Itinerary, transfer help Athens to Nafplio

A transfer from Athens to Nafplio costs roughly €250 to €350 depending on the type of car, number of passengers, time of day, etc. Indeed, you received a quote of €450 because the return trip to Athens is included.

Try this one:

https://www.athenstransports.eu/taxi-bus-transfer/from-athens-airport-to-city/nafplio-tolo-hotel-apartments.html

But it would obviously be much simpler, easier, faster, and cheaper to rent a car in Athens and drive the easy 2 hours and 15 minutes to Nafplio. Especially since once in Nafplio, you can go wherever you want, whenever you want with your rental car (which you're considering renting in Nafplio anyway)

We are considering returning to Athens by ferry.

There is no ferry from Nafplio to Athens. Problem solved.

No wonder I am confused about the ferry option. There is directly contrary information on line. Blue Star ferries are listed as having up to 5 ferry departures each day from Nafplio to Athens,, but other places says there is no such thing. Does anyone know if Blue Star ferries exists?

I am not aware of any ferry from Athens to Nafplio and I did an extensive search. If you find something that has that route I would suspect a scam. Ferries normally run to islands. Nafplio is on the mainland.
Blue Star ferries do exist.

It is not necessary to take a taxi from the airport in Athens to Nafplio. Unless you really want to stop at various sights. Where do you want to stop at? I took the buses from the airport to Nafplio. There is a bus that goes from the airport to somewhere near the middle of Athens. From there you transfer to a KTEL bus station where you buy a ticket to Nafplio. The route is not shown on google maps. Check rome2rio and search the internet for KTEL buses. There is more than one KTEL bus station in Athens. Make sure you go to the right station. There probably is no ferry that goes along the coast from Nafplio to Athens. You can take the bus back to Athens.

As stanbr said, this information about ferries to Nafplio is either a scam or you've confused it with another destination. Nafplio doesn't have a ferry port, and even if there were a ferry port, it wouldn't be served by Blue Star Ferries (even if Blue Star Ferries did serve it, there wouldn't be enough ferries to provide 5 daily connections).

About the bus option:

From Athens: Buses to Nafplio are operated by KTEL Argolidas and depart from the Kiffisos bus station.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/vuuimPNNPAisLTL9A

This bus station is served from the airport by bus X93 (approximately a 90-minute journey, ticket price €5.50).

The Athens ↔ Nafplio timetable is available. Here:

https://www.ktelargolida.gr/en/athina-isthmos-fichti-mikines-argos-nafplio/

Tickets can be purchased at the train station or online:

https://ktelbus.gr/arg/ticketweb/

I have tried unsuccessfully to paste a screen shot of the Omnio booking site which lists Blue Star ferries from Nafplio to Athens, and urges you to buy your tickets far in advance. So this is a scam others should be aware of. Thanks to the several people who warned us of this.

Several people are urging us to rent a car to go to Nafplio, but we are trying to avoid this. We don’t really like to drive in unfamiliar places even in the US, so we are hoping to arrange the transfers to and from Nafplio with perhaps a stop in one of the important sites along the way. So again if any readers happen to know of a favorite driver, we’d like to hear. Otherwise we’ll book through one of the major companies, like Welcome.

When you search for a ferry with Omnio, it shows ferries that don't depart from Nafplio, but from other ports in the region (Porto Heli, Hermioni, etc.).
Worse, even for ports that do exist, it recommends ferry schedules that don't exist! (and open booking.com pages).

NEVER use Omnio and all these unreliable intermediary websites to search for ferries.

Welcomepickups is also a third-party service headquartered in the UK. It will book a local service (which you could just as easily book yourself) while charging additional fees.

Welcomepickups won't take you anywhere, the local services will. So keep it simple! Try these one:

https://taxi-nafplio.com/en/

https://royaltransfers.gr/en/

https://www.vantaxivip.gr/en/

Thank you so much for these suggestions. It is not as easy as it would seem to find the local providers. I will check these out!

I have never used the services of these companies, so I give these service names for informational purposes only; this is not a specific recommendation.

In a brochure available on the Vantaxivip website, you'll find various tour and transfer options with price estimates that seem much cheaper than the quote you received.

https://www.vantaxivip.gr/images/tours/pdf/3DOC-20231208-WA0001.pdf

I used this company for a transfer from Athens Airport to Nafplio.

They were excellent, responded to all my emails and had a driver waiting for me at the airport and then drove me directly to where I was staying in Nafplio.

https://www.greek-taxi.gr/en/home/

Since you are a group it may be less expensive per person.

I would be another to rent a car as it's really not that difficult driving in Greece especially if you use some type of navigation system like Google Maps.

There are buses available to various towns/sites but I'm not sure if they will go everywhere and/or you need to transfer to another bus.

However, for just 3 days you'll probably spend it in and around the Old Town. Don't overlook the "New Town" which is where most locals go to shop as they'll have everything you'll need.

Old Town is lovely but it's geared to tourism and with tourist prices.

I’ve a Welcome Pickups driver booked to take me from the airport to the centre on Friday. On the mail they’ve just sent me to tell me who the driver will be they are advertising an airport to Nafplio transfer at 150 euros. Presumably it would be more expensive if you wanted to stop en route.

Might be worth considering though. I’ve always found them reliable.

https://www.welcomepickups.com/

Alan