Sorry I can’t remember their names.

Meteora day trip

Amazing views. Well organised trip. Good guide n drivers.Lovely trip. Given that we spent 10 hrs on the bus fr this trip, I thought the quality of bus could hv been better - reclining seats, more legroom, emergency toilet on bus.

Worth seeing

Super unique experience! The views were amazing, the lunch stop was yummy, and it was worth the price. The guides explain things along the way. The bus we were on was kind of shabby and the AC did not work well, which made for a long, hot trip.

Great Tour Guide.

Our tour guide, Kate, was excellent. Made the whole trip worthwhile. She was eager to answer any question.

Amazing views and so informative

Maria our guide (who is a local) was so informative and fun. She gave us a lot of history and made it interesting by throwing in bits of personal information about her history and ties to the land. I learned so much about monastic life that I was unaware of. It made me appreciate the monasteries that much more. I enjoyed asking more detailed information about the local economy as well. It was a long day but definitely worth it. I wholeheartedly recommend the trip.

A long day but worth it!

Be prepared for a long day. It’s a big old trip but worth it once you get there! Take plenty of drinks and a fan!! The AC on the bus isn’t great and it gets very hot. Make sure you have €1 coins for the WC at the Monasteries. I think the bus should provide water but it doesn’t. There isn’t a WC on the bus either! However, our tour guides Kate and Costa were brilliant. Their knowledge and passion made this an unforgettable trip of a lifetime. Incredible, breathtaking views. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. If I was to do it again I think I would do the 2 day tour. The town is very nice with lots of bars and restaurants and lovely views.

Amazing 🤩

This was a wonderful trip, totally amazing. The long day was at first intimidating but so worth it. I have never seen anything like it. The food was good and our guide Maria was fun and very informative. I highly recommend taking this tour to Meteora.

Must do trip !!!!

This is a once in a lifetime place to visit. Well worth the long ride. Take some food. The cage they stop at is overpriced and not good. But the rest is well worth the money and time investment. You will go home changed from the visuals. Must do

Simply amazing!!!!

The day from start to finish was well organized and incredible. Four of us took the bus ride from Athens to Kalabaka that was comfortable with interesting scenery we have never seen after 15 trips to Athens and the islands. The transfer to a smaller group bus at Kalabaka was with VERY knowledgable and nice guide (Vasili) made the day fun and interesting from start to finish. Lunch stop with smaller group was included and rather nice. Return to Athens on larger bus was smooth and comfortable with dinner stop that was a bit rushed and pricey - plan accordingly for quick. In summary the day was much more fun and interesting than imagined. Of course Meteora is 1000% deserving as a member of it's World Heritage ranking.

Visit Meteora from Athens

The Visit Meteora team was very professional. I do not have any complaints at all and I do recommend their services to anyone who wants to visit the Meteora monasteries.

Must SEE Meteora hermit caves and monasteries tour!

This is a must do tour. The spectacular views will take your breath away. Our guide did a wonderful job of stopping at many places so that we could capture the views from different angles. He was very knowledgeable and had a great personality. He also offered to take pictures for anyone that wanted their photo taken.

Must do experience

Maria our guide. The beauty of the landscapes and the tenacity of the monks that chose to live such a hard life.

Don't hesitate

This trip was amazing. The four guides were awesome. The sights even better than i thought it was going to be. The discussions, the info, they took pictures! The food was delicious as well. The bus did not have cell phone charges like it said.

Amazing Meteora

Incredible tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining. He helped us with our couples' photos at every key photo spot. We had a nice lunch at a family owned restaurant with delicious home cooked food. The restaurant at our evening stop was overpriced, and my samdwich was stale. If the tour buses had another choice of an alternative evening stop, I would recommend they find a better place. Other than that, it was an absolutely amazing experience!

A long time on a bus but worthwhile views.

A very long day but worthwhile for the wonderful views. The monestaries were exceptionally maintained and beyond beautiful. The hermit caves were fascinating. The buses stopped after 2 hours of driving at a rest station for washrooms and refreshments. Then after another 2 hours we arrived and started with an authentic lunch. We toured 3 monestaries. On the way home the bus stopped again after 2 hours. Water was provided.

Great experience!

Tour was great!!! Driver and tour guide were amazing! Totally worth it. Everyone was so professional and on time. The tour explained all the landmarks and history in detail.

Magnificent!

This, by far, exceeded our expectations. So much better to see in person than in photos. A must do when visiting Greece.

Meteora Monasteries trip

Our trip to Meteora Monasteries was very well organized, and we were lucky to have a good weather( no fog). Our guide Apostolaki was very informative and very pleasant, we will recommend this trip to our friends.

MUST DO in Greece

Absolutely amazing visit and I recommend Katherina as a guide as she has huge knowledges of the sites and monasteries and personnal interesting anecdotes that makes the trip even more interesting. She is so dedicated that she was working during easter day when we went (which is a big family celebration not to be missed in Greece). We are very grateful for her to have given us so much of her time and helped us learn so much about the site history :) I will definitely recommend to anyone going to Greece to visit this place (a Unesco site btw), it is a MUST-DO in Greece.

Majestic!

Wow!!!! This tour and Meteora was amazing! If you have an entire day to spend on this, you must do it! Our tour guide Kate was great!!! So knowledgeable and funny and personable! The monasteries were out of this world! We were 3 architects and 1 college students - and we were awed by the beauty and amazing feat of these buildings built atop these rocks in such a majestic setting!

