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Tour Options from Athens to Delphi

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How to Get from Athens to Delphi

Delphi was the mystical centre of the ancient world, a place where pilgrims paid homage to Apollo and the heads of all the city-states that made up classical Greece, consulted the famous Oracle. It is located 180km away from Athens, towards the centre of the mainland, amongst the slopes of Mount Parnassus thus making it one the most popular day trips from Athens. There are five ways that you can get a day trip to Delphi from Athens. These include: a Welcome Pickups tour, a local taxi transfer, a private bus tour, the public KTEL coach or your own car rental. 

 

delphi-2019

Delphi Archaeological Site

 

Comparison of the options

OPTION PRICE DURATION AVAILABILITY ADVANDANGES
Welcome Pickups €335 9 Hr 24/7 Private & Customisable with an English Speaking driver
Taxi €300 150 Min 24/7 Private Ride
Coach €100 (per person) 10 Hr Once per day Official tour guide
Public Bus €32.80 180 Min Four per day Cheapest Option
Car Hire €100-€140 180 Min All day Comfortable & Private

Welcome Pickups Tour from Athens to Delphi

Take a day trip to Delphi from Athens with Welcome and your own English-speaking, professional driver to discover the beauty of the Greek countryside. Start by being picked up at your chosen pickup point in a new car with all the comforts you need. Greet your friendly driver before heading off on your own 180km pilgrimage to Delphi. Our private tour is comprised of six recommended location stops, along with the many personal stops you can choose for photograph opportunities or to satisfy your own curiosity. Your driver is knowledgeable about the area and will teach you about the history and modern culture along the way. Of course this is route fully customisable, just let your driver know at the beginning. 

Recommended Tour Stops

  • Byzantine monastery Hosios Loukas, a listed UNESCO world heritage site 
  • The archaeological site of Delphi. This is where the Temple of Apollo and the Sanctuary of the Oracle are located. 
  • The Ancient Theatre, with 35 rows and the capacity for over 5000 spectators. 
  • Archaeological Museum of Delphi, one of the most visited museums in Greece and home to the amazing artifacts of the site’s excavations. 
  • Authentic Greek taverna with your driver for the best of local Greek cuisine.
  • The picturesque village of Arachova, nestled in the Parnassus mountains.

The total duration of the Delphi day tour from Athens will be 9 hours and you can arrange to do what you want within that time frame. It is available every day of the week, beginning at the time of your choosing. Please note that whilst your driver is a knowledgeable and friendly local, he is not a licensed tour guide. If you wish to organise a licensed tour guide, you will have to do this separately.

How Much Will It Cost?

The complete package for a Sedan costs €335 (up to 4 travellers) and €470 for a minivan, which can accommodate from 5 to 9 people. Moreover, there’s an option for groups of 9-12 at €540, and at €650 for 13-17 passengers. However, these prices don’t include the local entrance fees to historical sites. Booking your Delphi tour with Welcome Pickups is extremely simple and you can do so on our website.

Where Do I Get It From?

Your Welcome driver can pick you up from wherever you choose, Welcome is a door-to-door service! Just let us know in advance when and where you would like to be picked up, and after an initial friendly introduction, you and your driver can be on your way for your Delphi day trip. When you return your driver will drop you off wherever you choose in the city centre or at your accommodation.

Convenience

Everything is fully arranged with Welcome to bring you the highest level of convenience from start to end. Your transport is door-to-door, your driver is your private tour guide, your ride is comfortable and has everything you need, including wifi. You can be sure right from the beginning that with Welcome you are getting the best of everything and can leave any concern back home. 

Editor’s Note

Welcome drivers are truly kind, friendly, professional and embody the Greek spirit of filoxenia, roughly translated to hospitality. The customer service with Welcome is second to none.

Local Taxi from Athens to Delphi

Throughout the centre of Athens is the network of over 14,000 taxis that are very easy to find and hail down. This is an option that could get you directly from Athens to Delphi. Taxis are bright yellow and ubiquitous, making them extremely easy to find, particularly in the centre of Athens. Taxis operate 24/7, so you could take one whenever you choose. There are a number of taxi ranks or collection points in central locations throughout Athens, particularly around Syntagma Square and Acropolis. When you return, your taxi can drop you off at your preferred location.

