car rental in Greece

I agree that renting a car would make the process easier. But driving inside Central Athens and finding parking can be a nighmare for the uninitiated or timid. I suggest that if you do decide to rent a car, take the Metro out to the Airport and pick one up there so you can drive around the city instead of through it. The National Highways are in good condition and road signs are in Greek and phonetic English. If you use caution on any 2-lane highways and allow faster drivers to pass you by pulling over whenever you're overtaken you will be fine. Be sure to go to your local AAA office to pick up an International Driving Permit, no test or membership required. If you bring 2 passport photos with you the charge is $15.

Lee is right, don't drive in Athens but otherwise it's not bad at all. Roads are very well marked in English and lightly traveled once out of the Athens area. If you are flying into Athens you might just do Delphi and Nafplio first, return the car to the airport and then take the metro into Athens for your visit there. Both cities are about 2 hours from Athens. A few more pointers: An IDP is required for all drivers and rental agencies will not give you a car without one. What Lee means about "pulling over" when passed is that on rural roads the passing lane is down the middle. Stay to the right near the shoulder, not near the middle. Parking is easy in Delphi and Nafplio - Nafplio has lots of parking along the harbor adjacent to the old town. The only route between Nafplio and Delphi is around Athens. Stay on the ring highway and though traffic will be heavy, you'll be fine.

We had the car rental company meet us at our Athens hotel and drive us, in the rental car, to the outskirts of Athens. He then told us exactly how to get on the highway. It was easy to arrange, we did so when we made the car reservation. We drove from Athens to Nafplio. While in Nafplio we took day trips including Olympia and Mycennae (spelling?). Driving was no problem. We returned the car to the port in Athens and took the ferry to Andros for the next leg of our trip. The fee for delivering the car and driving us out of Athens was about $20.00. We thought it was well worth it.

You may want to add a GPS to your rental. While it is not entirely necessary, it does add a level of reassurance. If you already own one, you could pay to download the European maps and take it with you. If you plan to return to Europe and rent vehicles repeatedly, it makes sense to purchase rather than rent.

Thank you so much for the encouragement! I am going to go for it. :~) thank you!