Day trip to Olympia

Just back from kalamaki 1st Sept
This is the one trip that we wanted to go on, so booked it along with 2 other trips (10% discount with 3 trips)

I'll run through the cost and the day
for 3 adults (1x 15yr old) and 2 children (under 13)  it cost us 152 euros (thats with the discount) - booked through Eurosky (I think full price is 42e / 21e)
there is also a further charge to enter the site and museum - which is 9 euro for both per adult (18+)

-Coach pick-up (Tez bus) @ 7am
-ferried across to mainland (about 1hr 15m)
-coach to Olympia (arrived at 10.30 ish) - and were told that we were too early so had to stay at cafe for a drink until 11am
-walked up to Olympia Archaelogy site and met guide (approx 11.15)
-guided tour was informative, and lasted approx 45 mins
- at end of tour of archaelogical site we were given free time and instructions to meet at 1pm for tour around museum
- this left us just over half an hour of free time to walk around the site (not easy in 45c heat)

- we missed the 1pm meet for museum so took the time to look around the museum at our leisure

1.45pm  our coach guide met us outside the museum and took us back into the town - where she recommended a restaurant for us to eat at (we didn't - so can't comment)

this then left us 2 hours+ until coach pick-up to shop around the town
(Personally, I'd have preferred longer on site and more time to look around the museum as this was the main purpose of the trip! but hey-ho!)

So for the full day (7am to 7pm) we were on site between 11:15 to 13:45  (2.5 hours) and had 2.5 hours of 'shopping time'

Neil:  The statue of Zeus is not here, guide said it had been melted down (or destroyed), there is a picture of it in the museum though if that helps?!?

Natalie:  couple of pics for you (If you still want them after 3 years!), but they don't really do justice to the place.

Hi we are first timers to Zante and really want to go on this trip, any idea how much it costs, there will be 3 of us me, hubby and my son???

We went on the Olympia trip ,which we booked through thompsons,the guide Johanna was fantastic,

Hi all,

We both enjoyed this trip as it was great to see the birth plpace of the Olympics.  The ancient site was really interesting and the modern town of Olympia was a lovely little place with some pretty good shops n tavernas.  What I would say is that it wasnt as good as the 2 day trip to Athens.  This was fantastic and although we were on the coach for quite a while, it didnt feel like it because our guide, Vera, was fantastic and there was always something to look at out of the window.  If you were gonna do just one of these trips, I would recommend Athens.

We said before we came back to greece that the one thing we both wanted to do was to visit olympia.The trip was nothing but a money making trip for the guide Gina, if we wanted to buy jewellery we would've stayed at our resort and spent the trip money on something else instead. The day went as followed left hotel 6.45am to meet coach to go to the habour, left habour 8.00am arrived Greece around 10.45am 30mins to Olympia, 1 hour at ruins (really nice there, wish we had spent more time here),couldnt hear what the guide was saying so it would be better to just go around on your own looking and reading the information boards, 40mins in museum again it is best to leave the guide and do your own thing, Met up with Gina 1.30pm followed her to centre of town (one main street) and there we had 2.30 hours to do as we wanted, as there was only gift shops and cafes and they all sell the same stuff so it was just find somewhere to have a drink and wait to be picked back up to go back to the hotel. I was so dissappointed that i have complained to my holiday company because it was a complete waste of money. Yes we saw the ruins and museum which are both superb but why take us shopping. You should get the choice to either stay in the ruins and museum or go shopping and i believe everyone would take the first choice not the shopping!!!!  If you want value for money do the zakfari trip on zante best thing to do for enjoyment and value for money. The olympia trip is not value for money until they change the format and get rid of the shopping and spend more time at the place you went on the trip for

WE BOOKED THIS BUT WAS TOLD IT WAS FULLY BOOKED I HAVE WORKED IN ZANTE FOR TWO YEARS AND THIS WAS THE ONLY TIME I HAD CHANCE TO GO.WAS GUTTED, I HAVE A FRIEND THAT LIVES IN OLYMPIA VILLAGE AND WOULD HAVE LIKED TO GO AND SEE THEM WHILE THERE, IF ANYONE AS ANY PICTURES OF THE DAY OUT COULD YOU PLEASE POP THEM ON HEAR SO I CAN SEE WAT I MISSED OUT ON. CHEERS

