AMAZING Athens Tours GreeceAcropolis Hill Athens

How Much of Athens Can You See on a Cruise Stop? Plans for 6 and 9 Hours

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Most cruise ships stay in Piraeus for 8 to 10 hours. Take away the time to get off the ship and back on, and you have about 5 to 7 hours in Athens. Here is what fits, without rushing back to the gangway.

With about 6 hours ashore

  • The Acropolis: allow about 1.5 hours on the hill.
  • The Acropolis Museum at the foot of the hill: about 75 minutes.
  • Lunch and a walk in Plaka or the little lanes of Anafiotika.
  • A drive past the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Panathenaic Stadium and Syntagma Square, if you are travelling by car.

Our Athens Half Day tour covers the main sights in about 5 hours, door to door from your ship.

With about 9 hours ashore

Add more of the city, or head out of it:

  • The changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Lycabettus Hill for the view, and the National Archaeological Museum or the Ancient Agora.
  • Or the coast road to Cape Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon, with the Acropolis in the morning: our Athens and Cape Sounion tour lasts about 8 to 9 hours.
  • Or the Corinth Canal and Ancient Corinth after Athens: the Athens and Corinth Tour, also about 8 to 9 hours.

Leave a safety margin

Whatever you choose, plan to be back at the port well before the all-aboard time. Traffic around Piraeus can be slow, and the walk to the outer terminals is long. With a private driver, the timing is planned around your ship and you are driven straight to your terminal.

See all our private Athens shore excursions from Piraeus.

Beyond Athens: Day Trips That Fit a Cruise Stop in Piraeus

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Video by GNTO

Seen Athens before, or just want the sea and the countryside? Several of Greece’s great sights are within reach of Piraeus in a single port day. The key is choosing a trip that matches the hours your ship is in port.

Half-day trips (about 5 hours)

  • Cape Sounion: the coast road along the Athenian Riviera to the Temple of Poseidon on its cliff above the sea.
  • Ancient Corinth and the Corinth Canal: the canal cut through the rock, then the Temple of Apollo and the city where Saint Paul preached.
  • Marathon and Rhamnus: the battlefield of 490 BC, the Marathon Run Museum and the temples of Rhamnus.

Full port days (about 8 to 9 hours)

Trips that need more time

Delphi takes about 8 to 9 hours, and Meteora and Olympia about 10 to 12 hours each. They rarely fit a normal port day, but they are perfect before or after your cruise if you stay a night or two in Athens. See our Delphi Tour and Meteora in a Day.

How it works

Every trip is private, in a Mercedes with your own English-speaking driver, who meets you at your cruise terminal and plans the day around your ship’s all-aboard time. Licensed guides for the archaeological sites can be added on request. See all our private shore excursions from Piraeus.

Parthenon at The Acropolis Hill, Athens Greece

What to See on the Acropolis: A Short Guide to the Monuments

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The Acropolis, the “high city”, is a rocky hill in the middle of Athens crowned by the finest buildings of the ancient Greek world. Most of what you see today was built in the 5th century BC, in the Golden Age of Athens under Pericles, and the whole site has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. Here is what to look for as you walk up.

The Propylaea: the gateway

You enter through the Propylaea, the monumental gateway built in 437 to 432 BC. Its marble columns frame the first view of the Parthenon, exactly as the ancient builders intended.

The Temple of Athena Nike

On a bastion to the right of the gateway stands the small, elegant Temple of Athena Nike, Athena as goddess of victory. Built around 420 BC with slender Ionic columns, it is one of the jewels of the hill.

The Parthenon

The Parthenon, the great temple of Athena, was built between 447 and 432 BC by the architects Iktinos and Kallikrates, with sculpture overseen by Pheidias. Its Doric columns look perfectly straight, but they lean and swell very slightly to correct optical illusions. Restoration work has been going on for decades, so you will usually see some scaffolding.

The Erechtheion and the Caryatids

Across from the Parthenon is the Erechtheion, a temple linked to the oldest cults of Athena and Poseidon. Its famous porch is held up by six marble maidens, the Caryatids. The ones on the hill are copies: five of the originals are in the Acropolis Museum, and the sixth is in the British Museum in London.

The theatres on the slopes

From the top you look down on the Theatre of Dionysus on the south slope, where the plays of Sophocles and Euripides were first performed, and on the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, a Roman theatre from AD 161 that still hosts summer concerts. To the west is the Areopagus, the rocky hill where the ancient council met.

Before you go

Tickets are sold by timed entry slot, and the quietest time is the 8:00 opening. For tickets, opening hours and tips for avoiding the cruise crowds, read our Acropolis tips for cruise passengers. To see the original sculptures, finish your visit at the Acropolis Museum at the foot of the hill.

Visit with us

Our Athens Private Walking Tour takes you around the Acropolis with a licensed guide. If you prefer a private driver for the day, the Athens Half Day tour and the Athens Day Tour start with the Acropolis, and a licensed guide can be added on request. Arriving by cruise ship? See our private shore excursions from Piraeus.