School Trip Coach Hire in Athens

Athens is the single most important site for classical studies and ancient history in the school curriculum. The Acropolis of Athens (UNESCO World Heritage Site) and its museum, the National Archaeological Museum (the largest collection of ancient Greek artefacts in the world), the Ancient Agora (where Socrates walked and democracy was born), and the Panathenaic Stadium (the original Olympic stadium) are all within the city. Most are within 2 kilometres of each other in the Plaka and Thissio districts, making a single coach run from a city hotel sufficient to cover all four in a full school day.

Day trips from Athens provide exceptional curriculum depth: Delphi (180 kilometres north-west, approximately 2 hours 20 minutes) for the Sanctuary of Apollo and the Oracle; Epidaurus (150 kilometres south-west, approximately 2 hours) for the ancient theatre; and Cape Sounion (70 kilometres south, approximately 1 hour) for the Temple of Poseidon. All are accessible by coach and all offer school group discounted admission.

Acropolis, Ancient Agora, and Plaka City Sites

Coaches drop school groups at the Acropolis south-side approach on the Dionysiou Areopagitou Street (the pedestrianised archaeological promenade linking the Acropolis to the Ancient Agora, the Kerameikos cemetery, and the Thissio neighbourhood). From this drop-off point, the Acropolis entrance is a 5-minute walk uphill to the Beule Gate. School groups typically spend 1 hour 30 minutes at the Acropolis site before descending to the Acropolis Museum (200 metres from the south entrance), which has the best school group programme in Greece: the Acropolis Museum Education Programme provides guided tours for primary and secondary levels in Greek, English, and French. The Ancient Agora (500 metres west of the Acropolis) is where Athenian democracy and philosophical debate took place; the Stoa of Attalos reconstruction and the Hephaisteion (the best-preserved ancient Greek temple in the world) are the principal sites.

National Archaeological Museum

The National Archaeological Museum (Ethnikó Archaeologikó Mouseío) at Patission 44 in central Athens is the largest museum of ancient Greek artefacts in the world, holding the Mask of Agamemnon (Mycenae), the bronze Jockey of Artemision, the Antikythera Youth, and the world's largest collection of archaic kouros and kore statues. School group visits are managed through a timed-entry booking system; advance booking is essential for groups visiting between March and June. The museum has a school education department offering curriculum-linked tours in English for secondary-level groups. Coaches park on the Tositsas Street approach or in the Pedion tou Areos park parking area 300 metres north.

Delphi and Epidaurus Day Trips

Delphi (180 kilometres north-west via the A1/E75 and E65, approximately 2 hours 20 minutes by coach) is the sanctuary of Apollo where the Pythia (the Oracle of Delphi) delivered her pronouncements to ancient Greek rulers and city-states. The archaeological site (the Sacred Way, the Temple of Apollo, the Theatre, the Treasury of the Athenians) and the adjoining Delphi Museum are among the three most important ancient Greek sites outside Athens. An early departure (7am) from Athens allows 4 to 5 hours at Delphi before a lunch stop at Arachova village (10 kilometres east) and a return to Athens by 7pm. The ancient Theatre of Epidaurus (150 kilometres south-west via the A7, approximately 2 hours) is the best-preserved ancient Greek theatre in the world, with acoustic properties that make a whisper on stage audible in the top row of the 14,000-seat cavea. The Athens Epidaurus Festival holds performances here each summer.