Our tour to Meteora was amazing. I think it was the place I enjoyed the most in Greece land. some weeks ago I had to change the type of tour... read more for personal reasons and meteora thrones was kind enough to change it pretty immediately and refund me the money of the first one. On the other hand, our guide, Sara, told as a lot of good information and in a dynamic and quite way (not as a radio, if you know what I mean) 😉 she was very sweet and clear. I would definitely recommend this agency and the place to everyone visiting.

It was really interesting and well organised tour. We had possibility to had a nice lunch when we arrived to Kalambaka and we visited all monasteries which were in our... read more program.Everything went very smoothly. The guide was well educated and engaging he told us interesting stories about the places we had visited.

We had Clement from the Meteora Thrones Travel Center. Clement was the epitome of professionalism as a tour guide. He was extremely knowledgeable of the sites, local area (being... read more a resident himself), Greek history and Greek Orthodox Religious History. Clement spoke perfectly clear English, having lived in England and Canada. Most of all he was extremely thoughtful, polite, and courteous. When it started to rain hard, he met us outside the monastery to give us umbrellas so we didn’t get soaked walking to the van in the parking lot.

MONASTERY SITE
Unfortunately, the day we went was rainy and foggy/misty so we weren’t able to see all the monasteries from the outside. We visited 3 Monasteries inside and stopped at viewpoints to see 2 others, but again it was somewhat foggy we were unable to clearly see some of them. What we did see inside the monasteries we visited was beautiful and the views from up top stunning. Mondays are good because all are opened, except the one convent/nunnery, otherwise the monasteries alternate openings during the week. The Grand Meteora is closed on 3 weekdays. Winter hours are shorter closing at 4pm or earlier. We liked Grand Meteron and the St Varlaam. Wear SKIRTS inside the Monasteries out of respect. If not you will have to pay for a scarf like skirt at the entrance. The entrance fee is 3 euros per person cash for each monastery. Bring small bills.

3 BONUS Sites: As a result of us not being able to see all the monasteries, Clement offered to take us to one of the first HERMIT CAVES (really something to see, origin of habituating the area and eventually constructing the monasteries on the rocks.) He also took us to see the old BYZANTINE CHURCH that was built on top of Apollo’s Temple and explained the religious aspect inside the church. We also drove to see St Anthony’s Monastery and another ‘more’ recent hermit cave.

Our Tour VAN vehicle was spacious, clean and seemed like a newer Peugeot. Our Driver (sorry didn’t catch his name) drove carefully and safely through the windy roads.

Clement also recommended a restaurant in town that he frequented, when we were waiting for our train back to Athens. After, dinner Clement and driver drove us to the train station. They waited for us in the van while we dined.

TRAIN - Meteora Thrones company was very responsive in answering all questions. Tour company also emailed /WhatsApp our train tickets promptly. Clear instructions, Clement met us at the train station in Kalabaka with a placard of our name. Very well organized. Meteora Thrones Travel Center is probably the largest tour company in this area. The train ride itself was comfortable (Buy the first class cabin, it’s not that much more). Seats inside can slide down so you can lean back. If you have the entire cabin yourself (6seats), you could probably make it into a sleeper bed and lay down. You yourself must board the 7:57am train from Larissa Athens main train station. It’s a 4hr train ride each way and upon return you’ll arrive around 10:30pm back in Athens. However, we were delayed for 40mins (train employees did not specify why) and that made getting back very late. It’s a long day but this way you won’t have the additional day and expense of having to stay overnight in the vicinity of Kalabaka.

Overall, Clement was an excellent tour guide, very good tour (it ended up being a private tour for us even though we booked a small group tour), tour company is well organized and responsive.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND METEORA THRONES TRAVEL CENTER.

Perfect tour! Very informative, great duration, I had a blast! I strongly recommend that tour to see the Meteors.

We took a train from Athens to Kalabaka & was welcomed by our tour guide, Chrysa. She’s so kind & friendly. She’s informative & helpful all throughout the tour. She... read more liked it when we asked questions. She took nice photos of us too! She’s the best tour guide ever! Our experience with Meteora Thrones is something that we will never forget.

Wonderful tour - It was a wonderful experience! The tour guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. We stopped at 3 monasteries and stopped at all the great picture locations. Meteora was an amazing... read more place. We are so happy to have taken this tour.
Even though a major train accident occured in Greece about 2 weeks ago, they provided us with a great tour. All the trains were cancelled in the country, but they still chartered a luxurious bus to Kalabaka. They communicated about the transfer change very smoothly.
We highly recommend this tour!!!

We had a great time with this tour. Our tour guide greeted us at the Kalambaka train station parking lot. We were grouped with other tourists in a big coach... read more bus. The tour began by taking us to a 20min stop in the Kalambaka town to grab some food. The tour is well organized with photo and monastery stops. The tour ended at Kalambaka train station, about 50 minutes before our scheduled train back to Athens.

