My mom and I are going back to Greece this September, and this time around we are planning to spend a full day in Delphi (a Sunday), and we are trying to figure out if it is worth it to rent a car and go on our own. Is it a difficult/ dangerous drive as far as traffic? what would be the best time to leave Athens and are there any interesting places worth stopping at on our way back? Thank you so much!
Posted by
Maryland
907 posts
Viamichelin suggests that it is about 3 hours from Athens to Delphi.... So either way as a day trip you will only have about a half day at the site (which should plenty for touring the ruins and visiting the museum). We chose the tour bus option so we didn't have 6 hours of driving and didn't have to worry about Athens traffic. Normal road traffic didn't seem particularly bad. Just our personal choice, but the tour was a good one for our first full day in Greece when we were jet lagged anyway.
Posted by
OP
New Jersey
24 posts
Thank you! The only reason we are not thinking about a guided tour is we don't want to have a time limit once we get there. We took a tour to the Villa Adriana and Villa d'Este when we were in Rome and very much regretted it afterwards...
Posted by
Bavaria
2480 posts
Timewise there is not much difference between the bus and driving. But please note that many people want to do that day tour and the 7:30 KTEL bus in the mornig to Delphi and the last one back at 18:00 will be fully booked early. The trip is approx. three hours one way. So if you are visiting both excavation areas and the museum and want to have a decent lunch there will be not much time left for anything else. Driving would give you the opportunity to stop at the splendid Hosios Loukas Monastry (in the morning as it closes usually at 15:30; later in peak saison).
The roads are in good condition if a bit hilly after Levadia. Park your car near the museum, you won't find a parking opportunity in the village.
Posted by
OP
New Jersey
24 posts
Perfect, thank you soooo much, as long as traffic is not crazy (we are planning on leaving early), and there are more places we could see on the way, driving will definitely be our choice!!! Thanks again!
Posted by
11569 posts
It is a magical place to spend a night.