Panoramic Morning Meteora and Monasteries Tour

The Sunset Tour I did was exceptional. Our guide Fortina was lovely and very knowledgeable and really made the tour so worthwhile. So thankyou.

The booking process with... read more Meteora Thrones was easy and the follow through with train tickets, pick ups etc very smooth .

I would highly recommend this tour and believe me Meteora is not to be missed.

The 4 hour train ride from Athens is so worth this trip to the majestic monasteries of Matetora. They pick you up at the train station and the tour is... read more fantastic and well worth the money. Our guide was lovely and knowledgeable.

Excellent & Memorable - My husband and I took this tour with guide Antonis - and highly recommend this experience! The town and the monasteries are amazing and other-worldly, one of the most... read more beautiful places we’ve seen in the world! Antonis made the day comfortable and easy - sharing his own stories and experiences along with the tour content. He was knowledgeable and very interesting! Thank you Antonis for a truly memorable day!

The Meteora Thrones travel company were a great team. Prompt on schedule, with immaculate timing between monasteries.

Guide Yannis was a cool chap, with a good sense of humour,... read more and a decent array of facts about the area.

Approximately 3-4 hours total time.

Would recommend this trip to others.

Meteora Thrones Agency - Worth visiting site with this agency - We (two) went on Meteora tour from Thessaloniki with train and we were picked up by agency at Kalabaka (Meteora city). Tickets were organized by Meteora Thrones agency and sent... read more to me by mail a few days before tour. We took 1st class, what is worth spending if you like to have a reserved seat in comfortable coupe with electrical plugs for PC/mobile. Second class has lower comfort, no reservation and no plugs.
Tour was absolutelly very well organized in time and as well for the guide which said many interesting facts. The van was comfortable, and the points we were let go for exploring were so close to entrances that we did not have to walk many stairs.
The only problem on this tour is getting right information on trainstations, as we had to change train in one town ..... There are no displays showing any info of the forcoming trains; there is no display/sign on the train itself where it is going; there is no large visual sign/display on the trainstation with the name of the station/city; people working at suburban train station do not speak english; infomation of forthcoming stations in train are only in greek; ... all-in-all train service in Greece is a very badly organized disaster!
On opposite, Meteora Thrones Agency worked perfectlly well. Worth taking.

This was an excellent tour of the monasteries, with plenty of opportunities for photographs and panoramic views. The driver was extremely friendly and the tour guide was very well informed... read more and a pleasure to listen to. We learned a lot. We recommend this tourist company without any hesitation!

Receptionist was really kind the tour gide was extremely sincere and helpful he made the tour very interesting with facts I totally recommend it

Yiannis and Kostas were great hosts. We enjoyed our experience and would reccomend it! Bring a comfortable pair of shoes!

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.

We did the sunset tour and morning tour. All staff were friendly, knowledgeable, and stopped at some good places for pictures. They seemed to take pride in where they lived... read more as well, which I think made them such great guides. I did get inured on one of my tours and they did not have a first aid kit, so my only recommendation is they have a fully stocked one since there is the possibility of getting injured (very slim and I am sometimes a klutz, but you are touring older areas with steep inclines and declines, etc, which means it could happen). They did offer to stop by the pharmacy but that would have cut into everyone's tour time. I highly recommend them and would do it again.

Well organized, quick response to the questions, perfect and nice guide. Definitely worth money paid.

Great tour - Recommend this tour. The guide was great. Went in 3 monasteries but was worth it as if you drove yourself you would never find a parking spot. That alone made... read more it worthwhile. Highly recommended

Excellent and motivated guide with a lot of background knowledge over the area. On the tour you had enough time at every stop and didn't feel hurried. Also the driver... read more Christos took part in helping and answering our questions and didn't just sit behind the feel when we had stopped at different sites. Size of the group was compact so we didn't have to wait for fifty people at every stop. All in all really a tour to be remembered the rest of our lives!

Amazing experience. Really good organisation - we had nothing to worry about. The train trip was also exciting, a chance to see the non-tourist Greece from the comfort of a... read more train seat (with A/C on).
If you get Dimitris as your guide - be prepared for an awesome day full of knowledge and giggles.
Highly recommend!

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

Amazing trip to Meteora with great private tour - Had a fantastic private tour led by Antonis, it was great learning about the amazing history of Meteora. We especially enjoyed seeing the original monasteries and the hermit hole caves.... read more Highly recommended!

Very kind guides, financial tour and the view at Meteora so beautiful! I highly recommend it! Inside the bus, the tour guide constantly gave us information about the monasteries and... read more the place.

Loved this experience! - This was a fantastic day trip! The sights are incredible to see in person and the monasteries are works of art. Lots of steps but worth it!