Nafplion - sold out October 8 - 11 - heads up

Interesting. I will be there for the day October 18th arriving by small cruise ship. It sounds like it is a good thing I am not looking for a room.

I see small ships in port October 7, 11, 12. Sounds like all your tourist crowds will be land based.

Not sure where you are looking but I just checked both Booking.com and Tripadvisor and they both have plenty of listings in Nafplio for those dates.

The most popular booking site in Europe - booking.com shows> 300 properties available for 8-11 Oct

We prefer to book directly with the hotels, and out of the 30+ properties we looked at they were sold out or said to call. I don’t understand how their sites could show they are unavailable yet booking.com shows availability. I worry about 3rd party booking sites. I know several friends who say they’ve never had a problem and others that say don’t use them ever. It’s a bit of a crapshoot I guess!

I'm not saying you should book on Booking.com. I used to see if places are available.

But I've also had times for smaller properties where their own booking platform showed nothing and Booking.com did. It may not be the cheapest rooms but they are available. If not, you'll get a notice shortly after your booking saying so.

For those that said to call, they may not want people reserving rooms online and then canceling at the last minute. they want someone serious who is willing to call to make a reservation.

Since the hotels said to call them, have you done that yet? It isn’t difficult nor expensive to call Europe and since you don’t seem comfortable using booking.com, maybe that is the best way for you to book. You may not understand Greek or Greek accented English though.
We have traveled all over the world independently and usually book our hotels with booking.com.We have never ever had any problems. Same experiences for our friends who travel.

Well, do not rely on online bookings on hotel own websites in Greece. If it's not a large chain hotel, this has traditionally been done by email or by phone.

Third parties like booking.com are very useful in Greece as they take cards and post clear cancellation policies, which is not always the case when you book directly, especially with smaller properties.

There are things to be aware of when booking in Greece, if looking beyond major large hotels. Smaller family-run places, if they are busy right now, may not have staff at desk constantly to answer phone or check email... especially if they have few rooms left. That is why booking.com or similar reliable online agency works well ... I've made 13 extended visits to Greece, but always do booking early in Spring, not during busier times. And like others, I've had reliable service from booking.com so don't know why the trepidation.

If you want to telephone -- again, for smaller hotels or pensions, you want to have someone on the phone who speaks good English. The best way to assure this is to call during the GREEK morning times of 9 - 11 am ... that's when check-outs will occur, so someone with good english is likely to be on desk. This does mean, for Americans, having to call at 2 or 3 AM our time ... this is why the internet has been such a blessing, for oldsters lilke me, who can remember wee-hour calls, and even Faxes!!

I used to book by FAX right when I was going to bed. When I got up the next day, I usually had answers and bookings waiting for me.