 

Athens-Taxi

Athens Taxi

How Much Will a Taxi Cost?

Athenean taxis run on a meter. The initial cost of the taxi is €1.29, then the meter cost per kilometre is €0.74 during the day and €1.29 during the night. This cost does increase outside of the city limits. With a 180km journey, the cost is likely to be approximately €150 each way. This cost is subject to change, due to traffic, time of the day and even depending on the day of the year. Journey time for the trip from Athens to Delphi with a taxi will likely be 2.5 hours. A radio phone ordered taxi is likely to cost considerably more. If you wish to have a tour guide in Delphi, you will also need to privately hire one. This is, again, going to add an extra cost. 

Where Can I Get a Taxi From?

A taxi can be hailed on the streets or found at one of the taxi ranks or collections points around the centre of the city. If you wish to order a taxi for the journey, we suggest contacting SATA. SATA is the official Athens Taxi Union and is the most reliable place to order a taxi from. Unfortunately, the website is available in the Greek language only.

 

Convenience

If you can find a hail-down taxi that will take you to Delphi, then this will be a convenient way to get there. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to be so easy on the return journey back to Athens, and so may cause unnecessary stress. Alternatively, hiring a pre-arranged taxi can be very expensive and needs extra negotiation. On top of that, if you want a Delphi tour, you will have to hire an official tour guide in Delphi which is extra money and extra searching. 

Editor’s Note

SATA has a strict code of professional conduct for taxi drivers that they must obey. However, the professionalism of the driver that you hail on the street is down to luck. If they actively attempt to scam you, always get an official meter receipt and report them to the police. The department dealing with these issues is at: HQ of Traffic Department of Athens (Trochaia Athinon) 24 Th. Deligianni Street, Metaxourgeio, 10438.

Organised Coach Trip from Athens to Delphi

There are many organised coach tours from Athens to Delphi. With this option, your chosen company will arrange a coach to transport you and other passengers on the tour to Delphi. Most of these tours have an included tour guide, providing information about the various locations along the way. Some also include stop-offs at various locations of interest en route to Delphi. The tour will take around 3 hours each way, with a 10-hour total time. Pickup is usually around 08:30 at a meeting point in central Athens which is usually a metro station, and return time is around 18:30.

How Much Does It Cost?

Tickets usually cost between €90-€100 per adult and around a 50% reduction for children (12 years and younger). Many bus tours also have an option for included lunch at a small extra price per person. 

How Often Do They Run?

In peak season, from April-October, there are daily tours to Delphi from Athens. Outside of those months, there are tours usually every other day: Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun. Booking can be found online from the websites of the various coach tour providers. 

Convenience

Tour buses can often pick you up at your hotel and take you to Delphi and include a licensed tour guide for while you are there. You will be provided with most of what you need for the trip included in the tour. The downsides are that the tickets can be expensive, especially when they add up to multiple party members. You will also need to depart and follow the tour’s schedule, meaning there is less flexibility to personalise the tour. 

Editor’s Note

Coach tours are very popular, particularly for people in large groups or looking for specialised language tours. Book with plenty of time in advance to make sure you can get enough tickets for your whole group.

KTEL Bus trip from Athens to Delphi

This is the national intercity coach travel service that operates throughout Greece and the Greek islands. It is undoubtedly the cheapest option to get to Delphi, with a number of services running daily. Delphi is one of the stops on the service from Athens towards the town of Fokida, so this is the bus you will want to look for at the Bus Station. The bus trip to Delphi from Athens will be 3 hours or more each way, depending on traffic.

How Often Do the Buses Run?

Services from Athens leave at: 07:30, 10:30, 15:00 and 17:30. On Fridays and Sundays only they also run a service at 20:00 (this also applies to national holidays). Buses from Delphi back to Athens are at 11:00, 16:00 and 18:00. During weekdays, there is also an early morning 05:30 bus. On the weekends there is a 07:15 early morning bus return to Athens. 

Where Can I Find the Buses?

