Three+ weeks: checking our itinerary

Yes, Napflion is very much worth it. And since the most beautiful towns/ cities in Greece are Napflion and Chania, Crete, also spend most of your time on Crete in Chania.
You said you don’t enjoy visiting Byzantine sites so I am glad you have included Byzantine Mystras, a must see in my opinion.
We did include Olympia. We drove Napflion to Sparta where we stayed overnight to visit Mystras. The next day we drove to Olympia which was a highlight for us, a goosebumps kind of experience. We arrived as the tour buses were leaving, a wonderful day. Then drove on to Delphi after overnighting in Olympia.

If you like to see one major sight per day, and you love ancient things, you may want to budget three full days in Athens. Some of the very best stuff from all over the country is in Athens museums, and it also has many spectacular partially intact ancient structures. The Acropolis Museum/Acropolis and National Archeological museum could therefore take up two days, the ancient agora/temple of Hephaestos/ Stoa of Attalos and the museum of Cycladic Art (very ancient stuff) a busy third day.

Thank you Suki -- I'll prioritize Chania and put Napflion back into the mix. Your O/N at Mystras is intriguing and now you've got me pondering Olympia again.

And thank you Lia -- three days in Athens can be managed all of the places you mentioned are on our list.

Everyone has their favorites, but I would recommend Naxos rather than Paros (and I’ve visited both). And I would recommend staying there 4 or 5 nights. I would skip Sifnos — it’s quite a trek from Naxos and I don’t recall the food there being noticeably different than other islands. In fact we had wonderful food on Naxos.

From Naxos you could daytrip to Mykonos in order to see Delos, which sounds like it would fit your interests.

On Naxos, stay on St. George beach, visit the Old Market & the archeological museum, rent a car for a day to explore the island and see the Kouros — huge marble statues. Plenty to do & see!

Thanks Charlene! You said "From Naxos you could daytrip to Mykonos in order to see Delos, which sounds like it would fit your interests." -- that's a real interesting idea; Delos is a wish of ours that we'd put to the "next trip"

Sure, this is very good. But,

I would change your last seven days, though, for a few reasons.

First, no need to sleep in Mycenae. It's just a tiny little village that happens to be out in the countryside near the archaeological site. Stay in Nafplio. This gives you good access to Epidarus, as well. Or, if you like the idea of a charming little seaport village stay at Palaia Epidarus and visiting Mycenae and Epidarus during the day. Or, two nights and do one each day.

I would do this: Ferry to Pireas. Rent a car there. Drive to Cape Sounion. Hope for proper sunset conditions.
Next day, drive to Hosios Loukas (3 hours), enjoy the site. Drive to Delphi (30 mins). Have some lunch and try to visit both the archaeological site and museum, night Delphi (or nearby Arachova or seaside Galaxidi).

Why Diakopto? Do you want to go on the train ride? Diakopto is nothing much. I would suggest that you stay up in the nice mountain village on the other end of the train line, Kalavryta. Stay there and do the train "down-and-up" instead of the other way around. Make a day of your drive from Delphi to Kalavryta by stopping in Nafpaktos, touring the castle and cute harbor area. Night Kalavryta.

After train, drive to Myceane, visit the site, settle for night in Nafplio. Next day visit Epidarus and return to Nafplio for a full day. I recommend a taxi to the Palamidi Fortress and then a walk down the stairs back into town. Night Nafplio.

Then, drive to return rental car in Piraeus, drop your bags at your Athens hotel, and spend the next two days and two nights in Athens. Then, you're as close as possible to the airport for your return.

I agree to stay in Nafplion rather than near Mycenae. We stayed in Nafplion for 4 nights and saw Epidaurus, Mycenae, Nemea, and a winery as well. Nafplion is also an interesting town in its own right.

Beth

I am late on this thread however I do have some images of Nafplio and the surrounding area including Ancient Corinth and Ancient Nemia. While it is not Olympia Nemia had sister games and the statium is still there along with a partially restored temple. Substituting Nemia saves you a 10 hour round trip drive to Olympia.
Nafplio and Peloponnese http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/sets/72157632094108982/

And here is the day trip from Naxos to Delos and Mykonos.
Day trip Delos and Mykonos http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/sets/72157637922138466/

We toured Greece last September for a month and would totally recommend the charming town of Nafplio as your base to visit the sights that Beth mentioned. Napfplio was one of the highlights our tour.

We were on Santorini four nights. 3 nights would have been just right. We spent a week on Naxos. It was our favorite island. We took local transportation or walked. We didn't have time to visit Paros. Next time!

ok -- I'm definitely 'sold' on Nafplion and Naxos. I'll come back with a revised itinerary and next set of questions. Thanks all

Hi
If you want you may visit my blog about Paros. There are many useful info about the island
My hope for this guide, is to learn some new travel-insider information.

https://captainsandrewhideaway.wordpress.com/