Meteora to Delphi, best driving route and places to stay

Posted by dd65 (Maryland, US) on 11/24/24 08:15 PM

On May 20, 2025, my husband and I will be driving from Meteora (which we will have visited from 5/17-5/20) in our rental car heading back to Athens (dropping off the car at the airport and staying in Athens from 5/20-5/24). This will be the last portion of our 15 days in Greece (Santorini and Naxos prior to all of this). A friend from the U.K. who lives part time in Athens has just strongly recommended that we instead go to Delphi on the 20th and stay there overnight, then head on to Athens. What might be the best driving route for us to take, should we decide to follow her advice? And are there any preferred places to stay that any one knows of right in Delphi or, instead, near to it?

Thank you so much in advance. The input I've gotten on this forum has, so far, been invaluable in us planning our itinerary for this trip.

Posted by TexasTravelMom

TX, USA

11/24/24 08:57 PM

4866 posts

I would do it. It sounds like she is recommending you take a night from Athens for Delphi - and I think that’s a good trade. I can’t recommend a route or hotel though. Just know that the last part of the road up to Delphi is pretty curvy on a mountain.

Posted by stanbr

Nanaimo, BC, Canada

11/25/24 04:30 PM

1449 posts

You do have enough time to add Delphi to your trip. Athens can be done nicely in 3 days so taking a day off from Meteora or Athens will work for you.

The roads are good from Meteora to Delphi although as mentioned after you get off the highway and start up to Delphi the road is 2 lane and mountainous. No problem but the navigator needs to be paying attention.

We stayed in Delphi village. From our hotel balcony we could see all the way down to the Gulf. We arrived early afternoon and got our hotel then visited the Museum which gave us a good advance understanding of what we would see the next morning. We arrive at the gate right at opening. There were no more than 50 people there at that time. We explored at leisure for a couple of hours then walked back to the gate. By that time there were lots of busses in the parking lot and the lower section was full of people. That is a good time to leave. We headed back to Athens and took the opportunity to stop at Corinth. Youy might want to spend an hour or so to visit the huge Fortress at Acrocorinth.

Some images
Corinth Area. https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157711755443483

Delphi and Meteora https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157698930270992

Posted by dd65 OP

Maryland, US

11/25/24 10:05 PM

9 posts

Thanks for your encouragement, TTMom. (Your encouragement in a previous post that I should "follow my heart" and go to Meteora is part of the reason why my husband and I decided to go for it, long drive notwithstanding. (Just the tiny push we needed.))

And thanks stanbr for the detailed info and the "yes" vote. Looking forward to checking out your photos (which I always enjoy). & Adding that very last piece to traveling back to Athens sounds interesting (assuming we have the energy for it ). Will look into that.

Posted by TexasTravelMom

TX, USA

11/27/24 02:05 AM

4866 posts

I hope you love it, too!

Posted by johnt

Atlanta, GA area (USA)

11/28/24 04:09 AM

29 posts

I agree, Delphi is definitely worth seeing! We spent 4 nights driving from Athens to Meteora, Karpenisi, Delphi and back. I don’t recall any issues with the roads - the road up to Delphi wasn’t as twisty as climbing the pass to Karpenisi. There are hotels right in Delphi, about a 15 minute walk from the archaeological site.