Globus Legendary Greece

Legendary Greece — Globus · Tidewater Cruise & Travel
Globus · Small Group Discovery · Tour Code DG

Guided Land Tour · Greece

Legendary Greece

Athens, the Peloponnese, Olympia, Sparta, Mystras, and the island of Aegina — nine days through the places where Western civilization was invented.

9Days
SmallGroup
2UNESCO Sites
AthensStart & End
Athens Corinth Vairaikos Canyon Olympia Peloponnese Kalamata Pylos Sparta Mystras Return North Nemea Aegina Athens

This is Greece below the postcard — the Peloponnese, where the myths weren't metaphors. Where Hercules actually labored, where Helen's war actually began, where the Olympics were actually held, where Sparta actually trained its soldiers on the slopes of Mount Taygetus. The DG itinerary is Globus's Small Group Discovery format: a dedicated Tour Director, a small group, and a pace that leaves room for the experience to register. Nine days. Athens twice. Everything in between worth seeing.

What Sets the Legendary Greece Small Group Tour Apart

🏛️
The Acropolis — With a Local Guide
Globus uses Local Guides at major sites, not just the Tour Director. At the Acropolis, the difference is real: a specialist in Athenian history who has stood at this site hundreds of times, explaining what you're actually looking at rather than reading from a brochure.
🚂
The Odontotis Rack Railway
Built over 120 years ago along the Vairaikos Canyon, this is the highest mountain railway in Greece — a rack-and-pinion engineering feat with open-sided tunnels carved into the canyon walls. It's one of the most distinctive moments on any Greece tour and almost nobody goes to it independently.
🫒
Small Group Exclusives
The Small Group Discovery format unlocks experiences that don't exist for larger groups: a honey farm visit in Olympia with the family beekeepers, an olive mill lunch in Pylos with home-cooked food made from the grove's own oil, a pistachio farm on Aegina. These are genuinely off the standard tour circuit.
🏰
Boutique Hotel at Mystras
After the long day through Sparta and the Byzantine ghost-city of Mystras, Globus puts the small group at the Kyniska Palace — a 5-star boutique property in the foothills of Mount Taygetus with pool views over the valley. It's a deliberate contrast to the weight of what you've just seen.
🍷
Wine Tasting in Nemea
The Nemea region has been cultivating the Agiorgitiko grape for over 3,000 years — since before Athens was the center of the known world. The winery stop on the return to Athens isn't a tourist add-on; it's a genuinely prestigious wine district with a story worth hearing.
⛴️
Aegina by Ferry
The final full day is a short ferry ride to the island of Aegina — a pistachio farm, the monastery of Aghios Nektarios, a farewell lunch at a local restaurant, and an afternoon on the water. It's a deliberately unhurried end to a week that moved at a traveler's pace.

The Full Itinerary

🇬🇷Athens
Day 1
Arrive in Athens
Welcome to Greece. At 6 pm, meet your Tour Director and travel companions for a welcome dinner at a local Athens restaurant. The evening is yours after dinner.
Dinner
Crowne Plaza Athens City Centre
🇬🇷Athens
Day 2
Athens — Marvels & Myths
Included guided sightseeing of "the Classic City." The Panathenaic Stadium — venue of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, still intact, still marble. Then the Acropolis, with a Local Guide who brings Athens to life through the myth of Athena and Poseidon, the construction of the Parthenon, and what it meant to look up at this hill from the city below. The afternoon and evening are free.
Breakfast
Crowne Plaza Athens City Centre
🇬🇷Corinth · Olympia
Day 3
Athens → Corinth → Vairaikos Canyon → Olympia
Leave Athens for the Peloponnese — the peninsula where the myths weren't metaphors. Photo stop at the Corinth Canal, one of the world's deepest man-made waterways, cut 79 meters through solid rock. Then board the Odontotis rack railway at Diakopto for a dramatic climb along the Vairaikos Canyon — 120 years old, carved into open-sided canyon tunnels, the highest mountain railway in Greece. Arrive in Kalavryta, a mountain town with its own significant history. Continue to Olympia for the evening.
BreakfastDinner
Europa, Olympia
🇬🇷Olympia · Kalamata
Day 4
Olympia → Kalamata
Guided walking tour of the UNESCO archaeological site of Olympia — birthplace of the ancient Olympic games, site of the Temple of Hera from which the Olympic torch is still lit today. Then a Small Group exclusive: a visit to a local honey farm, handed down through generations of the same family. Hear about beekeeping, the mythology of bees as messengers of the gods, and taste what they produce. Afternoon drive south to Kalamata.
Breakfast
✦ Small Group Exclusive: Local honey farm visit with family beekeepers
Grecotel Filoxenia Kalamata
🇬🇷Pylos · Kalamata
Day 5
Kalamata → Pylos & a Local Olive Mill
Morning in Pylos — a classic Greek seaside town, stroll the streets, see the castle above the harbor, sit in a café. Then a Small Group exclusive visit to a family-owned olive mill: learn the history and production of the world-famous Kalamata olive, see Androusa Castle overlooking the groves, and sit down to a lunch of home-made dishes made entirely from the farm's own produce. This is the kind of meal that justifies the small group format.
BreakfastLunch
✦ Small Group Exclusive: Olive mill visit, Androusa Castle, farm lunch
Grecotel Filoxenia Kalamata
🇬🇷Sparta · Mystras
Day 6
Kalamata → Sparta → Mystras
Orientation tour of Sparta — one of the most powerful cities in the ancient world, now a modest modern town that somehow makes the mythology of it more, not less, impressive. Then Mystras: a UNESCO-nominated Byzantine ghost-city on the forested slopes of Mount Taygetus, at its height in the 14th century, abandoned for centuries, and one of the most atmospheric sites in Greece. Guided sightseeing tour. Tonight, the Kyniska Palace boutique hotel — 5-star property in the mountain foothills, pool, views, and a deliberate change of pace.
BreakfastDinner
✦ Small Group Exclusive: 5-star boutique accommodation at Kyniska Palace
Kyniska Palace Conference & Spa, Mystras
🇬🇷Nemea · Athens
Day 7
Mystras → Nemea → Athens
Travel north through the fertile plains of the Peloponnese to Nemea — one of Greece's most prestigious wine-producing regions, where the Agiorgitiko grape has been cultivated for over 3,000 years. Stop at a local winery for a tasting that's as much about history as it is about wine. Then back to Athens, where the city has more to offer before the tour concludes.
Breakfast
NJV Athens Plaza
🇬🇷Aegina
Day 8
Athens — Excursion to Aegina
A short ferry ride to the island of Aegina — small, unhurried, and one of the most pleasant days on the tour. A sightseeing circuit of the island including the monastery of Aghios Nektarios. Then a Small Group exclusive visit to a Fistiki farm: Aegina's famous pistachio orchard, the island's most celebrated product, with sampling of local pistachio specialties. Farewell lunch at a local restaurant. Return to Athens by ferry in the afternoon.
BreakfastLunch
✦ Small Group Exclusive: Fistiki pistachio farm, monastery visit, farewell lunch
NJV Athens Plaza
🇬🇷Athens
Day 9
Depart Athens
Tour ends with breakfast this morning. Transfers to the airport are not included — your Tour Director will advise on logistics the evening before.
Breakfast

