8ish days in late March

I think you’re right to make it as late in March as you can. You may still get the odd rainy day but the weather overall is likely to be good. March is a good time for the reasons you outline: less crowds and good walking weather for sites.

I was in Athens and Nafplio with a friend and her son in March four years ago and it worked well. We got the bus down and then hired a car for three days when we were there. That meant we were able to do trips out to Mycenae and Epidavrus and also take in some of the lesser nearby sites: Tiryns for example and the upper castle at Argos.

This may not work for you if you have a lot of luggage. If you are getting a car to drive down you could also stop off at the Roman site at Corinth and at Nemea.

Eight days is quite short but then, like so many of the rest of us here, it’ll whet your appetite to go back again and again.

@Alan thank you. Can you talk specifically about how the driving is? I am a very nervous driver. I’m American. I’ve driven in France, but that was highway driving. I don’t want to be on any super rickety street on the edge of mountains with no barriers, Etc. Are there any specific destinations I should avoid if I don’t want that kind of drive?

Once again, there is no need to worry about driving in Greece. There is nothing dangerous, the rules are pretty much the same, you don't need super powers to drive in Greece, if you drive through villages in narrow streets it is not an extraordinary adventure, you will get used to it, like thousands of other tourists who do it every day.

And to go to Nafplio there is no "super rickety street on the edge of mountains with no barriers"

I think Joilui is right. My godson did all the driving on the trip and is used to driving on the left. He didn’t have any problems with any of the roads. There aren’t any winding mountain roads between Athens and Nafplio, or in the area surrounding Nafplio. I think the trickiest driving we did was up to the fort in Argos which is a long winding quite narrow road. The view from the too is good but it’s not a must see.

Hello,

I don't drive in Europe if I have a choice. I prefer to let someone else do that while I look out the windows! So, let me give you another option that my daughter and I did:

CHAT tours offers a 4 day/3 night tour of all the classic mainland stops. Their website says the tour is available on Mondays in March, but you will need to check with them because their calendar only shows Mondays up to March 17th, and you indicated that you and your son will be there the end of March. You can also read about the tour if you go to Viator.com

Here is an excerpt:

Delve into Greece’s rich history on this 4-day tour from Athens. Discover the UNESCO-listed classical sites of Mycenae, Epidaurus, Olympia, and Delphi; and pay a visit to Meteora to explore its spectacular rocktop monasteries. Take a guided walking tour at each site to learn about its past, and visit other top sights, such as the Corinth Canal. Overnight accommodation in 4-star hotels, breakfasts, dinners, and coach transport are included. Including a trip to medieval Meteora, this unique ancient Greece tour is great for all history buffs. See four UNESCO World Heritage sites with an expert guide Explore important archeological sites at Epidaurus, Mycenae, Olympia, and Delphi Visit monasteries atop the rock towers of Meteora Overnight accommodation in centrally located 4-star hotels.

We really liked that the guide gave us information that we would have missed if we'd driven ourselves. I am happy to answer any questions if you think this might work for you.

Hi @sunnybluebreak I have resisted multi day tours, but in this case, it might be called for. How many people were in the tour? Was the bus nice? I just kind of hate not going at my own pace. I’m also big on food on vacation and would prefer to try local
Places over eating in a large group at the hotel. I’m considering it anyway though. Were there luggage restrictions?

In any case, that you for the suggestion. It is definitely something to consider.

All good questions. We went on this tour in June of 2018. There were several small family groups with older teens/young adults. About 25 total. It was the only time we have done more than a one day bus or mini-van tour.

Was the bus nice? Yes, it was a regular large tour bus.

I just kind of hate not going at my own pace. Good point. However, we had a set amount of time available for that trip, and if we'd gone to all of those sites and driven all those miles by car, we would have taken at least 10 days. I look at tours as an efficient way to cover a lot of distance, if trains are not available. In this case, the tour guide added a LOT to the experience because he made comments about the areas we were driving through. For example: "this mountain over here was where this Greek God did this"....or, "this is where the Peloponnesians fought this war". So, Mythology intermixed with actual Greek history.

I’m also big on food on vacation and would prefer to try local places over eating in a large group at the hotel. This will only be 3 out of 8 nights of your trip. The hotels offered a buffet in the mornings with typical Greek foods. I can still remember the sour cherry sauce that I put on my Greek yogurt! So amazing! :) The dinner and lunch options were not fancy, but certainly they gave us a chance to experience something different from home.

Were there luggage restrictions? No, but this was at the tail end of a month long trip and we chose to leave one of our larger suitcases back at the hotel in Athens. Then we just grabbed it when we got back in town.

I will need a car for the Nafplio part of the trip. Not excited about this, but I did finally recently drive in France and lived to tell. We just barely managed to fit our luggage in the car we got, y I absolutely need an automatic transmission, so I guess I'll cross my fingers and go for it?

We drove from Athens airport to Nafplio a couple of weeks ago and it was easy. It wasn't any worse than driving in the US or Canada, if anything it was easier in a way because people pay attention and don't sit in the left lane holding up traffic. Semi trucks don't block traffic like they do in the US, which is a constant source of frustration on the freeways where I live.

All of the main rental companies have automatic cars. I say go for it!

I always drive in Greece. So here’s the deal: in Greece the burden of passing rests on the slower driver. That is, when you see someone behind you who wants to pass, your job is to get over to the right as soon as you can as far as you can safely (and you should definitely not be in the left lane on a two lane road as your default lane). If you do that, and oncoming traffic does the same, a two lane road becomes a three lane road—two official lanes and a middle invisible passing lane. The system works great once you learn it. Where foreign drivers get into trouble is not getting over or going slow in the left lane on a two lane road—they then perceive Greek drivers as super aggressive when really THEY are the ones being rude. Once you learn this system it’s easy and fun. Because of it Greeks will also make passes that seem shocking to Americans like me, but that doesn’t need to affect you as long as you get over.

You’ll probably have one nerve wracking day and then be fine.

Roads out of the airport are major highways and easy. Roads to Napflio and similar are major highways and easy. Parking in N is sometimes a bugaboo but during March should be fine. Automatic cars should be easy to get that time of year but if you are worried just book ahead.

I pay extra for full insurance even though I may be covered under my cc and it’s proven itself super worth it time and again b/c I don’t worry about every scrape and ding.

With that time frame and time of year you can have a lovely trip with Athens/Nap or Athens/Crete. With Crete it’s easy enough to fly or ferry into Heraklion and pay a little extra to drop the car (which you will need) at Chania and ferry/fly back from there.

There are tons of flights on Aegean to and from Crete/Athens. If you want to do Crete just head there ASAP and end your time in Athens, flying internationally in and out of there. If you arrive in the morning from overseas you can easily get an afternoon or evening flight and even take the train in and explore during the layover or hire a relatively cheap driver to take you to Sounion, etc. If your international flight is from Athens, I say to end there so that you don’t run into issues getting back from the islands re: strikes, weather, etc.

You won’t go wrong with either option. Crete is my favorite—I studied there in college and major sites are still open off season—but N area is gorgeous and rich with sites as well.