Senior travelers first trip to Greece.

If staying at the Sofitel before taking a flight the next day can be a psychologically reassuring option, it is expensive (from 300€ / night), the Sofitel has no charm, its restaurant is expensive too, it only saves you 45 minutes compared to a trip Athens → Airport by taxi
Since I assume that you will return from Nafplio by bus, the bus will drop you off in Athens center. Why would you make a other trip to the airport instead of staying in Athens and spending your last evening in town?

Consider renting a car for the Meteora piece. You can pick up / return either at the airport or along the main road headed toward Piraeus. Once you clear Athens driving is no problem at all. Otherwise you’ll need a taxi between Kalambaka and Kastraki and then a tour to drive you to the monasteries. Good luck with the trip!

Thanks for your advice. You are always very helpful.

I’d take a day from Athens and give it two Naxos especially since you plan a daytrip to Mykonos !!!

Ps we stay at the Sofitel airport - our flight this June leaves at 6 am , and many airport hotels are cheaper and offer shuttle service , but not at 4 am !
We have stayed at a cheaper hotel which was fine - but our flight didn’t leave till noon so not a problem getting the shuttle .

From Athens to Kalambaka by train; tour of Meteora out of Kastraki? (We will not rent a car and drive.) Quality of train service?

Your thoughts on availability of tours or tour guides in this approach? Recommendations for tours out of either of these towns to Meteora?

Thanks for all your help!

Hello,

When we were on Naxos, we took a day trip that included both Mykonos and Delos, rather than two separate trips. Is that the one you are planning?

An option for your time back on the mainland --- CHAT tours offers a 3 night/ 4 day Classical tour that includes Corinth Canal, Mycenae, Epidaurus, Nauplia ,Olympia, Rion, Nafpaktos, Delphi, Kalampaka, Meteora, Thermopylae. We really enjoyed this tour when we fit it in to a recent trip to Greece.

Your days could look like this:

Naxos for four nights

Return to Athens for 2 nights (or adjust as needed depending on tour dates offered)

CHAT tour for 3 nights

Naphlio for 3 nights

Return to Athens, stay one night. Fly home.

I am happy to answer any questions you might have. What ever you decide, you will have a great trip. We love Greece. Enjoy!

1. Return to Athens for one night and travel to Nafpilo for three nights.

I am lost at why one would do this., Why not just travel to Nafplio from Kastraki?

The other puzzlement is why are you planning to stay in Athens 3 separate times. Seems like a lot of unnecessary checking in/out of lodgings.

Is there a reason you have not put all you Athens days at the end?

What time does your return flight depart? If you were to put all your Athens days at the end, you may be able to avoid a stay at the Sofitel. ( save yourself a check in check out cycle)

Thanks for your response,
We plan to take the train round trip from Athens to Kastraki
We are not renting a car and the trip from Kastraki to Napoli by bus, as far as I can see, is a 12 hour trip.
We plan to stay in the same hotel, leave our carry on suitcases and travel with backpacks.
We plan to spend four nights in Athens after Naxos.
We do not plan to stay at Sofitel based on another RS response. We will stay at the same hotel
Does this sound reasonable?

1. Four nights in Naxos is not enough with two day trips. We didn’t four nights without day trips and would have liked more.
2. I would fly back to Athens and see if it is possible schedule wise to get to either Nafplio or Meteora by public transportation. We took a flight at 8:30 am which gave us most of the day. You could take a taxi from the airport to train/bus station.
3. I can see how you need to spend at least a night between visiting Nafplio and Meteora using public transportation. You could do your one night here and then do four nights at end before flying out. Or the reverse. But see if there is a way to have two not three times in athens.

We took two tours with Visit Meteora and you might look into their tours. We had a car and used them for tours in Meteora but I think they also run tours from Athens. You will have to use tours to see Meteora since you won’t have a car. We were impressed with them.

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