11 Day Tour in Santorini, Mykonos, Paros, Naxos: A Greek Islands Hopping Tour

Customer Reviews

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  Danny

  · June 13th, 2025
  I did a 16 day custom Tour in Greece with Private Tours Greece.My initial 2020 (Greece trip) with PTG was cancelled due to COVID. On 12/9/2025, I contacted PTG to go ahead with the trip and sent them (12/10) the itinerary which was very nearly complete. This was a disastrous mistake as the company, as I would soon learn, had drastically changed. I did not receive the final itinerary, still with errors and incomplete, until 4/15, 4 months later and 3 weeks before the trip. This was after I had written to PTG (on 4/11): “I am still waiting for the corrected final version of the itinerary. You sent me the last itinerary almost a month ago at which time I sent you a list of the errors in that itinerary. This list was a copy of the previously sent list of itinerary errors, as the last itinerary included the same errors as the previous itinerary. Since then I have not heard back and have not received a final corrected itinerary. If you have discarded/cannot find this list, let me know and I’ll send it a third time.” For months, I was receiving “corrected” itineraries with repeated errors, newly introduced errors, missing/incomplete information and scheduling issues. As an example, visits to a site were scheduled on a day or time when the site was closed. Because of an error made on a previous day of scheduling many items on my visit in Thessaloniki had to be crammed into one day leading the driver to share with me during the trip that he did not know how we could do it (a concern I had previously voiced, 1/13 to PTG). Together, he and I managed to revise the day’s scheduling and planning to make it work. Due to the protracted time of non-responsiveness and numerous iterations of itineraries, with repeated and new errors, I had to change my planned trip from April to May. I had repeatedly asked for names and phone numbers of my drivers in advance of pick up so I would be ready (wake up on time, etc.) and be able to contact/set up location pick-up if/when necessary. On April 23, less than 2 weeks before my trip PTG tells me: “Two days prior to your arrival, I will send you the contact details of the driver who will meet you at the airport. For the following day in Athens, I will also inform you of the assigned driver two days in advance.” As might be expected, at this point, neither happened. I arrive in Athens airport and text PTG while I am in customs asking again for the airport driver name and phone number. I am sent a name and phone number. When I meet the airport driver this is not his name or phone number. When I share the correct name of the driver and information with PTG the response I receive is “Ooooo yes I am sorry.” For the entire trip I never receive the driver’s name and contact information without first (often repeatedly) having requested it. One of many examples: I was hiking from Fira to Oia (Santorini). I needed to know the driver and his contact information as I need to schedule a pick-up time and place after the hike, especially since later that day I had to get to the airport for my return flight to Athens. I contacted PTG and am told to contact “Lucas”. Who is “Lucas”?, I ask and I am told to look at my itinerary. Well, Lucas does not appear on my itinerary. I am then told that the “emergency number” for Santorini is Lucas whom I need to contact to find out who is my driver. Somehow, I am supposed to divine that an emergency number is the number to call to find out who my driver is, particularly irksome in that I had been told that I would be told in advance whom my driver was. For the entire trip, I had to repeatedly request this information, which was never provided me in advance and without my having to ask for it. This is not conducive to enjoying your trip when spending a lot of time text messaging various parties just to find out the driver and contact information which should have been provided without having to constantly request it. Three (3) days of my itinerary in Greece was spent on Mt. Athos, which involved no services from PTG as it was planned and run by another tour company which received, from me, its respective payment. In addition, I decided, early on and shared with PTG, that it made more sense to tour Athens on my own and I did not need a driver from PTG, for it is best to learn the city by walking it. Thus, 5 days of PTG driving in Athens was reduced to 5 hrs. (4hrs on Day 14 and airport, Day 16). Accordingly, 6 days (Days 4-8 and day 12) involved a PTG driver, with days 13 (Santorini) and 16 (Athens) adding an airport driver and day 14 (Athens) 4hrs driving. Thus, additional driving totaling @ 6.5 hrs. So, services from PTG was 6 days and @6.5 hrs. 8+ days, either being on Mt. Athos or on my own in Athens, both involved no services from PTG. However, I did not see any corresponding reduction in price when 5 days of PTG driving in Athens was reduced to 5 hrs. When I shared this with PTG I was told I would need to speak to the “finances director”, but that he was not available. I asked several times when he would be available and received no response. When I shared with PTG a chart delineating the services they were providing me according to the itinerary and asked them to provide the respective costs of each, I was told that they don’t do that. This is from my e-mail to them on 3/22: “Yesterday, I sent you an e-mail that quoted your statement ‘In your 20-day trip, if we exclude the 3 days in Athos, the arrangements with us cover 17 days with cost of 7.780€ ’ (“20-day trip is a mistake”, it was a 16 day trip, May 6-21,but again errors were made throughout). I proceeded to explain: “It is actually 6 days and @ 6.5 hrs. So, not 17 days with a cost of 7.780 € but almost a 1/3rd of that, 6+ days with a cost of 7.780 €. The main error, it appears, is that when 5 days of driving in Athens was reduced to 5 hrs. in Athens (4hrs on May 19 and airport), no corresponding reduction in price was made and the price remained at 7.780 €. If you or your finance director has not looked at the chart sent March 15 please do so. “ 17 days with cost of 7.780€ ” is very different than 6 days and @6.5hrs. with cost of 7.780€. This would constitute paying Private Tours Greece for 10+ days for no service at all. If I am missing something in my calculations, please let me know, as I am happy to pay for services rendered, but I believe all would agree that no one should pay for services not rendered. This was not addressed by the “finances director” from whom I never heard or from anyone at PTG. It should be added that the only service I was receiving was a driver. I arranged and paid for my own hotels (after reading the disappointing reviews of customers regarding the hotels PTG had selected and seeing this myself when I looked up the hotels that they said they would book), site tickets and meals and made clear that there should be no guides. Accordingly, by my computing (and, again, I welcomed a delineation from PTG but it was not forthcoming) I was paying $250+ an hour for a driver! Internal flights based on the airline website were not substantial and here too PTG did not provide the cost amount to me. In addition, initially PTG was to have a driver from Santorini airport to the hotel; however, the hotel offered to pick me up for free, when I shared this with PTG they did not deduct their airport pick up cost from what I was being charged. This, unfortunately, is the tip of the iceberg. Unneeded stress in planning/finalizing an itinerary with continuous repeating of mistakes and needing to constantly contact someone to receive information I should have been provided in advance or at least during the trip without having to chase after people. I have used travel companies in many travels throughout the world and none of them have approached PTG in terms of lack of responsiveness/responsibility, no transparency and gross ineptitude. No doubt, this will be further demonstrated by a “response” from PTG that it is all a misunderstanding and can, somehow, be explained. I wish this were so, but all that has transpired, only a small part of which is shared here, indicates otherwise and has led me to share this with you so you might avoid what has been a truly trying and negative experience. Greece itself and all its people that I met are wonderful!
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  Private Tours Greece commented on this review

