March 12th 2014, I came across PinayFlyingHigh‘s blog post on her travels in 2013. I saw the photo of Meteora and immediately fell in love 🙂 Mental note added : Need to go there some day.

So when we were planning our trip to Greece, I said to G, we have to go there, we have to go there! Now if you’re flying to Athens it’s actually quite, or should I say, very far (6 hours drive) to get to Meteora. There are a few ways to do it more leisurely, but as we didn’t have much time, some googling about landed me on Viator.com’s 2-day Trip option.

Would I recommend you to go there? Definitely. Would I recommend you to do it through Viator in the 2-day option? Err, I’ll say it isn’t for everyone ay. We overheard a lot of couples complaining about it on the bus, haha. Just read through the itenary clearly so you know what you’re signing up to, and in a nutshell :

You’ll get

• 2-hour drive to Delphi from Athens, and if your hotel is not in their pick-up list you’ll need to find your way there in the morning
• You spend about 2 hours in Delphi, as the guide takes you through a walking tour and then you get free time to explore

• It’s another 4-hour drive to Kalambaka for an overnight, and if you opt for the 3-star hotel you can easily explore the lil town
• Next day, the guide will take you through a few monasteries and you will end up taking a million photos because it’s just so beautiful 🙂 Pictures can’t do this place justice. Wish it was clear blue skies when we went though!

• It’s a 6-hour drive back to Athens, with a few stops in between.

To me, that was enough 🙂 I was just extremely overjoyed to be there, to see it with my own eyes. The size of the rocks, the monasteries perched above, it’s just so beautiful. 

Tips

• Bring a book, music, portable phone charger, as it’s a long bus ride
• You probably can’t choose your guide, so if you’re unlucky you might get this lady who seems like she absolutely hates her job and has zero patience 😉 She got told off by one of the other ladies on the bus at one point, and there were many times where groups of women were just complaining about how rude she was. Lol. We just found it so funny. 
• Bring good walking shoes, you’re gonna be walking on a lot of rocks
• As you would do when you go on long tours, pack a lot of snacks
• There are two hotel options when you book, one is 3-star (Orfeas Hotel) and the other is 4-star (Amalia Hotel). If you’re keen to explore Kalambaka at night I suggest you opt for Orfeas. It’s pretty alright. Dinner is included which is great, and they put you with the other guests who stay there so you get to talk to other people and be social 😉 Waves to Eric and Amy from San Diego and Huang and Wong in Beijing 🙂 Breakfast is alright as well. Enough. Amalia is probably a bit more luxurious but not of walking distance to the town.

Many thanks to Pinayflyinghigh for inspiring me to go there 🙂 *Waves from Dubai* I’ll extend my thanks to the first guide who walked us through Delphi, she was extremely patient and clear. No comment on the second guide, haha. 

• 2-Day Trip to Delphi and Meteora