I’d like to fly into Athens, stay for 5-6 nights before my cruise.
I’d love any suggestions on where to travel from Athens that are historic and/or active.
My son is 19 and will be bored at islands only offering beaches. We cruised the Canary Islands and he didn’t like hanging out at the beach but absolutely loved everything about Cadiz and the walkability, history, food, museums and beautiful gardens and parks.
He also loved Casablancas history, Mosque, parks.
Nafplion is only a two hours drive from Athens. It is historic and is surrounded by many of Greece’s most famous antiquities. It also is considered to be one of Greece’s two most beautiful cities. The other one is Chania, Crete which would also be an interesting place to visit.
Delphi.
For me, it was one of the most amazing sights in all of Greece.
Where is your cruise going?
For me, a ferry to Hydra, Poros or Aegina. But not really historic or active, just beautiful, relaxing and authentic.
Are you looking for day trips or some place for a couple days?
The best option would be Nafplio, one of Greece's prettiest towns.
Lots to do just in town but even more nearby.
It's great as a day trip just to wander around the Old Town and check out the historic sites right in town.
It's also a perfect base for a couple days to explore nearby world class archeological sites and more.
Here's the best website for Nafplio. There's more than enough to do, see and experience whether for a day or a few days.
We are just finishing a five day private tour with Alternative Athens that we booked after our cruise and it has been Amazing! We hit all the historical sites outside of Athens( Olympia. Mycenae, Delphi, Nafplio, Meteora as well as LOTS of back door experiences ( bee farm, bell maker, tanner, wine tasting, food tours, I can’t recommend them enough! Fabulous tour!
We took a day trip to Delphi from Athens last summer and loved it. The site is beautiful and the museum there is really, really nice. We had lunch in the town after then made a stop in beautiful Arachova on the way back. Perfect day. We hired a private driver, Dimitris Roussos of drpremiumtaxi, who was a wonderful host for the day. Highly recommend watching the 1-hour BBC documentary “Delphi Why It Matters” before you go and take maps of site and museum from Rick’s guide book.