  Daniel, The fact that you chose to post your review on every available online platform — despite not having made your booking through any of them — clearly indicates a targeted intent to discredit our company. Your actions go well beyond the bounds of... Show more
  Trip date: May 2025
• XC

  Xiaoqing

  · May 17th, 2025
  Only thing I do not understand what is service fee added to my account, we always gave tips to whoever served us.
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  Trip date: May 2025
• MW

  Marcy

  · November 3rd, 2024
  We had an excellent time in Greece thanks to TourRadar. Everything ran smooth. Occasionally, the driver was a little late or the hotel did not give us a change in departure information but nothing was missed. We upgraded to the 5-star rooms and semi/private options and were not disappointed. You can read more about our trip on my blog marcywood.com Enjoyed the controlled chaos adventure of the ferry boats, and they booked our flight out of Santorini when the ferries went on strike. Everything was taken care of and we just had to show up.
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  Private Tours Greece commented on this review

  Dear Marcy, Thank you for your wonderful review! We’re so happy to hear you had a great time in Greece and enjoyed the upgrades and experiences. We truly appreciate your kind words and are glad everything went smoothly. We hope to welcome you again for... Show more
  
  Trip date: October 2024
• LJ

  lyn

  · April 19th, 2024
  Well organised, timely pick ups, great clean...
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  Trip date: March 2024
• DS

  Dimitri

  · August 17th, 2023
  Very good experience and they were very...
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  Private Tours Greece commented on this review

  Dear Dimitris, Thank you for your review! We're delighted to hear you had a very good experience and that our team ensured a worry-free trip for you. We appreciate your positive feedback!
  Trip date: August 2023
• TG

  Thomas

  · May 4th, 2023
  Things went pretty much as expected, except for...
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  Private Tours Greece commented on this review

  Dear Thomas, Thank you for your valuable feedback! It is really important to us!
  Trip date: April 2023