William_Baroo

My wife and I are hoping to visit Greece this summer. We plan to go from there to Switzerland. Total number of full days in Europe: 14.

I have been to Athens twice. I would like to see more of Greece, but we are not interested at all in islands or beaches. I grew up in Florida, so I have had enough of beaches, and my wife is a bad swimmer. We don't sunbathe. We like good food, historical sites, and beautiful scenery. Loud bars are not for us.

We are looking at 7 full days in Greece. Obviously, we plan to spend at least three days in Athens. That leaves us with 4 to fill. I have seen people writing about driving into the mountains and back.

If you had 4 days to spend in Greece, and you were not going to go to beaches or islands, and you had already spent time in Athens, where would you go?

KarenWoo

I highly recommend spending those 4 days in Nafplion on the Peloponnese Peninsula. It’s about a 2-hour drive from the Athens airport. Nafplion is on the water, and it’s one of Greece’s most beautiful towns. In the summer Nafplion will be filled with bougainvillea. We saw our best sunset here. From Nafplion you can visit some awesome archaeological ruins such as Epidauros, Mycenae, Nemea, Corinth, and my favorite, the Byzantine ruins of Mystras.

FTOttawa

Nafplio for sure. Eat well, drink good Nemea wine, visit all those classical sites… I don’t think you have quite enough time to visit Delphi as well, too bad.

But don’t drive there straight after a transAtlantic flight. You might have to return to the airport to pick up a car, but that is worth it to get straight onto an easy motorway, no Athens traffic.

If your onward flight is late enough in the day, you shouldn’t have to return to Athens for your last night. Advice from more experienced travellers to Greece on this point?

joannyc

Meteora! But, you won’t need 4 days there.

geetika

Another vote for Nafplion and the Peloponnese with its magnificent classical sites as well as stunning scenery. Four days will just whizz by, Nafplion is also just 1.5hrs from Athens on an excellent highway.

progol

Ditto to Nafplion! It’s central to many ancient sites and is a beautiful small city in its own right.

William_Baroo

Today I'm going to try to work out a plan for Nafplio. Thanks for all the fantastic advice.

Should I rent a car to get there?

KarenWoo

Yes, I would want a car in Nafplio to easily see the ruins and sites that are nearby. Will you visit Athens first or Nafplio? If Nafplio, I'm not sure it's a good idea to drive there right after a trans-atlantic flight. Perhaps visit Athens first, then pick up your car at the airport and drive to Nafplio. It's a very easy 2-hour drive. Try to get a later afternoon flight to Switzerland so that you can stay in Nafplio the night before your flight. This way you don't have to return to Athens. Or get a hotel near the airport if your flight is in the morning.

William_Baroo

Right now we are set to hit Athens, then Nafplio, then the airport. We would be flying to Zurich and then heading for Lucerne.

William_Baroo

Is it realistic to leave Nafplio in the morning by car and make a 2:20 p.m. flight? This would allow us to get to our hotel in Lucerne reasonably early.