Kalamata Shore Excursions & Kalamata Tours - Ancient Messene, Sparta, Mystras & the Peloponnese
Kalamata is the capital of the Messenia region on the southwestern Peloponnese - a city known worldwide for its olives but positioned at the gateway to some of the most historically layered landscapes in Greece. The Peloponnese peninsula holds the ruins of ancient Sparta, the Byzantine ghost city of Mystras, and Ancient Messene - arguably the best-preserved ancient Greek city in the world, with its 9-kilometre defensive walls still largely intact. Kalamata shore excursions from Private Shore Trips are private guided day tours on land with a licensed English-speaking guide and private vehicle exclusively for your group. Our most popular Kalamata tour is the Ancient Messene private shore excursion - a 4-hour half-day visit to the ancient city of Messene, founded by the Theban general Epaminondas in 369 BC after the defeat of Sparta, and considered by many archaeologists to be the most completely preserved classical Greek city anywhere. The site encompasses a vast theatre, an odeon, a sanctuary of Asclepius, a gymnasium, and the famous Arcadian Gate - a double-circuit gate tower whose ashlar masonry is among the finest surviving examples of ancient Greek military architecture. For guests who want to combine ancient Sparta with Byzantine Mystras, our Sparta and Mystras private shore excursion is a 5.5-hour tour covering the archaeological site of ancient Sparta - the most powerful city-state in classical Greece, whose military culture produced the soldiers of Thermopylae - and the UNESCO World Heritage site of Mystras, a fortified Byzantine city abandoned in the 19th century and preserved almost intact on the slopes of Mount Taygetos.
For guests who prefer medieval history to ancient ruins, our Fort Neokastro and Methoni Castle private shore excursion explores two of the finest Venetian and Ottoman fortifications on the Peloponnese coast - the 16th-century Fort Neokastro in Pylos, guarding the bay where the Battle of Navarino ended Ottoman naval power in 1827, and the vast Methoni Castle on its sea-girt promontory, one of the longest-continuously-occupied fortifications in the Mediterranean. All Kalamata shore excursions include a licensed English-speaking guide, a private vehicle, and our back-to-ship guarantee. Reserve with a $50 deposit.