KTEL buses leave from a specific coach station in Athens: Liosion station. This is not located in the centre of the city, but rather in Kato Patisia. To get there from Syntagma square, take the Red metro line m2 towards Anthoupoli and get off at Attiki metro station. Take the bus from Attikis bus stop northward, 4 stops to stop Ypear/Kon Liosion. The bus you take could be either: 024, 719, A10, A11, B10, B12, Γ10, Γ12. Back down the road you came from and the first right on Siokou street and the KTEL entrance should be on the left. You should arrive at the coach station with at least 15 minutes before it is due to travel. More so if you need to buy tickets. The stop to catch the bus back from Delphi to Athens is at the outside of Delphi village, where the road splits into two. There is a tavern on the opposite side of the road that also sells the bus tickets.

Convenience

It is the cheapest option for a solo traveler. Finding your way to the KTEL station from the center of Athens is unlikely to be easy and having Google maps handy is highly recommended. Drivers of the KTEL buses usually have basic standards of English and can be impatient. The buses themselves are clean but old and unappealing. It is not always very clear where to get off and be picked up for the return trip, so you will need to ask around.

Editor’s Note

Finding KTEL stations and your bus can be confusing, even for locals, so don’t be afraid to ask around. The facilities at the station are basic and the toilets in my experience were disgusting. When returning from Delphi, try to be one of the first onto the bus, particularly if you have small children, to make sure you find enough seats together.

Private Car Hire from Athens to Delphi

Car hire is another option for you to be able to drive by yourself to Delphi from Athens. This can be an exciting way for you to journey by yourself and you will have the ultimate flexibility of choosing your own route, stops and timing. You have to make sure this day tour from Athens to Delphi, is well planned, because it may not be always straightforward travelling 180km from the city centre in a foreign country, particularly if you are not used to the roads. The journey time in a private car is 150 minutes. You will need to book your car before arriving because car hire companies can be booked out a month in advance, particularly in the summer season. 

Cost of Hiring a Car

This can be relatively cheap, depending on when you book, which model you choose, your age and if you pay online or at the pick up point. Starting from €25 per day, this can easily rise to €60 per day. However, rental companies will also require a deposit on the car, which may begin from €200 but could be as much as €3000, depending on the model. You will also need to pay for petrol, which will cost around €30 each way, plus tolls on the National Highway add up to €7.15 each way. If you wish to have a private Delphi tour of the archaeological site, this will add an extra cost. Entrance fees to the archaeological site and museum will also incur an extra cost.  

Convenience

This can be a cheap option, easy to access and has the full flexibility of your own decision making regarding leaving time, amount of time spent on the total trip, routes, etc. However, it will require planning, organisation and booking in advance, particularly in higher season. You will also need to take on the responsibility for getting to Delphi yourself, which may not always be so straight forward. Furthermore, it can be stressful driving in Greece if you’re not used to it, particularly when leaving Athens. 

Editor’s Note

Driving around the centre of Athens can be difficult, with narrow roads, cars double parked and pedestrians frequently walking in the streets. There is a lot of traffic, and drivers tend to be very impatient. Having said that, once you leave the city, the scenic countryside with its mountainous terrain more than makes up for it. Having a satnav or google maps on your smartphone will be extremely helpful in getting you to Delphi.

Frequently asked questions

How far is Delphi from Athens?

The distance from Athens to Delphi is approximately 180 kilometres and it will take around 2.5 hours to get there with a car.

How to get from Athens to Delphi?

There are 5 ways to get from Athens to Delphi. These include: a private Welcome Pickups tour, a local taxi transfer, a bus tour, the public KTEL coach or your own car rental.

How much does the bus cost from Athens to Delphi?

The KTEL local bus tickets cost €16.40 one way for adults. There are also discounted tickets offered for students children and unemployed.

What is the cheapest way to get from Athens to Delphi?

The cheapest way to get to Delphi from Athens is by the national intercity bus service: KTEL. KTEL buses run daily up to 4 times.

What is the fastest way to get from Athens to Delphi?

The fastest way to get Athens city centre to Delphi is by taking a private car tour with an expert local driver. You can also choose from other options like bus tour or car rentals.

What kind of tours are available in Delphi?

Delphi tours are of the Archaeological site and the Museum, conducted by local experts. There are some extra exclusive tours of other areas of interest like the Castalian Spring.

Train or bus from Athens to Delphi?

There is no direct train from Athens to Delphi, whereas the only options is the bus that takes you directly there and runs four times per day.

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