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Best driving route and suggested stops from Meteroa to Nafplio?

Hi all! We're set to drive from Meteora to Nafplio in May. Its a longer drive than I typically like to do on vacation, but we're meeting people and aren't able to avoid it. So that we can make the most of these 6 hours, is there a route you would suggest that would be particularly scenic? Along the same lines, are there suggested stops we should make to break it up? We've got Patras and Athens at different points on our itinerary so we won't be looking to stop at either of those. Purely from looking at Google Maps, I'm thinking about taking E92 to 3 out of Meteora, but then cutting across on E65 to go around the Gulf of Corinth instead of through Athens. I have absolutely no idea what any of these roads are like though, so very open to suggestions. I'm game to take the suggested Google route that's faster, but am concerned it will be a fairly standard highway drive that doesn't let us see much. I'd rather tack on an extra hour of driving to see nice things along the way. We're used to driving on adventurous roads so that's not much of a concern, more so what the scenery may be like and what kind of towns/villages we might pass through.

Thanks for your insights!
(edited for typo)

Posted by
24 posts

We drove from Athens to Delphi in 2018, good roads all the way but not necessarily scenic until the mountains. It was a freeway until the cutoff to Delphi.

If you haven't been to Delphi, we highly recommend but it'll take most of a day to see it all. We spent two nights.

After Delphi, we drove to the coast on two-lane road with lots of switchbacks and headed west towards the big bridge. Spent one night in Nafpaktos--its not far from the bridge. If you have the time, this is a small town with ancient harbor and a hilltop fortress. Great views. Lots of beachfront restaurants.

If you can break up that long drive, you could spend the night in either Delphi or Nafpaktos. From Nafpaktos, we drove south to Olympia--another good road but not much scenery.
If using a GPS, turn on the feature to avoid highways take the secondary roads. You'll probably pass through some really small towns and villages.

Posted by
73 posts

Thanks for your suggestions. We'll be passing by Nafpaktos on the way to Meteora, so I'll check it out to see about stopping. I had though about trying to swing by Delphi on the route, but it adds quite a bit of time and I wasn't sure we'd be able to really see it without hurrying on. That's why I'm hoping more for scenic routes to drive so we can see things without adding too much time. My fear is it will be 6 hours on a freeway and that's definitely what we want to avoid! Sounds like that's pretty much the case aroudn Athens, so will likely stick with my idea to head south and then cut west. We've got a map coming that will highlight scenic roads, so hopefully that will help us plan.