10 days in Greece: Vykos and Peloponnese

The first question is, can we do both?

Do these 10 days include arrival and departure days? If so, that would only make it 8 days.

• A stay in Athens usually requires at least 3 nights (2 days), or even more.

• It takes about a week to visit a small part of the Peloponnese by car, provided you optimize your itinerary, which is often a challenge.

• The Vykos Gorge is almost a 6-hour drive from Athens. That's one day to get there and another day to return to Athens.

You could also take a domestic flight to Ioannina (with Aegean/Olympic) and rent a car to explore the surrounding area (the Vykos Gorge is less than an hour's drive away), then take a return flight to Athens.

Draft some itineraries and calculate travel times.

Even with the best optimization, you'll see that seeing both without spending most of your time traveling is impossible, especially if you want to "slow down and just soak it all in".

I agree with JoLui that Vikos doesn’t fit well. But it goes wonderfully from Ioannina to include the gorge (plus more in the area) and Meteora. Thessaloniki could be an additional stop (or an alternative beginning) if you have closer to 2 weeks.

With just 10 days I wouldn't take the time for Vykos as mentioned it will eat up at least one day.

I assume the 10 days in includes Athens and that needs a minimum of 2 days with three better.

That doesn't leave much time for the Peloponnese

Many recommend a base in Nafplio as it's a wonderful Old Town and many important archeological/historic sites within easy driving distance.

Another great location is the Mani in southern Peloponnese. A great town to base yourself is Gythio which is lovely with a longer waterfront and nice Greek vibe.

Great to get to Mystras, the Mani and even Monemvasia plus many areas close by.

That's just a small sample as there are many other areas to explore.

I would recommend getting the Cadogan Guide to the Peloponnese as it's the best and filled with more info than any other guide.

However, it was last published in 2008 but is still relevant and the best. Available as a used book from abebooks or ebay.

It's worth the money.

I went with the Peloponnese for my first trip, and I gave Athens short shrift, just a day and night. I plan to return, and I prioritize smaller towns on vacation, so it was a good plan for me. We used the Bradt Guide.
Look at Lousios river gorge as a sub for Vikos. The hiking around Kardamyli is also great. We did a loop starting at Nafplio.
We plan to do the north next, maybe next year!

Another thought--we're of similar age and one thing I have considered in recent trip planning is to try to do more physically demanding things now while we can do them fairly easily. So, if you decide that the gorge hike is more of interest now, here is an article I have bookmarked for trip research: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250812-a-hiking-trail-linking-forty-six-ancient-greek-villages

Thank you all for this information. We admit we were falling into the first-timers’ trap of trying to see it all. However, we’re still undecided between a road trip north (or flying up and roadtripping back) and a stay on the Peloponnese. Most here seem to vote against the trip north but some of the sites and towns seem compelling. Can anyone spell out what our time on the Peloponnese might look like? We have some ideas and guidebooks but it’s hard to get a grasp of what the week could be from our armchairs.

I didn't vote against the trip to the north. I'd tend to think that 6 or 7 days would be more suitable than the Peloponnese, provided you don't want to do/see too much. But... of course, it all depends on what you mean by "north." If it only includes the Epirus region, it's almost three times smaller than the Peloponnese, so it's more manageable from a logistical point of view.

If you can catch a flight to Ioannina on the day of your arrival, you'll be right near some interesting places, enough to spend 5 or 6 days surrounded by nature. That being said, unlike the Peloponnese, you won't have the sea and its beaches, and to my knowledge, no archaeological sites either, in case that interests you.

Beware of any idea of ​​flying up and road-tripping back; you have very little chance of finding a rental company that will allow you to drop off the car far from the pickup point. And when it is possible, it's very expensive.

For example, with Europcar, the only rental company that allows this in Ioannina, you'll multiply the bill by 8 if you return the car in Athens.

Whatever advice you get about where to go, don't underestimate travel time, and above all, do your research and go where you want to go, not where you're told to go.

I admit I don’t really know what you are asking. We can tell you where we went, but you seem more than capable of putting together a list of potential stops, which we can then respond to—there are tons of options. If it is helpful, we spent something like four nights in Nafplio, four in Kardamyli, and two near Dimitsana. I was fine with a day and night in Athens but you have much more time. If I had the extra time, I would have added the Pylos area and southern Mani.