Itinerary help!

I think you would be happier if you spent less time traveling and more time 'at' a destination.
What you choose is up to you.

"Less is more", is true

With the amount of time you have and your schedule I would stay in Athens and do one trip . . . either Nafplio or Meteora.

I've been to Nafplio and it is one of Greece's nicest towns and a good base to explore the Argolis Peninsula and some world-class archeological sites. I think it's a shorter ride to Nafplio than Meteora and may be a better use of your time

I haven't been to Meteora so can't speak on it but those Monasteries do look spectacular.

Each time you go from Point A to Point B eats up time and you really don't want to waste to much time on travel, especially with the amount of days you have.

I also think you will be happier with your trip if you stick to two places. Travel in Greece takes more time than you expect.

So of your choices I would do 2 and cut out nafplio completely. However, I would consider cutting out meteora instead. It is further away and you don’t have a lot of time.

We loved nafplio. I haven’t been to meteora. It will have to be another trip!

Beth

Dear all thanks for sharing your two cents. I'm leaning more towards Meteora for now and cutting out Nafplio.

Is there another city in this world which is similar to Nafplio in your opinion? Rovinj, Croatia perhaps?

My older son went to meteora and thought it was absolutely wonderful. Similarly, my brother in law went there overnight and said he wants to return and stay longer.

I am sure it will be wonderful! The most important thing is that you don’t try to do everything.

Beth

Thanks Beth!

Just wanted to add a couple referrals, for if you end up going to Meteora. We spent a day and a half there, and were blown away by the scenery!

1) for tours, we used “visitmeteora.travel”, and were totally satisfied! We took their sunset tour, which was mostly bus-oriented, and gave us access inside one monastery (Holy Trinity), great views of the others, and a beautiful sunset view. The morning hike the next day, was approx 4-5 hrs, and got us inside 2 monasteries. Both excursions offered amazing views of the other monasteries, of the out-of-this-world scenery, and the guides provide excellent insight and knowledge.
2) for accomadations, stayed overnight in Kastraki, instead of Kalambaka. It is a much smaller village, with incredible views. We were fortunate because the hotel recommended by visitmeteora was perfect. Pyrgos Adrachti is an award winning, scenic gem, that offers balcony views of the mountains. It was very reasonable - 90 euro, including the best breakfast we had during our 2 weeks in Greece.
Hopefully this info helps. If you decide on Meteora, I’m sure you won’t regret it. We tweaked our itinerary by dropping 1 night in the islands, in order to visit, and, as much as we loved the islands, Meteora was, along with Santorini, the best of the best of our vacation!