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Trip Report--Mainland Greece!

My husband and I recently returned from a May (2015) trip to Greece. Until now, we've avoided travel in Greece because it just seemed complicated to plan. For this trip, we kept it simple, rented a car in Athens, and traveled around the mainland. We'll save the islands for another time.

We loved Greece and as tourists, their economic woes (though I'm sure are very real) were not evident to us. Customer service in restaurants and hotels was consistently very good! The food was amazing and we had (mostly) excellent accommodations for low cost. We can hardly wait to return!

Our itinerary looked like this:

Athens--4 nights (Hermes Hotel--location and hotel were great!)

Nafplio--4 nights (Hotel Aetoma -very nice hotel--hiked to Palamidi Castle, daytrip to Mycenae, Epidavros, and Nemea.)

Monemvasia--2 nights (New Malvasia Hotel--the ruins on the top are currently closed so we could have skipped Monemvasia or only spent an afternoon.)

Kardamyli--3 nights (loved our stay at Vardia Hotel--highly recommend!)

Olympia--2 nights (Hotel Pelops--one night in Olympia would have been enough to tour the ancient site.)

Galaxidi--3 nights (Hotel Ganimede--used this as a base for Delphi--enjoyed Galaxidi and think it's a better option than Delphi!)

Meteora--2 nights (Hotel Tsikeli--2 nights was just about right--we visited 5 of the 6 open monasteries.)

Thessaloniki--3 nights (Electra Palace Hotel--perfectly located--fun city to visit!)

With a couple of modifications, we'd do this itinerary again. We paid a premium to rent the car in Athens and drop off in Thessaloniki but for us, it was worth it not to double back. From Thessaloniki, we flew Transavia Airline to Amsterdam to spend 3 more nights. For Amsterdam, especially if you're visiting museums, you can't beat the location of Hotel Aalders.

Posted by
12 posts

Thanks for sharing, Sharon! My husband & I are going on the RS Greece tour at the end of sept, then spending 3 days in Santorini & and also finishng up with a few days in Amsterdam.

Aside from the main tourist attractions in Athens (Acropolis, museums, etc) are there any off the beaten path places you checked out? Any restaurants you would recommend? We have booked a tour to Cape Sounion/Temple of Poseidon for one evening before our tour begins.

We also have a "free" day while in Kardamyli - any recommendations there?

Thanks!
Shana

Posted by
3262 posts

Hi shana!
Our 4 days in Athens went by quickly. The major museums (Archeological and Acropolis) were both excellent. We also liked the Benaki Museum. On our walk back from the Archeological Museum we stopped in to see the National Library. It's an interesting building and the director there was very informative. The Central Market in Athens is quite a scene. We ate at a fun restaruant nearby called Karamanlidika by Fanis. The menu is tapas/mezes-style and very fun. The street where the restaurant is located feels a bit dodgy at night but it's not far from the main street to reach the restaurant.

Kardamyli is a wonderful place to just relax. In addition to relaxation, we enjoyed hiking to the Byzantine Church above the town. The hike is described in Rick Steves' Greek Guidebook.

We concentrated so much on planning for Greece that we didn't make the best of our time in Amsterdam. Make sure you have a plan for the things that you want to see!

Enjoy your travels in Greece! We thought it was wonderful!

Posted by
32 posts

My daughter and I are doing this trip in May 2016, so I really enjoyed your post. We are renting a car from Athens airport and driving to Delphi- 1 night, drive to Olympia - 1 night, drive to Kardamyli - 2 nights, drive to Monemvasia - 2 nights, drive to Nafplio - 2 nights and back to Athens airport for drop off. I know we are doing the reverse order from you but does this sound good to you? How long did you find the drive between these towns? Were did you park in Nafplio and is difficult to drive in any of these towns and find parking? And Last Question !! Is the site in Monemvasia closed for the long term do you know? Thank you Sharon for any feedback you can give me!

Posted by
3262 posts

Hi Leslie,

Your plan sounds good and May is the perfect time to visit Greece! I'd be inclined to skip Monemvasia for a trip of this length as it's a little out of the way. I'm not sure when the archeological site on top will be open. You might post that question on Trip Advisor to see if anyone has an update. If you decide to delete Monemvasia, you could add one night to Nafplio and one to Kardamyli for a more relaxed trip. Just a thought.

My husband did the driving for this trip and it wasn't too bad. I'd suggest checking viaMichelin or Google maps to estimate drive times between the cities.

For Nafplio, we parked at the Public Parking lot near the port. We used it for our 4-night stay without any issues. There was always available space. No issues parking in any of these towns.

Have a great time in Greece!