What's Included

  • Dedicated Tour Director, full 9 days
  • Local Guides at major archaeological sites
  • All coach transport throughout
  • Odontotis rack railway, Vairaikos Canyon
  • Ferry to and from Aegina
  • 8 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 3 dinners
  • Welcome dinner, Day 1
  • Guided Acropolis & Athens sightseeing
  • Guided walking tour of Olympia
  • Honey farm visit, Olympia
  • Olive mill visit & farm lunch, Pylos
  • Guided tour of Mystras (UNESCO)
  • Wine tasting, Nemea
  • Fistiki farm & farewell lunch, Aegina
  • All hotel accommodations

Not Included

  • International airfare
  • Airport transfers (arrival & departure)
  • Travel insurance (strongly recommended)
  • Gratuities for Tour Director & driver
  • Meals not listed in itinerary
  • Optional activities & personal expenses

"The way they plan everything is super organized; the tour managers are very caring and knowledgeable. They start by picking you up from the airport and from then on everything is taken care of."

Globus Traveler Review · Legendary Greece DG
Tour CodeDG
Duration9 Days
FormatSmall Group Discovery
Start / EndAthens
Meals8B · 2L · 3D

Physical note: This tour involves walking on uneven terrain at archaeological sites, including the Acropolis, Olympia, and Mystras. Guests with significant mobility limitations or wheelchair users should contact us before booking — this is not the right itinerary for everyone, and we'll tell you so honestly.

Hotels Along the Route

Globus selects first-class hotels throughout, with one genuine standout — the boutique Kyniska Palace at Mystras — as the Small Group Discovery format's signature accommodation experience.

Nights 1–2
Crowne Plaza Athens City Centre
Athens
Night 3
Europa
Olympia
Nights 4–5
Grecotel Filoxenia Kalamata
Kalamata
Night 6 · Small Group Exclusive
Kyniska Palace Conference & Spa
Mystras · Boutique 5-Star · Pool & Mountain Views
Nights 7–9
NJV Athens Plaza
Athens

What We Tell Clients Before They Book

The DG tour is not the longest Greece itinerary Globus offers — the 15-day Classical Greece tour covers Delphi and Meteora as well — but it is the one we find ourselves recommending most often to first-time Greece travelers. The reason is the Peloponnese, which most Athens-first itineraries skip or rush. The Peloponnese is where the myths happened. Olympia, Sparta, Mystras — these aren't supporting characters to the Acropolis story. They are, in several respects, more interesting than Athens, and the DG gives them the time they deserve.

The Small Group Discovery format is genuinely different from a standard Globus tour. The group is smaller, the hotels have more character, and the local access experiences — the honey farm, the olive mill lunch, the pistachio farm on Aegina — are not available on the larger-coach itineraries. If you want Greece at that scale, this is the right format.

One honest note on the terrain: the Acropolis, Olympia, and Mystras all involve substantial walking on ancient stone surfaces that are uneven by definition. This is not a tour for travelers with significant mobility limitations. If that's a concern, contact us before you book and we'll give you a straight answer on whether it's workable.

Jeff & Janet Blackwell Tidewater Cruise & Travel · Bel Air, Maryland
tidewatertravel.com

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