Train to Train Meteora Tour

TOP QUALITY tour! Guide was very knowledgeable, personable, funny! Van was extremely comfortable! Could not have asked for a better tour! Perfect way to visit the Meteora monasteries!

We booked the 2 day tour which included a RT train ride from Athens to Kalabaka, 1 night accommodations, a sunset tour and a morning tour. We went early... read more September when Kalabaka and surrounding areas experienced torrential rain and flooding.

Clement was our tour guide who was excellent and you can tell he loves his job and passionate about sharing his knowledge. I give him 5 stars.

Day 2, because of the storm, the monasteries closed, train tracks and roads closed. The tour company tried to get us back to Athens by bus but because the roads closed, the tour company sent a van to the bus station to pick us up, made arrangements for 1 nt accommodations at their expense. James, the tour company owner, met us at the hotel and made sure we got checked in. Throughout this ordeal, the tour company stayed in close contact with us. We managed to find a different way to return to Athens but this tour company went above and beyond. They cared about us, our well-being and safety and I am very impressed at how they handled the situation.

Well organized and tour guide was awesome  - Definitely enjoyed the tour. Transportation was well arranged and the tour guide was awesome. Even it was a long day, but I definitely enjoy every part of the tour.

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.

Amazing views and interesting explanations! - After 5 hours on the train (it was delayed more than an hour for both Athens-Kalambaka and Kalambaka-Athens), our expectations of Meteora weren't high, but the whole tour was totally... read more amazing. Our guide explained everything in detail while we were on the bus, the views were totally amazing and the monasteries were also beautiful.

The driver Christoff picked us up at our Air BnB in Athens and drove us to Meteora. He was very polite and spoke conversational English, which was... read more great because my Greek is terrible. Traffic in Athens was terrible so we arrived later than expected.

In Meteora we met Klement our tour guide. Due to scheduling they did the best to get us into 3 different monasteries. I felt like we were not rushed and had adequate time at each location. Additionally, we made a lot of stops to take photos and sight see. Klement and Christoff provided a lot of information and the children enjoyed the trip. The trip ran longer than planned but it was completely worth it.

At the end of the trip, Klement suggested we eat at a Taberna right near the Meteora Thrones HQ for dinner. It was awesome.

We left kalampaka at 7 pm and headed back to Athens with a different driver. We arrived back at our Air BnB around midnight. It was a very long day, but an excellent trip. The guides were great, we saw everything that we needed to see, and had enough time to enjoy the scenery.

I would highly recommend this trip.

An unforgetable tour - There was no train so the trip from Athens to Meteora and back was by bus. I must recommend this tour because it is very interesting, the visit included three... read more monasteries and is amazing how those monasteries were built so many years ago. The views are excellent, specially for those fans of photography. It is a tour that you cann´t miss.

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

What makes a tour good or bad is the tour guide. Therisa was excellent! She is knowledgeable, friendly, very personable and funny. It definitely was worth the four hour... read more train ride to Kalambaka!

We we’re picked up at the train station as planned.
The guide was funny, knowledgeable and gave enough time to visit 3 monasteries. We also had many stops to take... read more beautiful pictures.
I loved the whole experience!!!

Amazing summary of Meteora - Maria, the tour guide, was amazing! Friendly and explained everything in detail. We loved the tour and definitely recommend it.

An unforgettable family experience. Well organized, the tour guide Christos was friendly, informative and willing to share his knowledge

Local travel agent was excellent going beyond what was expected to make sure I finally joined my tour after a harrowing experience getting to my destination. I could not... read more access my train tickets on the email sent to me by TripAdvisor so I had to buy my own tickets which got me to the destination 90 minutes after my tour started. Thank you to Chris at the local travel agency in Kalambaka who drove me up the mountain to join my tour so I only missed one monastery. Tour was excellent, great explanations of this unique area.

Excellent, well organised trip by meteora thrones. Amazing views from our hotel and then on the sunset tour that evening. We opted for the 3 hour hike the... read more next day which was great fun and amazing views. Definitely worth the 4 hour train journey each way

We were fortunate enough to have a private tour with Chris, as other people had cancelled due to bad weather. The wealth of information he shared with us, more than... read more made up for the lack of sunset!

Amazing adventure! Train depart around 8am morning from Athens, it’s around 4 hours journey. There is small snack and coffee shop in a train. After we arrived in Kalambaka around... read more 12 our lovely tour guide Ria was waiting for us. The car we did sightseeing was with ac, very comfortable. She had also water for us. As we decided not to take a break before sightseeing we went straight into Kastraki village to start the sightseeing. Ria was extremely polite, she told us absolutely everything and more than we could ever learn about place, history, monasteries and monks. She had a great knowledge, good positive vibe and patients to make us millions of pictures. Private tour was more convenient for us we didn’t have to wait for others, if we wanted to stop for pictures we did. We took our time in visiting monasteries without any time/ other people pressure. After all Ria has took us for lunch in a lovely traditional restaurant because we eat local when we travel. And around 6 pm we departed back to Athens. Make sure u book your trip ahead, might be not available last moment. Also way back is little bit tiring, train had some traffic delays so I took us more than 5 hours so I would recommend (if you have time) to stay a night in Kalambaka and go back next day. The level of hiking to monasteries is moderate, but if you do it slowly and have water with you, it will be okay.

Many thanks to Yiannis and Kostas for making the "Majestic Sunset" tour such a great experience! The Meteora is simply spectacular. The tour is very well organized to... read more maximize what you are able to see in the four hours of the tour. The narration is fascinating with so many details you would never be able to know without an expert guide. The last 30 minutes on Sunset Rock make for memories of a lifetime (and a few great photos!). Highly recommended!

A must do, especially when short on time in Meteora. - We had a wonderful time with Meteora Thrones. We traveled as a family and know that tours with children can add extra stressors to guides and other participants. There was... read more never a moment that we felt any sort of way about traveling as a family with young kids, and in fact we’re treated so kindly. Our guide and driver were very sweet and informative and kept us posted every step of the way. I am very glad we went with this tour being that we only had one night in the area. We were able to see everything we sought out to see.