I'm will be in Athens at the beginning of July. I want to visit the monasteries near Kalambaka and was hoping to see Delphi on the return. What's the best way to minimize travel time without renting a car? Any suggestions for places to stay in Kalambaka? Is it possible to stopover to see Delphi and return to Athens the same day?
Posted by
Brighton, UK
1388 posts
Leesa
I think you're probably going to need to go back to Athens. Kalambaka and Delphi are separated by extensive mountains and so there is no direct route between them.
On the other hand there's an Athens - Kalambaka train which take around 5 hours, and an Athens - Delphi bus which takes 3 hours.
In theory it might be possible to get off the train back from Kalambaka at Heronia or Thiva but I suspect you'd lose time in trying to make bus connections from either of these. In Thiva (Thebes) for example the Delphi bus stops at a restaurant outside of town.
If anyone has any other thoughts I'd be interested to hear them.
Cheers
Alan
Posted by
Tulsa, Oklahoma, US
290 posts
Alan, I think you're right; do it as two different trips. The bus is definitely the way to go to Kalambaka. Does the train even run there anymore?
Posted by
none
79 posts
Aloha Leesa
We had the same dilemna you are facing...
and we are traveling this April
and you really have a couple of options
what has been suggested, Grayline does do tours to Delphi, but they don't allow enough time for the Museum for a day trip, keep that in mind
Grayline will do an overnight tour to Delphi and Meteora..which might be something to consider
the website is grayline.gr
you can rent a car
you can hire a driver
We chose to hire a driver, after we number crunched it and for what we personally wanted to accomplish in our visit..this was the best option with the time we have for our trip.
also adding to the discount of hiring a driver, we are off season and there are no cruise ships in port.
A hui hou!
K.
Posted by
Brighton, UK
1388 posts
Ash
According to the OSE website the train does still run, although the timetable in July is not yet available. At the moment there are 2 trains a day, the earliest being at 8.20.
There's a journey checker here
http://www.ose.gr/ose/content/home.aspx?d=39&rd=16685622&l=1
Unhelpfully although the site is in English the drop down list of stations is only in Greek. Note that Athens is, again unhelpfully, shown as Statmos Athinaion (in Greek script) and therefore appears under S and not under A!
Cheers
Alan
Posted by
Brighton, UK
1388 posts
Leesa
I've never stayed here but it looks nice
http://www.archontikomesohori.gr/
I have stayed in a place just up the road and so can vouch for the area being spectacular.
Cheers
Alan
Posted by
Tulsa, Oklahoma, US
290 posts
Alan
Well, bollocks. No wonder I could never get the dumb OSE website to work; I even had a copy of the Greek alphabet out trying to figure out what the Athens station was listed under. No matter, I rent a car when I need to travel around the mainland, but it sure seems they could make things just a wee bit easier for us.
Posted by
Brighton, UK
1388 posts
Ash
Yep, tricky.
My Greek is reasonable, but even so I fluked this one. I started with Kalambaka as the destination and then it gave me only a few starting points, one of which was Statmos Athinaion.
I would never have guessed it the other way round!
Cheers
Alan
Posted by
OP
Kailua Kona, HI, USA
6 posts
Wow! Thanks everyone for your responses and suggestions. I really appreciate it. It's one thing when you're doing research and looking at maps and another when faced with real life logistics.
You've been a great help.