Greece itinerary advice

Personally I think that driving in the United States where I have covered thousands of miles is more stressful and dangerous than in Greece. If you are already used to driving in Europe on small roads this will not be a issue.

So plan your itinerary on the mainland without worrying about driving.

If you don't want to spend a large part of your days seeing Greece mainly through a windshield don't try to see too much.
Travel times will be much longer than those of Google Maps, the roads in the mainland are often in a half-mountain environment, winding and scenic. You also have to take into account stops to eat, have a drink, and enjoy the landscape.

One night at Meteora is a minimum. Two nights may be required depending on your arrival and departure times. Not all monasteries are open every day, some are closed to visits from 4 p.m. and between Meteora and Nafplio it is at least 5.5 hours of driving.

3 nights (two full days) in Nafplio is a minimum to visit the city, Mycenae and Epidaurus.

Crete deserves days if not weeks to fully experience and enjoy.

It's filled with some of the best archeological sites in Greece, mountains, villages, coastlines, great food and so much more.

Why not spend all your time there rather than having to fly/ferry back to the mainland and then have to drive to other parts of the area.

I've driven on islands and the mainland of Greece and for the most part is easy although slow going due to the terrain: mountains/hills with switchbacks, hairpin turns, curving coastlines, going through villages, stopping for photo ops, etc.

Three days in Athens is good as there's plenty to see besides the usual tourist areas.

Nafplio is lovely and a great base to explore nearby archeological/historic sites but deserves more time.

I haven't been to Meteora so can't comment on it.

I think spending those extra 4 days on Crete would be worth it as there's so much to see on one of the nicest of the Greek Islands.

I wouldn’t try to see both Meteora and Nafplio in four days. We spent four nights in Nafplio and 2 in Meteora. We could have spent three in Nafplio if it had not been so hot. That limited our sightseeing in the afternoon which were spent on the beach. We enjoyed that very much. I had two different people tell me to spend at least two nights in Meteora. We visited all but one monastery in that time.

But I agree that you ought to consider spending more time in Crete. We spent 11 nights and would have easily spent more time. Look into the southwest corner of the island. There are towns there you can only reach by ferry. We took a bus to one town, then took the ferry, and eventually took a second bus from a second town (Sougia) back to Chania. You can also do some hikes in this area including hike from the bottom of the Samarian gorge.

We just returned from Crete where we spent 4 nights. We had a rental car and driving was pretty easy. We stayed at a hotel outside of Rethymno and Apple maps worked perfectly. We will be returning as 4 nights just touched the surface.

Thank you all. I will take another look at possibilities in Crete and likely add two more days there (9 full days total). This means six full days on mainland Greece, which can be an even split of 3 days in Athens and 3 days in either Napflion and surroundings, or Meteora. I have to acknowledge that distances and logistics makes it difficult to accomplish more in this trip.

Although spending the whole time on Crete is attractive, we are hedging a little by picking one more 3-day spot on the Mainland, to add some diversity. With that perspective, Meteora looks very unique. Napflion also looks wonderful, but may have some high-level similarities to Crete, with Chania's cute town/setting and Minoan ruins (vs. Mycenean around Napflion). However, Napflion does look beautiful and can be a very relaxing end to the trip. Choices...

Nafplio is one of the nicest towns in Greece and a wonderful place to base yourself to explore the Argolis Peninsula.

There's more to offer there than most people think and even 3 days may not be enough but should be adequate to see the area.

There's more than Mycenean sites to check out. There's others from the Golden Age of Greece like the Sanctuary of Epidavrous, Nemea, and others. Even a bit further away is the Volcanic area of Methana and one of the prettiest islands just off the coast of Galatas called Poros, very reminiscent of a Cyclades Island village.

You'll have to plan accordingly to see what the Argolis Area has to offer.

Here's the best website for Nafplio. You'll find more than enough to keep you busy and still have time to hang out.

https://visitnafplio.com/

An alternative to Nafplio is to spend one night in Delphi and then two nights in Meteora. We did that following our visit to Crete in 2022.

On a different trip we went to Nafplio.

You couldn’t go wrong with either choice.

Thank you all for your suggestions, which made me look at possibilities to rearrange other parts of our travel. We were planning to spend three days in Istanbul, but we can likely change itinerary to fly out of Athens, so that we stay focused on Greece. We can do Turkey in another trip, especially if we can figure out the options below.

With that possible change, we add four more days in Greece, so a total of 22 days on the ground in Greece, not counting flight day in and out of Greece.

Santorini: 3 full days on ground
Crete: 8 days- details to be figured out.
Athens - 3 days

The above part is mostly locked.

This leaves about 8 days, not counting day of flying out from Greece.
This should give us sufficient time to see Delphi, Meteora, some part of Peloppenese (Nafplion and surroundings for the most part, but may be just a little more). Looking for suggestions now on how best to arrange this. If convenient public transportation/tours are available, we may opt for it, but can also consider driving for some or all part of those 8 days.

If we rent a car from Athens, we can do the circuit of Delphi, Meteora, Napflion and possibly one more lcocation if we can fit it.
If we just do public transport/organized tour, we may just restrict to Delphi, Meteora and Napflion.

Thoughts on this updated longer itinerary? Thank you all.

If we rent a car from Athens, we can do the circuit of Delphi,
Meteora, Napflion and possibly one more location if we can fit it. If
we just do public transport/organized tour, we may just restrict to
Delphi, Meteora and Napflion.

Looks grand. Drive--you won't regret it. We found the newer Greeks highways excellent, and the rural roads were fine--little traffic and pleasant. I am all for public transport when it is convenient, so if you had weeks to spend, I'd say why not, but driving will maximize your time.
You could add the evocative Mystras to your time in the Peloponnese. Endless options really--we are hikers and loved the Stemnitsa area. The Bradt Guides are comprehensive and will give you ideas for the north and the Peloponnese.