After spending two days in Athens, we would like to see Delphi and Olympia. One idea we have is to rent a car and drive to Delphi, see the sight, then drive to Olympia and spend the night in Olympia. Visit Olympia the next morning and then return to Athens. Has anyone done this trip before? How was the driving? Does anyone know of a tour company that does a 2 day trip to Delphi and Olympia? Other transportation ideas for seeing both sights?
Posted by
Holdrege, NE, USA
91 posts
The drive from Athens to Delphi is 2.5 hours per Michelin and then the drive from Delphi is another 3.5 hours to Olympia. It all depends on how much driving you want to do in a single day. 2 years ago we rented a car in Athens and drove to Delphi, did the sights in the afternoon/early evening and spent the night in Delphi. Drove to Olympia the next day, did the sights and spent the night in Olympia. The roads were fine I did all the driving. Get a good map as some roads, exchanges, turns, etc. are not well marked. Some people find the driving a little hectic in Greece. I enjoyed Greece tremendously! Happy Travels.
Posted by
Brighton, UK
1421 posts
Claire
I agree with Chuck that it's possible as long as you are happy to drive that much in a day. (Coaches will be even slower of course.)G.O. Tours do a 4 day tour that includes both, but I don't know anyone who does a two day.
If you decide to do it yourself this is a nice hotel, with brilliant views, in Delphi.
http://www.delphi.com.gr/acropole/roomF.html
Cheers
Alan
Posted by
dallas, tx, usa
1358 posts
I don't recommend driving. We spent a week in Athens and took guided bus tours every day to an outlying area. The buses were air conditioned and provided good English speaking guides.
We found a travel agent who gave us brochures describing each tour; you can select the places you want to see. And know the cost of each tour.
We enjoyed the trips and learned much about the history as the guides talked to us as we traveled. We benefited from our time that way.
Posted by
Atlanta, GA, USA
87 posts
It seems to me that this is possible but pushing it a bit--I use Via Michelin as well and LOVE it but somehow it always takes me longer to get there than it says. If there way a way to throw one more day in there it might be perfect--going up from Athens and spending the night in Delphi (one of the previous responses mentioned, I think, the Hotel Acropole and I will confirm that the views alone are worth it!) and then driving to Olympia the next morning. That would be a lot less stressful, I think, in terms of worrying about making it to sites on time. There is also not really a "direct" way across the Pelopenese--you are looking at about 4 hours from Olympia to Athens.
So...possible, but rushed I think is the summary here :).
The only real alternative to driving yourself that I know of would be an organized tours. Finding one to Delphi out of Athens would be no problem, but finding one to Olympia might be.
Posted by
Novi, MI, USA
13 posts
I went to Greece a few years back for about a week. I flew into Athens, but based myself out of Patras (stayed at the Porto Rio hotelt the whole time and used that as a base for exploration). I covered a lot of ground. The drive from Athens to Patras was pretty scary because the roads are really busy going that way. However, as I recall, the drive from Patras to Delphi and from Patras to Olympia was much more relaxed and not as heavy traffic. I remember the drive to Delphi was quite pretty. I even drove part of the way on the way to Olympia and I am pretty timid.
I did these sites on different days. I wanted plenty of time to explore Delphi, which was neat. Also, make sure you have the most up to date information on Olympia's open and closing times as I had a very current guide book, but when I got to Olympia, the site had closed before I got there (and I should have had several hours, according to my book). This necessitated me going back to Patras and making the trip again the next day. Enjoy your trip!