Reliable/reasonable driving time from Nafplio to Athens airport for morning flight? and--

The trouble with this type of question is the number of uncontrollable variables but add them up at the max -- 2.5 hrs drive time, one hour to drop car, and one hour for security and an extra -- just in case. So that is 5.5 hours, lets round it to 6 hours. So if on the road by 4.45 am or so you should be OK.

Most experienced travelers recommend getting back to Athens at least 1 day before your flight in case of any delays or change of flight schedule.

It would be a lot less stress being in Athens and much closer to the airport in the event of any delays/changes.

Depending on other domestic departures around that time it can get very crowded at security, 40 minutes seems short. Personally I’d rather follow the suggestion of arriving in Athens the night prior to departure…better safe than sorry?

Just checked the Athens airport website and there are 9 domestic flights scheduled to leave between 10.25 and 10.45….

Hmmmmmmmmm..... This is all very helpful.... Hmmmm...

In Greece Oct 2018 including a drive from Athens airport to Nafplio. Drove back to Athens and made a wrong turn, resulting in a slow crawl thru downtown Athens during rush hour. Stayed the night before our flight to Istanbul in the beach town of Artemida. Got in late but in time for dinner and some sight-seeing. The next morning drove to the "back" entrance of the airport. Drive was shorter and easier than would be the case from Athens. Thank goodness we did not try to drive from Nafplio to catch a flight!

We returned car last June to Athens Car Rental. They do not have a presence at the airport so we had to coordinate with them. It took about 10 minutes to process the car.

That said, on another trip I did miss the exit which added about 1/2 hour to the trip from Nafplio. You have to be careful as there are not repeated signs like in the US.

The airport is small and easy to maneuver but be careful of your assumption you don't have to check your luggage. What you can carry on is not very big and we have checked even when we did carry on from the U.S.

I think it all depends on your risk tolerance. 5 am would most likely work. It is not a flight back to the U.S. where I would definitely plan to be back the night before. Worse case scenario you would have to buy new tickets.

You guys are great! We will be musing about these details for sure. Thank you so much for your help.
Tracey

You can always use some type of navigation system to get you from Point A to Point B.

I used Google Maps and it was a life saver. While not perfect it got my to most of where I wanted to go in the Peloponnese.

I think driving from Nafplio to Athens should be no problem but having a navigation system reduces the stress and chance of missing an exit.

We rely heavily on Google Maps when driving overseas (this will be our 5th family trip since 2017)). I was hoping it would be reliable in Greece. So you would say it is reliable/accurate?

Just another option. You might want to consider taking a later flight to Naxos. Give yourselves a bit of extra time. You may even want to visit Acrocorinth in Corinth for an hour or so on the way back to Athens.

Scott & Tracey:

I found Google Maps very reliable. Not perfect but if it wasn't for Google Maps I'd still be lost somewhere in the mountains of the Peloponnese (which may not be a bad thing!)

Just enter your starting point and destination, even if it's a accommodation or archeological site and you get a map with the route and directions with voice when to turn, what exit to take or even if you or the nav makes a mistakes will do a reroute and get you back on track.

The Peloponnese is a large area and some type of nav system is highly recommended.

Islands are smaller, with less roads, and shorter distances so it's possible to use a paper map but if you have access to Google Maps or some other nav system then you can rely on that.