Day trips from Nafplio to Mycenae and Epidavros

We go to Nafplio quite a lot and I’ve never seen anyone advertising this. If you are happy to do it yourself you can do it by local bus. Timetable in English for Mycenae here and for Epidavros on the side menu

http://www.ktelargolida.gr/?module=default&pages_id=21&lang=en

Cheers
Alan

Alas, I believe Nafplio-based day trips are no longer offered. Waaaay back on my first visit there, an agency near City hall had a trip visiting both ... not since. I've asked Travel agents about this, and their response is: If we have a cruise coming in (there are only a few of these, with smaller ships), they have their own shore excursions to the 2 sites, and people from Athens have their own guides & bus, so not worthwhile. Sigh.

You CAN go to both, by local bus; problem is, you can't do both in 1 day... the busses aren't set up for it. THe bus timetables are on the station walls; copy them down, I don't think there's a print version. You can get a local bus to either site about 9 am, and a return bus around 1 pm... but not in time to connect to a bus to the Other site. So that means 2 days. You can also get a local bus for 10 minutes to TIRYNS, just outside of town ... never a crowd there, see it in 30 minutes. To get back to town, stand across from site at a Grocery, and FLAG down a Nafplio- bound LOCAL bus (they look different from KTEL intercity buses).

Of course, no guides -- and unlike some other sites, I've not seen licensed guides congregating near EPidaurus or Mycenae site gates to collect at group @ €10 per person. Bst bet would be to get a GOOD Guidebook, also print some good online materials & Maps -- Planetware is ne good source, also www.squidoo.com

If you want to see both sites with a guide, and also have 2 half-days to explore fascinating NAFPLIO itself, there is one tour from Athens that does meet the need: http://www.chatours.gr/tours.php?exc=8&exccat=1 The reason I recommend it is that it takes 2 full days, and almost half of it is "free time" to discover Nafplio on your own. All other tours try to cram it into 1 day, with only lunch in Nafplio. This one starts in AM, stops at Corinth Canal, takes u to Mycenae, and all afternoon-evening of day #1 is free time in Nafplio. Day #2 AM is free time, then Epidaurus after llunch, & back to athens. TIP: u are offered budget or "First Clas" hotel. Do the 1st - it's just fine, right off the lovely town square, while the luxe place is outside town.

Thank you both for taking the time to assist a fellow traveller. It is clear that I need to modify my plans. Janet, you are a gem! Your thorough response must have taken a great deal of time and proves that Rick's people form an excellent support group. Thank you again and keep on travelling!

Janet’s suggestion of Tiryns is a good one. It’s a nice site with good views over the plain and back to Nafplio. If you’re up for a bit of a walk there is also a tholos tomb back towards the hills. You can practically guarantee you’ll have the tomb to yourself.

Instructions on how to get there here

http://www.greekramblings.org.uk/Nafplio%20Walk%20to%20ancient%20Tiryns.html

Alan

We did the Chatours trip in June of 2008. It worked well to get to all those places without being too rushed, but the guide's tour of Mycenae was mediocre.

Alan, about Tiryns, 2 memories:
• Ist time, on my own, and stumbled onto a great scene. you know why the Greeks called this fort AND Mycenae Cyclopean? because the boulders were so HUGE only a Cyclops (giant) could raise them. Well, at my visit, some of these rocks had fallen off the front wall. There was a crane, holding 100 ft in the air, a boulder the size of a Volkwagen, while at the top an Engineer and an archeologist argued about where to put it; i watched for half an hour. Then I decided to walk to that "tholos tomb" but gave up after more than a mile n hot sun & no sign of it.
• 2nd time, in 2013, with my trusty gang of newbies, we decided to drive to the tomb... I swear it was 3 miles, down several tiny lanes, hand-scrawled signs to direct. It was in middle of an orange grove ... a tiny tholos, perfect, no one around. As we emerged, a crankypuss Greek farmer materialized, shaking his fist at us & pointing to his oranges. Frankly they were not that tempting looking, but we backed the car so hurriedly we knocked a piece of plastic off the license-plate holder and had to "glue" it with clear nail polish before we turned in the car.

Janet, great! It’s these little incidents that stick in the mind isn’t it?

Cheers

Alan

We didn't go to Epidavros, but we did go to Mycenae by taxi in the fall of 2014. It wasn't cheap, but it was worth it. The driver took us from near the bus station to the site and waited until we were done. There was some kind of time limit, but we had plenty of time for the ruins and the museum. He was new, so we had to tell him where Agamemnon's tomb is so we could take a quick look.

This Rome2rio link might be helpful. This is another option. You can find others by Googling "taxi to mycenae from nafplio."