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First time to Greece - Looking for Itinerary Feedback

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My husband (late 50's) and our 2 grown daughters (age 25 and 27) will be arriving in Athens on Monday Sept 9 at 12:30pm - we are flying in from Toronto, Canada so there will be about a 7 hour time difference. We depart from Athens on Monday Sept 16 at 2pm). We will have basically 6.5 days. None of us have been to Greece before. We are used to just waking up, eating a quick bite (ideally free hotel breakfast), and then go, go, go and then eat one meal later in the day along with some snacks. One week is typically the length of our vacation simply due to the logistics of everyone scheduling the week off.

Here is what I am thinking but am wondering about leaving Delphi out altogether? Or do Delphi and then Nafplio? Our original plan was to spend the 1st day near Athens airport and then get a car the second day after a good night sleep and drive to Delphi (thank you Janet :-)), but I miscalculated the number of days as I forgot the flight was overnight and would eat up one of our days. Hence the shorter drive Nafplio the first day as opposed to Delphi, as I believe Nafplio is only about 2.5 hours and Delphi is well over 3 hours.

Day 1 - land in Athens about 12:30pm, get through customs, rent a car and despite jet lag, drive to Nafplio and spend the night
Day 2- Nafplio spend the day and night
Day 3 - Nafplio spend the day and night
Day 4 - drive from Naflio to Delphi in the morning, tour around, spend the night in Delphi
Day 5- drive from Delphi to Athens and return car at airport, make way to hotel near acropolis, spend night in Athens
Day 6- full day and night in Athens
Day 7- full day and night in Athens
Day 8- fly home

Any thoughts or feedback? Greatly appreciate any input!!

Posted by
11690 posts

Any thoughts or feedback?

I take it that leaving on Saturday is not an option? That would be the ideal solution

Nafplio is closer to ATH than Delphi so that does reduce the drive time by about half an hour.

I found Delphi fascinating so would advise to keep it on the schedule

Posted by
947 posts

Sounds like a good itinerary to make the most of such a short trip. Just bear in mind that Greece is suffering another summer with extreme temperatures and wlldfires, which could impact your visit. I have met temperatures in the low 30’s in Athens in late September, early October making good days for museum visits!
Immigration at Athens is usually very quick and customs is just a matter of picking up any checked baggage and walking out of the nothing to declare door. You should be on your way by 1.30. If you feel the need for a stop en route to Nafplio, a service station/cafe near the bridge over the Corinth canal offers a good break..and the view of the canal from the bridge is good, especially if there is a boat using the canal. Nafplio is a good base to visit Mycenae, Epidaurus and just outside the town is Tiryns, another large Mycenean site. I have not been to Delphi but many recommend an overnight stay and visiting the site early in the morning before the tour buses arrive. Also you have the advantage of maybe lower temperatures early morning.

Enjoy your first visit to Greece!

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