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between 3 greece destinations...

i really want to go to greece, and incorporate it into my itinerary. I would be in greece towards the end of my trip, in november. Since for the second half of my trip i will be using a 5-country eurail select pass, i can include in greece. I find it much more convenienant to take the Superfast ferries (included in with my pass) from italy than to try to get to greece by rail. There are only 3 destinations available to me via Superfast Ferries from Bari, Italy. 1)Corfu 2)Patras 3)Igoumenitsa .. which would you more recommend more than the other. Either for history, people, land, sites... anything really.

Posted by
131 posts

brittany,
how many days will you have to spend in Greece? I haven't been to Corfu but I'm not sure November will be ideal "island" weather. I would suggest you get off in Patras and then rent a car and drive around the Pelopponeses. Mycenae is a wonderful site; Nafplion is a beautiful old city (Greece's first capital) with alot of Venetian influence. Palamidi castle is worth the 1000 step hike. Also, Epidrovos theater is 1/2 hour from Nafplion. Depending on how much time you have you could also visit the site of the ancient olympics. Monemvasia would also be a great option. Driving in this area is easy - really! If you want to go to Athens, drop of car off in Corinth and hop an easy 1 hr. bus ride. Enjoy. Let me know if you need more info.

Posted by
46 posts

Not knowing what you want to see in Greece, this is a little hard to advise on however, I will say that if you want to see Athens or the Peloponnese or the islands, none of these options are very good, all will require some sort of bus or other ferry to get to Athens, etc. Patras will get you closest to Athens and you should be able to get around the Peloponnese from Patras. Igoumenitsa, although having the greatest spanakopita in all of Greece, is only a great stop if you wish to head North to Thessaloniki or possibly Meteora. You can catch a bus to Athens from there but why add 8 hours to your trip? Corfu is great if you only really want to spend your time in Greece in Corfu (I'm assuming you are only spending a few days in Greece) because it is far from most of the rest of Greece and other central transit hubs. It is a nice island (so I hear) but won't really allow you to see the historic sites of Greece, if that is what you are interested in.

What do you want to see in Greece?

Posted by
51 posts

thanks to both of you for posting... i plan to fit in about 2-4 days maybe for greece. i've never been to greece, and don't really know much about like whether its a country with a lot of muesums, or just sites... i would be find with just seeing any sites or mueseums or even just nice scenery. I just would like to get a bit of greek culture into my itinerary. and even thou my pass offers the option of including a ferry from italy to greece, it is only to those three destinations.. just would like to know which would be the nicest to go to.

Posted by
7451 posts

Patras would be the best destination, then hop the train and a couple hours later you will be in Athens. There, you can see the Acropolis and sights, the Archeological Museum, and spend time in the Plaka eating good food and wine. In November, Athens will be active, more due to the fact that the Greek population will be returning from the islands to winter over, rather than tourists. You could explore the Peloponnese, but buses can be time consuming and driving in Greece can be a challenge for even skilled drivers. Work out the itinerary, it takes a day to get there and a day to get back, if you can't spend two days in Athens, then save it for the next trip.

Posted by
51 posts

thanks! i am going to definatly take that into consideration. so ive done some researching and i can either go to Corfu (i have a friend who is from greece that says this would be the best destination out of the 3), visit there for a day or two, then take Aegean Airlines to athens... or yes as paul stated i could also go to Patras and then rail for 3 hours to Athens.Hmm, i guess i have some more deciding to do. Which athens would definatly be a destination id like to see, its just very unconvienant to go by train there from the closest spot to my itinerary from Slovenia, which is Belgrade(serbia).. making it a 39 hour rail trip. Ugh, not up for that. .. Thanks !

Posted by
1717 posts

Hello Brittany. In November, I recommend : ride on a boat to Corfu, and fly from Corfu to Athens. I was at Greece in November (2005).