The company also offers this tour with return train tickets from Athens. It's a little more expensive than booking the train tickets yourself. However, the trainose website is not well organized. I got first class tickets for a family of 4 with 2 young children. 2 days before my trip, the train company emailed me and said I have booked the handicapped seats due to technical difficulty from their part, and they changed my tickets to coach class. I wasn't happy but I wasn't going to fuss about it. But when we were boarding, those coach seats were actually occupied. After some stress and communication, the train conductor put us in empty seats in first class (and some other wonderful passengers volunteered to move their seats so we could sit together with our young children). And similar thing happened on our return train tickets back to Athens. I'm happy that at the end it was resolved. But we are traveling in low season now. I can't imagine what would happen if the train was full in high season.

The point of my story is, it might be worth it to book the tour along with the train tickets through a 3rd party who probably would know how to navigate the trainose ticketing website.

We were delayed by 2 hours because of problems with the train from Athens (weather) yet the tour company waited for us and gave us a fantastic tour nonetheless. The... read more guide was very well educated, engaging and charming. It was an unforgettable experience!

Awesome tour!
Highly recommended! The path was great and we saw Meteora from a different "glance" that we didn't have the chance to experience it in other tours. The forest... read more was beautiful.
Christos our hiking guide was amazing!! He explained the history, geography, and the flora and fauna of the place, while hiking.

Great views. The guide took us to three monasteries and showed many astonishing views from the road bends. Even though our train was half an hour late, she didn't rush... read more and was attentive to our
needs.

Wonderful trip. Awesome views. Heart touching experiences, monasteries, hermits, nuns, monks, solitude, amazing nature!

Good guide, energetic, kind, humorous,

Monasteries were amazing, guide was very informative, all trip was organized super well, train tickets were sent on time. Very full day of exploring. Highly recomended.

George, a perfect guide, was extremely informative, interesting, patient and easy to understand.
The bus arrived on time and was very clean and comfortable.
I would highly recommend this wonderful... read more tour.

Amazing! This was a super long day of travel but we’ll worth it, and splurge on the private driver. After being on a train for 4 hours it was delightful... read more to have our own driver, made a quick stop at a little cafe (clean bathroom) then headed up to the monasteries. Learned a lot and got to go inside 4 of the 6 monasteries as we went through them quickly. (Apparently there’s always one closed each day). Enjoyed the private driver so we were able to go at our own pace and walk through between bus loads of people. Had a relaxed meal at a local restaurant before heading back to the train. Highly recommend, haven’t see anything like this elsewhere. Men were allowed in with shorts that covered their knees, women were offered wraps if they weren’t wearing modest skirts or shoulders were bare (sometimes just depends at who is selling tickets.) I wore a calf length dress with shoulders covered and was allowed entry. The sights are amazing, go see Meteora, it’s well worth it!
Figure out metro ahead of time when you get back to Athens, taxis charging 3X the amount they were earlier in the day.

This tour has been our favorite one! The tour guide was excellent, provided us full history information and was also fun.

Best tour ever! - Highly recommended!Best guide guide ever (don't remember his exact name but I think was Clement :)) anyways the guide was 100% very kind and easy going person and had lots... read more of knowledge. We had few stops on 1 day trip. If you looking for an tour in Monastairs this agancy is the best!

Our train tickets arrived by email well before the tour, with assigned seats. Athens station was easy to navigate and find the train ok. Top tip there’s a station cafe... read more on the platform side that we only saw after getting to the platform!
The train was a little delayed, announcements kept coming on the platform which was ok, no actual information on the length of the delay tho!

Eleni and the driver (whose name I can’t recall, apologies) were both superb throughout the tour. They were waiting outside the station with a large sign with names listed below, no issue. We ended up on the largest of the coaches which was nice and a group of I think 16 people.
From the station we went to the main square in Kalambaka and stopped for 15 mins by a bakery to grab drinks and sandwiches/ pastries and bathroom stop, also goes to spot potential places for dinner after the tour.
The monasteries were stunning and lived up to all anticipation. there were 24 in Meteora, now only 8 and 2 uninhabited. 4 monks monasteries and 2 female. The first was the Holy Monastery of Grand Meteoran, be warned there are 275 steps down and up to get to the monastery and the same coming out. Superb, stunning frescoes, just magical views of the other monasteries too. Second was Varlaam, only 150 steps here, just as beautiful and the views were magnificent. En route fro here to the last monastery we saw the scenery used for a Games of Thrones scene and the monastery (occupied by one 53 yr old hermit monk) used in For shout Eyes Only.
The last monastery was the a holy Monastery of St Stephan, nuns here (priests at the the others two, none seen at the first one seen at the second with some serious ring kissing going on with visitors ).
St Stephan was way favourite of the three it is beautiful, the church itself is amazing, with incense to add to the ambiance. Beautiful lavender and rose gardens behind it with more stunning views over the valley and a sad dried up river bed (2022 drought).
A short stop at an icon workshop en route back to Kalambaka and ended up back in the central square.
We ate in the square at the Archontariki Taverna and the food was really good, service friendly too
The train trip back was smooth, just a long day but absolutely worth it it was phenomenal totally recommend it and the company they were superb

The best place to visit. A good tour operator. Majestic views. Good natured driver and guide. Informative.