Please sign in to post.

Greece Itinerary Help

Posted by on

I'm planning on solo traveling to Greece in May to do mostly a history based tour, but would like to a bit of beach/ water activities as well. I don't want to rent a car much. Below is the start of my itinerary. To make the plane ticket worth the cost, I'd like to do 8-9 days total. I'm trying to figure out what to do with my remaining days. One thought is to find an island I could explore for those days, but I can't just sit still on a beach. I'd like some activities. Maybe some scuba or snorkeling in the Mediterranean during my trip. My original plan was to go to Crete for the Palace of Knossos, but I think sticking to mainland might be better for this length of trip. It would be ideal if I could go somewhere from Nafplio then to Athens for my flight home, without too much travel time.

Day 1: Athens archeological museum
Day 2: Athens Acropolis
Day 3: Free day Athens
Day 4: Guided bus tour to Delphi from Athens
Day 5: Bus to Nafplio, Palamidi Fortress, Bourtzi Castle
Day 6: Rent car: Argos, Mycenae, Corinth maybe
Day 7: Nafplio beach day, evening bus back to Athens or travel elsewhere.
Day 7:
Day 8:
Day 9: fly home from Athens.

Posted by
4059 posts

If you're more into the "history tour" type, you'll need way more than two days to visit the archaeological sites and museums in Athens; it could even end up being an overdose of ancient stones and artifacts.

Visiting the National Archaeological Museum on your first day if you're jet-lagged is not the best idea you could have. It's one of the largest museums in Europe and touring all of its rooms can take hours.

On the other hand, you can combine the Acropolis and the NAM on day 2 by going to the Acropolis early in the morning and to the NAM in the afternoon.

You can also rent a car from Athens to get to Nafplio, which allows you to stop by Corinth, whether for the canal or the archaeological site of Ancient Corinth. That won't be possible if you take the bus to Nafplio.

May isn't ideal for spending time on beaches and doing water activities. It's going to depend heavily on the weather and on whether dive centers have opened for the season yet.

There are options to visit the Saronic Gulf islands from Nafplio, I don't have personal experience with that, but tommyk5, a regular contributor here, might be able to tell you more about it.

Posted by
3809 posts

IF you take a car for the Nafplo trip (a smart move, since you only have 8 - 9 days) another worthwhile stop for ancient-history buffs is ANCIENT NEMEA ... a wonderfully executed "sacred Games Site" (runer-up to Olympia).. just 5 mi off the big hiighway. A stunning stadium, with ancient racing-blocks in place .

Here's a handy online map for browsing, buch clearer than Google, shows terrain:
https://euro-map.com/karty-grecii/peloponnes/podrobnaya-turisticheskaya-karta-peloponnesa.jpg NOTE: shows entire road from ATH area -- cllick & it gets huuuge: use side-slides to navigate

With your limited time, for your ancient-site ambitions, I would suggest the following based on experience, going solo using busses, and going in car, with others:
• AVOID Day tour to Delphi! 3+ hours each way, V short time in ruins, 10 busses arrive at once, jampacked museum, tours drag you away for group meal (u pay) & souvenir shops. INSTEAD rent car 11-ish day 3, (u can metro to airport to rent, avoid city driving) Arrrive 2, busses leavng, enjoy museum & site, sunset dinner, stay in hotel (ask West room for view down mountain to sea).

• After breakfast Day 4, backtrack down Mts to Road fork at Elefsina (see MAP) Turn RIGHT (West) toward Pelops. OPTION: at Isthmus, u can hop off for quick walk on Old Bridge to see Corinth Canal (not visible from biggie hiway).. or do this on return trip
• 15 mi into Pelops on Big road, Ancient NEMEA just off highway on right,.. can be enjoyed in an hour. Nemea is Red-Wine Country, local village has tiny bottling-plant tasting room right on Main St!
• Drive back to highway & underpass leads direct to (red) road to NAFPLIO, pleasant 30-min drive thru citrus orchards, olive groves In Nafplio, a white concrete "apron" at seaside is free-parking. Find your hotel & start enjoying Nafplio w walk thru Old Town.

• Next 2-3 days -- Ancient sites, beaches etc. This superb Website http://www.visitnafplio.com/ - tells ALL you need -- beaches, walks where to stay, eat etc - click every link!! NOTE: go MYCENAE,at 8 am, before tour crowds. also TIRYNS, right on highway -- NO crowds, Huge-Boulder construction. For swims, Tolo is OK, but I prefer tiny cove next to ancient ASINE (see map). Also, Great walk around base of Peninsula point, to Arvanita, cute town beach
• To avoid backtracking for site-seeing, do ANCIENT EPIDAURUS yur last AM in NAFPLIO ... check out, drive EAST across Pelops "thumb" (see map). Afterwards, drive to seashore for lunch &?dip? Drive up shore road to ISTHMUS, hop on Hiway to ATHENS.

NOTE: if you want the classic Greece Ferry experience, at end of stay consider day-trip to AEGINA (EGINA) Island. 30-min Metro to Pireaus, get OPEN-DECK ferry (1 hour) to this island, it's like a "mini-cruise"... sit out & view cruisers, freighters, speedboats, 3-masted schooners etc! Aegina has THE most perfectly-preserved Ancient Temple of ANY greek Isle. You can reach it via bus, or car rental or e-bikes (very easy). From temple, downhill path to Ag Marina, a swim & lunch, then bus/bike back to port. THis photo-album shows this lovely trip in Spring - https://www.flickr.com/photos/36264706@N03/sets/72157621604646139/detail/ -- I did this without car & stayed over a night, Aegina very greek population, commutes daily to ATHENS for work ... Note: best to go on a weekday... on weekends throngs of Athenians fill ferries & beaches.

Add Reply

Please do not reply to violations of our Community Guidelines.