FANTASTIC

What a humbling trip

To stand in the birthplace of the Olympic games, surrounded by all that history and thats not to mention the fact that its the site of one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

I admit its a long day but its so worth it, even the restauant we were brought to was delicous not the happiest of staff but I didn't care as long as they fed me and made sure my Mythos was cold

we went on monday 27th june, the trip was nothing but a money making trip for the guide Gina, nice enough lady but it seemed that any of the shops you visited all you had to do was mention her name and you would been given discount. The day went as followed left hotel 6.55am got to boat, left habour 8.30am arrived Greece around 11am 30mins to Olympia, 1 hour at ruins (really nice there, wish we had spent more time here), 40mins in museum, Met up with Gina 1.30pm followed her to center of town (one main street) and there we had 2.30 hours to do as we wanted, as there was only gift shops and cafes and it was so hot all you could really do was spend money . Forgot to mention that on the boat going out there they told us it was going to be 9 euros each to visit Ruins and Museum. Left Olymipa 4pm back to boat for the 2.30 hour trip back, this was the best part of day as me and my partner sat on life jacket boxes and had legs over side of boat, and we were graced by a pair of Dolphins for a short time. We got back to hotel 7.30pm long day.

We did the Olympia trip on 18 June 2005.

 Cavo Grosso is the worst travel agent on the island. Do not book any thing with them. They may seduce you with attractive prices but their organisation is terrible and Harry at Tsilivi is just interested in parting you from your money. We ended having our trip cancelled by the receptionist at the nearest hotel,because the bus was full.

Gwyneth, we totally agree with your comment, we visited on 23rd.  On our return to Zante, we learnt that we could have gone back into the Museum even after visiting the Restaurant (of which we felt had poor selection on the menu, we ended up going to a snack bar in the town).  We only got 10 mins Freetime in the Museum, we really needed more, even so, we DID learn a lot.  We found the shops to be rather on the expensive side & would rather have had more time in the Ancient Site.  After all, it was SUPPOSED to be a Cultural NOT Shopping Trip !! Anyone reading this, we sincerely hope it prepares you better for when you go.

Very good trip, early start but well worth it, we could have done with more time at Olympia and less down in the village as we're not into buying souvenirs.

 Did this trip with my wife last May, booked through Tsilivi Travel--Zakynthos Holidays [akis-125@otenet.gr].
Picked up around 07:00am - Various other pick ups before arriving at Zante Port for Ferry - Total mix up of ferry tickets took about 40 mins to sort out - Ferry very good standard and new (I am told that there are others that are not as good!) - 1hr 15mins crossing on ferry - Coach pick up on arrival about 1hr 30 mins to Olympia town and historical site. Guided tour round site was excellent with a guide that really knew his stuff! - Tour of Museum which is very new and displays were good but were rushed round to get back on bus - Short drive to Olympia Town and a restaurant of their choice up a steep hill, don't recommend this as food and choices were poor and not cheap, suggest you ask the driver to drop you off in the square area of the town there are a 2 or 3 restaurants here that are nice and reasonable priced - After lunch you have about 1hr to stroll around the town and shops, this takes about 10 mins as there is nothing much to visit! - then back on coach taking the same time back to the ferry where you arrive with about an hour to spare before sailing back to Zante and then the reverse drop offs before arriving back about 8:00pm - All in All well worth doing if you are interested in historical sites and possibly Greek Mythology! - This is obviously an open historic site so it's hot - wear a hat and load up with water!

We went to olympia on the day trip through sunsets. It was an early pick up although they were late. When we got to the boat, the covered deck was already full and we had to sit up on the top, which is covered with a tarpaulin cover. It was absolutly freezing and the ferry journey was an extra 15 minutes long due to bad weather conditions. The trip itself was quite interesting but it was a long day and at some points quite boring. One point after we had paid a small fortune to our holiday rep, we got on the bus only to be told that we still had to pay another 15 euros to get into the site. The rep had not mentioned this to us at any point and also we could not find any mention of it in any of the brouchures. Although it is not a lot of money, I still feel we should have been told as the trip cost 80euros in the first place.

