Athens Private Full Day Tour: Acropolis, Plaka & Museum
The Parthenon, the Panathenaic Stadium, and four thousand years of stone in one day.
A private full-day tour of Athens with a professional English-speaking driver covers the Acropolis, Panathenaic Stadium, Mount Lycabettus, Plaka, the Ancient Agora and the Acropolis Museum. The driver navigates the route and provides historical context. You choose the group size (1 to 15 guests) and can add a licensed guide inside the sites for deeper interpretation. Lunch at a traditional Greek restaurant is on your own. Entrance fees and gratuities are separate.
Step-by-step itinerary
Athens full day city tour
- Visit the Acropolis and Parthenon
- Pass by the Temple of Olympian Zeus
- Stop at Panathenaic Stadium
- Visit Greek Parliament building
- Watch Changing of the Guard ceremony
- Drive along Panepistimiou Street
- Stop at Lycabettus Hill viewpoint
- Lunch in Plaka neighborhood
- Walk through Plaka and Ancient Agora
- Visit the Acropolis Museum
- Acropolis 1h 30m
- Herakleidon Museum passing by
- Olympic Stadium 15m
- Parliament Building 10m
- Changing of the Guard Ceremony 15m
- Academy of Athens 5m
- Mount Lycabettus 10m
- Plaka 1h
- Ancient Agora of Athens 45m
- Acropolis Museum 1h
What’s included
- Private air-conditioned Mercedes vehicle with a professional English-speaking driver.
- bottled water.
- optional advance ticket booking to skip queues at the Acropolis, Ancient Agora and Acropolis Museum.
- infant car seats and wheelchair accessibility upon request.
- Every day 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00
Information
Private full-day tour of Athens with English-speaking driver, starting at the Acropolis and ending at the museum after lunch in Plaka.
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The experience
The day starts at the Acropolis, where the Parthenon sits on the sacred rock alongside the Temple of Wingless Victory, the Erechtheum with its famous Caryatides statues, and the Theatre of Dionysus. Your driver waits outside while you walk the site. If you want someone to explain what you're standing in front of, a licensed guide can join you for an additional fee. From there, you pass the Temple of Olympian Zeus (once 104 columns of marble, now half-ruined), and stop at the Panathenaic Stadium, the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble and home to the first modern Olympics in 1896.
The route then takes you to Syntagma Square to watch the Changing of the Guard in front of Parliament, then along Panepistimiou Street past the Academy of Athens, the University and the National Library: three neoclassical mansions built in the 19th century and known together as the "neo-classical trilogy." You climb Mount Lycabettus for panoramic views of downtown Athens and its suburbs before heading to Plaka for lunch at a traditional Greek restaurant. The neighborhood itself (oldest and most famous part of the city) is where you'll walk past neoclassical buildings and small shops after eating.
After lunch, the Acropolis Museum is the final stop. Opened in 2009 and located under the south slope of the Acropolis, it holds over 4,000 exhibits of pediment sculptures, reliefs and statues from the sacred rock. Your driver stays with the vehicle. The museum is yours to explore. The whole day runs eight hours, and you can skip ticket booth lines with advance booking.
Top questions
What's inside the Acropolis that makes it worth the climb?
The Acropolis houses the Parthenon, the Temple of Wingless Victory, the Erechtheum with its Caryatides statues, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus (a 5,000-seat Roman theatre still used for music festivals), and the Theatre of Dionysus where Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides and Aristophanes were performed to ancient Athenians.
Can the driver come inside the museums and archaeological sites with me?
Your English-speaking driver is not licensed to accompany you inside the Acropolis, the Ancient Agora, or the Acropolis Museum. If you want guided interpretation at those sites, you can arrange a licensed professional guide for an additional fee, payable in cash.
Does the tour include lunch?
Lunch at a traditional Greek restaurant in Plaka is part of the itinerary but not included in the tour price. You pay for your meal separately.
What is the Panathenaic Stadium and why does it matter?
The Panathenaic Stadium, also called Kallimarmaro, is the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble. It hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and remains a multi-purpose venue.
How many people can book this tour together?
You can choose a private tour for 1 to 3 guests, 4 to 7 guests, 8 to 11 guests, or 12 to 15 guests. Each group size travels in its own vehicle with its own driver.
What does Mount Lycabettus offer, and is it worth the stop?
Mount Lycabettus is one of the city's highest viewpoints and offers one of the best panoramic views of downtown Athens and its suburbs: a natural break in the day to see the scale of what you've been walking through.
Operated by H.P.Tours - Hellenic Private Tours. Explorevia does not run this tour: we compare it with similar options, and you book it with our booking partner.
Prices and times updated today
Athens Private Full Day Tour: Acropolis, Plaka & Museum
8h–9h · EN · at your hotel
from € 211.54 per person
≈ US$ 238 in your currency
Next, you choose your date and number of travelers and see the final price.