2 last days in Athens area - what would you do?

Posted by lgoodri2 on 10/13/19 11:45 PM

Hi everyone! My husband and I are headed to Greece for 2. 5 weeks in May 2020. We are in Athens on the front end for two days and plan to hire private tour guide for Athens to make our time efficient. The rest of our trip will be sailing on private charter for 7 nights, Athens to Paros, then five nights in Santorini after the sail trip. We have two nights left once we leave Santorini. Not sure if we should head to see some of the country side outside of Athens?

What small side trips have any of you done to get us to experience the countryside? Any thoughts/ideas are welcome!

Posted by Dick

Olympia, WA, USA

10/14/19 12:30 AM

6713 posts

Assuming that the guide takes you to all the places you want to go in Athens, then I'd suggest at least one of those nights in Nafplion, which you can reach by bus or rental car. It's a beautiful harbor city with lots of history and atmosphere, and close to ancient sites like Epidavros, Mycenae, and Tyrins. You could spend a day visiting some of them with your own car or a Nafplion-based guide.

I would suggest staying in or close to Athens the night before your flight home to make sure you don't miss it.

Matt Barrett's website is filled with good information about what to see in Greece and how to get there. And Janet from Philadelphia will probably be along soon to tell you much more! ;-)

Posted by Tammy (aka Diveloonie) 🤿

Last Frontier aka Alaska 🏔️

10/14/19 04:10 AM

3561 posts

We are in Greece right now and we enjoyed Rick Steves audio guides. Download the app and take his city walk of Athens or the Ancient Agora. We did and loved both! And free! You will need headsets.

Posted by TimW

Hampshire, UK

10/14/19 01:09 PM

406 posts

Further to the post above, we were in Athens last week, and decent walking audio tours seemed very rare. We downloaded the RS App and audioguides of the ancient Agora, the Acropolis and the National Archaeological Museum. Despite being somewhat quirky, overall they were good, and informative.
As a tip - both the Acropolis museum and the NAM have free wifi - and it is exceptionally fast - so we both downloaded both the app and the guides while standing in the ticket queue.

Posted by geovagriffith

11/09/19 12:38 PM

8243 posts

You don't need a private guide in Athens to hit the main sites. The key places to visit are the Acropolis (including the Parthenon), New Acropolis Museum, Archaelogical Museum, Constitution Square and the changing of the guard and some of the other ancient sites like the Agora and later Roman ruins. Buy a guidebook.

A day trip to Delphi would be nice. Also, enjoyed the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion; three island cruise on a ferry (Aegna, Poros and forgot the last island).

A day trip to Corinth is not a bad trip. Probably best done on a tour.

Posted by Wray

Cape Ann, Massachusetts

11/09/19 03:14 PM

3334 posts

IMO 2 days in Athens is hardly enough. Athens is a huge city with lots to see beyond the main sights...every corner you turn, IMO. Stay in Athens, walk and walk, and get a thorough guide book like Lonely Planet and see items not in your guided tour. You will spend 5 nights in Santorini but think Athens is done in 2 days? I suggest you start reading and learn about the city.