Athens Marathon
Marathon Race Date: November 13, 2011
Run and Sail with the Gods of Greece! Our 2011 Marathon Race Package includes a day's sailing cruise in the Argo Saronic Gulf on our own fully rigged wooden sailing schooner. Maximum 30 participants -- first come, first serve.
Run the Athens Classic Marathon by booking our Marathon Race Package tour. The package provides most everything you need, including guaranteed race registration, 4 star accommodations in central Athens, Acropolis tour, Athens walking tour, pre-race pasta dinner, Nike Victory dinner, Temple of Poseidon Excursion and preview of race course. See full inclusions.
Non-runner partners welcome!
29th Athens Classic Marathon Races On November 13, 2011 there will be three separate simultaneous races: (1) the Marathon for runners and power walkers, (2) a 10 km race along the last 5km of the Marathon course, (3) a 5 km race around historic city center of Athens. There is no half-marathon race.
Marathon Related Events On November 12, 2011 the day before the Race, a symposium will be held in the town of Marathon by AIMS -- Association of International Marathons and Distance Races. There will also be the Marathon Expo at the Zappeion Exhibition Center, the same building where runners registration takes place. The Expo is open for two days prior to the Race, entrance free for all, from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm. There will also be a booth at Athens International Airport assisting travelers arriving for the Marathon.
Marathon Course Profile (opens in new window)
Marathon water and medical map (opens in new window)
| Race Package Dates | Cost Per Person | Single Supp | Non-Runner Partners | Post Race Antiquities Group Tour |
Private Post-Race Trips |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
November 9 to 14 |
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add |
same cost as package, less 80 euros for registration fee |
cost per person | cost varies by level of service and number of travel days |
All costs are in euros which is the currency of Greece. Click here for daily exchange rates
Inclusions: (open in new window)
Marathon Race Package Inclusions
Post-Race Antiquities Tour Inclusions
Athens + Antiquities Tours Map
Marathon Race Package Itinerary
All links open in new window
Day 1: Athens
Wednesday, November 9. You arrive to one of the most continuously occupied cities in the world, Athens, the capital of modern Greece. Early evening a welcome toast with light meze (Greek appetizers) and a sip of raki to get you into the spirit of Greek life.
Day 2: Athens
Thursday, November 10. Optional 30-45 minute morning run around the Acropolis pedestrian walkway. Today's highlight is a walking tour of the Acropolis with a professional guide.
Day 2: Athens
Friday, November 11 Day long sailing excursion in our traditional wooden sailing schooner, sailing the Argo Saronic Gulf. Stops include Aegina island and Corinth Canal. Lunch included.
Day 3: Athens
Saturday, November 12 Transfer to southern Attiki peninsula to admire the magnificent Temple of Poseidon. Lunch in Marathon. Visit the memorial battlefield and return to Athens via the route you will run tomorrow. Distribute race numbers in Athens. Pre-event pasta dinner.
Day 4: Athens
Sunday, November 13 Show time! Transfer to Marathon before the 9:00 am start time for runners, and 7:00 am for power walkers. As you run today's route try to imagine Phidippides and his exciting, sensational news -- Greece, the underdog and vanquished Persia, the superpower of 490 BC. Evening Nike/Victory dinner with traditional Greek music and dance.
Day 5: departure, Monday November 14
Post-Race Antiquities Tour
This may be your only chance to come to Greece. In that case, it makes sense to extend your stay after the race to visit some of Greece's most legendary archaeology sites. We offer a guided, supported Antiquities Tour in the Peloponnese that leaves the day after the race. Or we can customize a private tour for your party to Greece's best destinations in November.
Day 5: Delphi
Monday, November 14. The ancients regarded Delphi as the center of the universe. Every city-state called upon the oracle before making important decisions. She prophesized for the lives of individuals, too, if you had enough resources for the sacrifice. A tour with a professional guide enlightens you 
about this most sacred site.
Day 6: Olympia
Tuesday, November 15. The earliest recorded Olympic Games were in 796 BC, 300 centuries before the Marathon. The Temple of Zeus at Ancient Olympia, part of which is still standing, was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. A professional guide takes you around the grounds plus the museum where there is an exquisite statue of Hermes.
Day 7: Stemnitsa
Wednesday, November 16 You don't really know Greece until you spend a little time in a traditional mountain village. Stemnitsa, population 400, lies in the heart of the Arcadia mountains and abuts the verdant Lousios Gorge. An invigorating hike takes up to a monastery on the side of a cliff and the "secret school" which came about during Greece's war for independence against the Ottoman occupation in the 1820s.
Day 8: Nafplio
Thursday, November 17. Modern Greece's first capital was Nafplio, an elegant little harbor city with neo-Classical mansions and a spacious plaza. Close by is Ancient Mycenae, home of King Agamemnon who launched the Trojan War. You will marvel at his unusual beehive tomb. Tour the grounds with a professional guide.
Day 9: Nafplio
Friday, November 18. During your professional guided tour of Epidavros, you will learn that its famous theatre was not the major attraction in the ancient world as it is today. Rather, Epidavros was the largest of some 200 Asclipion centers in ancient Greece where adherents came from all over for body, mind and spirit healing, including dream therapy and rubbing snakes on their bodies. Today the outdoor Epidavros Theatre, seating 15,000, holds summer drama festivals.
Day10: departure
Saturday, November 19 Transfer to Athens Airport for flights home