Hello! We are travelling for New Year's to Athens with our family of 4 for about 5-7 days. (Kids are 9 and 11.) We are looking to stay in Athens most of the time but are open to splitting up our time. Where would you go if you were seeing Greece for the first time and it being "off season" ? It am finding it a little difficult to find good information for winter tourism in Greece. I'd really hate to go and just wing it.
Thanks for helping us plan our trip. :)
The real Greece experts, like Janet and Alan, will have the best advice, but for my money it would be Athens and Nafplio. Start in Athens for several days. Rent a car and drive to Nafplio, which is a beautiful city plus a good base for sites like Mycenae and Epidavrus. Then back to Athens, where you could stay in the city again or near the airport the night before a morning flight home. The highway between Athens and Nafplio takes you close to Corinth, a worthwhile midday stop.
Delphi could be an alternative to Nafplio but it's a smaller town with less to do. The ruins and small museum are great, and the view over the valley is great, but that's about it. It would be a good overnight, but I wouldn't try to see both Delphi and Nafplio in a trip of this length.
Anyone wanting to help you is going to want to know exactly how many nights you'll have on the ground in Greece (not counting the night on the plane). Ideally, it would also be good to know what time you'll land in Athens. On a short trip, a variation of two days is huge. Obviously, you'll have more viable options if you have more time. Greece is not an easy country for short trips because it has very limited rail service, and none of it fast. It takes quite a lot of time to move around.
Exactly as craven says! If you want thoughtful advice, you need to tell us the DAY and exact TIME of day you land in Airport ... and the day/exact time of day you depart. If the 5 days includes EITHER of those days, just stay in Athens... if you have 6 days "on the ground" you might consider an overnight in Nafplio ... full of history & beauty and the kids will love it (castles! Forts! ruins!).
I agree with the others that Nafplio is a good bet if you’ve time for an out of Athens trip. It’s easy to get to by bus if you don’t fancy driving, and a good part of the old town is pedestrianised which means kids can run around without worrying about traffic.
Heading north to Delphi will be quite a bit colder. (Maybe not a concern if you’re from Chicago!)
You might find this interesting on Athens with kids
https://whyathens.com/athens-greece-for-kids/
Have a great trip.
Cheers
Alan
PS to show I practice what I preach we are off this morning for a two week visit to Nafplio. Yippee!
Thanks everyone for the helpful tips. It looks like we will arrive Sunday Dec 30 around 5 pm and will need to leave Saturday Jan 5th, sometime to make the connection back to the US. We are likely connecting through Frankfurt.
So, it looks like 5 full days in Greece. So, probably makes most sense to stay in Athens the whole time? I am researching how to easily get to Nafplios without renting a car. We'd prefer not to drive.
There is excellent intercity bus network (called KTEL busses) with modern busses, comfy upholstered reserve seats w. footrests, taken in Greece by all levels of populace, since train transport is sparse. The Nafplio Bus goes from Kifissou St. Terminal (easiest to take a taxi from Central Athens hotel -- bout €12). Nafplio express Busses go hourly on the half-hour, takes about 2.5 hours. €13 fare for adults, a bit less round-trip. Kids? don't know -- 1/2?? Get to terminal about 30 mins. beforehand, the tickets for Nafplio are NOT in main ticket office they are in room right beside the bus, which is just at the exit door of terminal (ask anyone). Outbound, request seats on LH side - best view of sea. GOOD idea to go early: 9:30 bus?? then u can see tiny museum (FAB video for kids --plus the ONLY Iliad-era warrior armour ever discovered) before it closes (3 pm winter). Stay o-night., come back noonish. Bus to Athens hours on hour.
