I'm planning one week holiday trip to Greece with my gf. We plan to take our flight to Athens in the early September or thereabouts. We'd love to see some breathtaking, historic sights outside of Athens, but also spend a little bit of our time on a beach. Saying that, could you recommend us a worthwhile place to visit, which is easily accessible from Athens. On such a trip, we are keen to spend up to 3 days
Posted by
Sioux Falls, SD, USA
3101 posts
In 2019, another poster recommended Nafplio, a short bus ride from Athens. It is in the Peloponese, the other part of Greece. It is close to Mycenae and other ancient sites. We stayed 3 days and really enjoyed this side trip.
Posted by
NH (USA)
1222 posts
With three days one of the smaller islands would work.
I would recommend Aegina as it has everything one wants in a Greek Island:
Main town on waterfront
Seaside and fishing villages
Archeological/historic sites
Abandoned Byzantine Village in the hills
Ancient Olive Grove
Hiking/walking
Pistachio Capital of Greece
And the best part it's a short ferry ride from Piraeus.
Posted by
Philadelphia, PA, USA
3397 posts
Yes Tommy, Aegina has many attractions, but you left out the most famous!! -- on a high central Hill, with a 360° view of the entire Saronic Gulf, is the Temple of Aphaia, the MOSt intact Greek temple on ANY Greek Isle! BTW, I always attach this wonderful photo album I found -- of a day trip to Aegina... https://www.flickr.com/photos/36264706@N03/sets/72157621604646139/detail/ which, besides showing Aegina's many charms also shows the importance of taking a conventionl, open-deck ferry (time: 1 hour),, rather than a closed-cabin hyrofoil ... sitting out on deck shows you a wonderful seascape... a "mini'cruise" on a sunny day.
Posted by
Philadelphia, PA, USA
3397 posts
APologies Tommy, I see that you listed "archeological sites" which I suppose means the Temple, tho I usually think of archeology as involving digging.
Posted by
NH (USA)
1222 posts
janet: No problem. I often read to quickly or overlook someone's entire post.
I've seen your photos numerous times of Aegina and they certainly would encourage anyone to at least do a day trip to the island.
I think 3-4 days would give someone a good taste of the island. It's really often overlooked by those who think the only Greek Islands to go to are the "Big Name" ones.
Let's keep it as much of a secret as possible!