Booked the trip via Laganas travel agent (much cheaper than hotel rep.). An early coach pickup (about 7am) necessary to take us to the Zakynthos Harbour (make sure which coach company is taking you) but good ferry trip (about 1 hour) from Zakynthos to Kilini on mainland Greece, followed by 60km coach to Olympia. Excellent archaeological site with a lot of remains to see, followed by tour inside nearby modern museum. Very good guide, lasted about 2 hours. Not so suitable for youngsters unless they're keen on history. Walk/run on the original 2300 year old Olympic track!!
Time for a bit of shopping afterwards, though much the same as in other tourist resorts.

This is one of the longest day trips you set out for about 7.30 8.00 oclock time and the ferry over takes over an hour, the trip was good the guide was making what could of been an interesting day boring droning on and on.
Its worth going if you like that sort of thing.

"There is nothing to see, only ruins"????????!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, but does anyone really expect to see anything else? A beautiful place, and an all round lovely day out. Dont bother going if youre not interested in history, as thats all you get. An exceptional excavation considering the wars/earthquakes/many centuries that the place has been through.

this trip is to the birth place of the olympics. we booked this with our rep and cost 40 euros only 5 more than the travel shops and you get your money back if the trip is cancelled. we got picked up at tsilivi at 6.50 (but it didnt come till 7.10) and got back at 6.30 pm. the worst parts about the trip is the travelling on the boat to the mainland which takes 1 hour and a half and then the bus journey to olympia which take an hour and ten mins. if it wasn't for the guide this trip wouldn't be good, he walks and talks you around the ruins and you get half an hour free time at the end to look around. after this you get about 2 hours to look around the shops and have something to eat. in our opinion this was too long. we did enjoy this trip it was very interesting and informative. we would recommend.

THERE IS NOTHING TO SEE. ONLY RUINS. YOU NEED A WILD IMAGINATION AND A GOOD STORY TELLER GUIDE. IT WAS NICE TRIP THOUGH, TO AN ANCIENT HISTORICAL SITE.

A fasinating trip - really enjoyed it.

Look around for the best deal. We were staying in Kalamaki and the cheapest we found was 29 euros compared to 40 with the travel rep.

Would have been better if you could attended the museum before the site as it has a model of how it once looked. It is difficult to imagine when looking around the ruins before hand, so can not fully appreciate.

WELL WORTH THE MONEY REALLY INTERESTING AND EDUCATIONAL. I WENT BECAUSE MY GIRLFRIEND WANTED TO BUT CAME AWAY ENJOYING IT AS MUCH AS SHE DID

During my stay in Zante, I went on this trip with my family. This is the trip of a lifetime and I would definately recommend it to anyone. The archaological site was very interesting even though you're only looking at ancient ruins. Not alot of people can say they've been to a place like Olympia so it's definately worth going to if you get the chance.

The only bad thing about the trip was the early morning and the restaurant that that tour guide recommends to you after you've been to visit the site. The food was expensive and they don't have a wide range of stuff, ie for children! The shops were all similar to each other so you do get kind of bored with them all after a certain length of time.

Overall I had an excellent time and I would tell anyone to go and visit it even if they're not exactly into history.

we booked this trip through peter in argasi, and had marvelous time crossing the ionion sea takes an hour and 15 mins then a bus trip of about another hour to the Olympic site. you visit the "Olympic site" the first one of all time!!! then on to the museum. Each has an small additional charge about 2euros (kids under 18 go free) and if you pay for both the museum and the site at the same time you get a slight discount. The on site guide was fantastic, with loads and loads of info. All in all the trip was brilliant....... if the guide says NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY in the museum, please do as he/she asks, High intensity flash light will damage the statues in the long term, so respect what you are looking at. Just turn the flash off on your camera there is enough room lighting for the pictures to still come out clear enough.... or just sneak one.... very interesting day

Very impressed by the ancient Olympia site itself, but the town leaves a lot to be desired. Our site guide Nicki was excellent, and made the visit round the ancient ruins and sights all the more enjoyable.