Bus was terrible

Pick up point confusing, it's on same side as train station, not opposite. Bus was terrible, cramped and uncomfortable seats. Meteora was amazing but bus to get there and back for hours was terrible and uncomfortable, you couldn't recline seat as passenger behind is squashed. Pick another tour operator.

Memorable trip to Meteora

Amazing views. We strongly recommended this tour. Our guide, Dmitri was fantastic, knowledge, and helpful, plus great photography skills 😀 our driver Costa was a good driver, nice and caring person, helpful. Thank you so much for this memorable trip

A full, but exciting day

Our tour guide was incredible, he was from Meteora and just a delight. The lunch was delicious. Not gonna lie, at first was a bit worried a single day trip to Meteora would be a lot, but it wasn’t. Everything was seamless even without the train due to the floods in 2023

Best trip.

The hermit caves and the excellent knowledge of the tour guide. The weather was not great but the driver and guide ensured that everyone enjoyed the trip.

Amazing! Fantastic!

Excellent experience and service. Everything was perfect and on time. Our guíe, Maria, very professional and nice.

Amazing tour, chaotic transfer to/from Athens

Highlights: Our guide, Tolis, met us in Kalambaka and was wonderful. He had lots of knowledge of the area and made sure we all felt comfortable and not rushed while getting to see everything. He was great and really made the experience on the trip memorable and relaxing. The actual travel in and around Meteora was beautiful. The trip itself is very much worth it, especially if you get good weather. We got into 3 monasteries and stopped at a few excellent viewpoints to take pictures. The washrooms at the rest stops to and from Athens are also excellent. Lowlights: We took the tour bus from Athens to Kalambaka and it felt like this part of the trip hasn't had all of the kinks ironed out yet. It was very hard to find our bus. We were lucky we arrived 25 minutes early because it took us that long running up and down the streets of Athens to find it. It turned out that the map link provided in the email was incorrect and there are dozens of similar busses in the area. Just a heads up for when you go. Landing in Kalambaka was also a bit chaotic. Switching the busses didn't go super smoothly and there was some confusion. Another note is that it seems that another group gets on the bus you drove in on so I wouldn't recommend leaving any valuables. I would have liked this to have been communicated to us up front. Similarly, getting on the bus to go back to Athens, there was only 1 bathroom stall in a coffee shop so that caused a bit of stress among everyone as 30 or so people lined up. Overall, it was a great trip and it was certainly worth it to do. I would recommend using this tour company in Kalambaka. It seems like they haven't perfected the switchover to using a bus after the floods in September that cancelled the train service. This caused a bit of unnecessary stress and chaos. If this were improved, this would be a perfect experience.

Long but worthwhile day trip to Meteora

I had always wanted to go to Meteora from a long time ago, finally did it this time! Would have preferred to stay overnight and return early morning back to Athens the next day but there was no such option (unless you wanted to wait till 6pm) so had to take the day trip return option (approx 8am to 10.30pm) . Also the train was not working due to floods so no choice but to go by coach both ways. Even though the journey to get there was long, there was a half an hour break in between to have a snack, coffee, bathroom break and stretch legs, etc. Short but sufficient. Coach is clean and comfortable. You will get to see quite a bit of the landscape of Greece on the way there. Time passes quickly if you have friends to chat to or have a book. Some brough their own tablet for entertainment. Suggest you take the $10 prepaid lunch option if available, it just saves time and gives you more time to eat. Food is homely and there are sufficient choices. Tour in Meteora itself was great, guides friendly and knowledgeable. The monasteries, views and villages are a delight and well worth the journey. Lots of photo opportunities! .

Kate is best guide ever!

This trip is a must see for all. What a beautiful, historical, spiritual area. Our guide Kate was superior in her knowledge and personality. You will remember this place forever!

Loved Our Tour Guide!!

The only downside to this tour was the bus ride compared to the usual Train ride. Our tour guide Maria was hands down the best guide we he during our entire Athens stay. She was Extremely informative, but also brought humor to our journey. The other 11 people in our tour group also commented how much they loved the tour when we had lunch together. Would HIGHLY recommend requesting her as your guide. I’m sure the other guides are great too. But would 10/10 recommend

Fantastic Tour

This was the better tour we had on our one month trip. The guide was extremely knowledgeable, friendly and spoke English very well. The site has amazing views, history and monasteries.

Meteora tour

Our trip to Meteora is well worth it! Our Guide Maria is knowledgeable about the history of the monks and hermit live over a century ago. She knows the history and explains well about the history of holy Meteora!

Amazing Meteora with an amazing local host Maria

An amazing UNESCO site made even better with the amazing local host Maria who had loads of childhood stories and experiences.

Great history

Great guide. Kate was great. She knew a lot of history and very engaging. You really get a good overview of Eastern Orthodox faith.

Meteora day trip

Outstanding day trip, however it was a little bit long on the bus ride but since the train was not operating it wasn’t too bad after all. Highly recommend this to anyone I know or meet.. and our guide was excellent. Five stars

Great Experience

Great experience. Must-do for every local and tourist. Thank you Mariah for being a successful and amazing guide throughout the trip.

Splendid experience

Alot of walking and the scenery is breathtaking. The guide was witty and humourous. I enjoyed myself