We plan to spend a week in Istanbul then cruise down to Athens arriving on Sept 15th and fly home on Oct 1st. We have 16 nights to explore Greece for our first visit. I would like to see Santorini but not waste a lot of time traveling between other islands. This is our first visit and I am drawn to the Peloponnese area. Any thoughts on this itinerary and nights?
Athens - 2
Mystas - 1
Monemvasia - 3
Kardimyli - 3
Nafplio - 2
Santorini - 3
Athens - 2
I would visit Athens once. It isn’t efficient to be there for two nights twice.
Could you pick up car and immediately go to Mystas?
I haven’t been to Monemvasia but on a tight schedule I would not spend 3 nights there. I would spend 1. It is a restored town but there isn’t that much to see.
I would add at least one day to Nafplio. There is a lot you can see from there. We spent 4 nights.
I agree--I would try to avoid the split stays in Athens.
It all depends on what you wanted to see and do (which you could add next to each stop), but Nafplio has several things to see within a close drive as well as being a vibrant town--whereas most seem to pop by Monemvasia to see it but not spend a lot of time there, and I left it off my itinerary.
You could see Mystras en route from place to place--I planned to stop there between Nafplio and Kardamyli but we changed plans at the last minute due to rain and visited as a day trip from Kardamyli.
Athens - Mystas - Monemvasia - Kardimyli - Nafplio - Santorini - Athens
It's Mystras, not Mystas and Kardamyli, not Kardamyli, but more importantly, your itinerary in that order doesn't work.
If you arrive in Athens at the Piraeus cruise port, you can rent a car there and head directly to Nafplio, It's less than a 2-hour drive.
And that saves you 2 nights.
Then Mystras
Then Monemvasia
Then Kardamyli
In terms of nights, I don't know why you want to stay 3 nights in Monemvasia. Did you know that it's a completely uninhabited place apart from souvenir sellers and a few tourists who stay there for one night? It's a bit like a large open-air museum.
By leaving Mystras early, you can head to Monemvasia (a 1.5-hour drive), stay in Monemvasia for a few hours, and continue your journey to Kardamyli via Gythio.
This saves you another 3 useful nights.
