Hey Fodorites,

In June I will be attending a friend's wedding in Rome. I'm planning to tack on a few days in Greece; I've never visited before, and this is my chance! I need some advice on my itinerary.

My goals are:

• Spend at least 1 full day in Athens, see the Acropolis, spend some time strolling and eating
• Day trip to an island, ideally by ferry or cruise, and ideally just 1 -- I'd like a quieter day, on a calm island, with beautiful water views and at least 1 interesting thing to do (I don't care so much about swimming/beach; that'd be nice, but not a must); maybe a glimpse of Greek village life
• Spend at least 1 day in Sparta - I know it's meant to be boring, but I'm writing a historical novel set there, and that's my main motivation for the trip

I'll arrive May 30th, and should fly back to Rome on June 4th (maybe June 5th; the wedding's on the 6th). How do you recommend I arrange my itinerary? What islands would you suggest I visit (and would be easy to get to)? And any advice on what neighborhood to stay in for Athens - Plaka?

Thanks in advance!!

Greece is delightful -- but it sounds like you are trying to fit a LOT into just a few days. One day is exceedingly little for Athens, particularly if you'll have jet lag when you arrive. Since Sparta is a priority, I'm really not sure it makes sense to try to fit in an island, and if you must, then I'd opt for something you can visit as a day trip from Athens, perhaps Aegina? I haven't been there, so I trust others will chime in.

Here's a recent thread on where to stay in Athens:
Athens accommodations

And here's a report of my trip to Greece, which included Athens -- see post # 181 and following.
With Gratitude for a Glorious Solo Month in Greece

Flights to Sparta

The closest airport is Kalamata (much closer than Athens)..
There are no direct flights from Athens to Kalamata, but from London (all airports), Paris (both airports), Amsterdam, Dusseldorf,Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Geneva, Milan, Venice and Vienna.
According to your starting point in your home country, it may be faster to fly via these airports instaed of the detour via Rome or Athens.
All depends on your dates, fares and lengts of stopovers.
You may also use the above mentioned airports (and others) for direct flights to Islands like Santorini or Mykonos.
If the Greek Island you plan to visit must not look "Cycladic", you could also fly from Athens to Corfu Island and go on from there by overnight ferry to Bari or Brindisi and by connecting train to Rome.

The islands you can visit by ferry for a day trip are very limited, of course. I think this article provides a good summary for ideas. You aren't going to experience "village life" much as a tourist going to any popular island for tourists.

https://greece.greekreporter.com/201...ose-to-athens/

Are you open to driving?
It's a lot to pack into 5 days by public transport. I'd skip the island idea and just enjoy the Peloponnese--all the benefits of a beautiful coastline without the time lost for ferry travel. There are two islands at the tip you could day trip to--perhaps combined with Monemvasia.
Everyone says Sparta is disappointing, but just next door is Mystras--one of the most impressive sights I saw!

When in Sparta you will be very near the sea coast of Laconia and Messina in the southern Peloponnese, with coastal villages just as picturesque as the islands. There are also some important sites nearby, e.g. Mystras, Monemvasia, and Ancient Messene, which would give you a better feel for historical Greece than modern-day Sparta. Apparently the Spartans didn’t build much that survived from their era.

Not far off the route between Athens and Sparta is the beautiful seaside town of Nafplio, along with several of the most important archeological sites in Greece.

I’m not trying to discourage you from going to Sparta, but to suggest not wasting a day of a very short trip going to an island when there are so many more interesting things to see. It would be helpful to rent a car rather than depending upon public transport.

Thanks, folks. Some quick replies:

• I read that most guides recommend 1-2 days in Athens, so I figured for a short trip 1 day would do. It sounds like most folks disagree?
• Flying into Kalamata is 2x the price of flying into Athens
• Though I enjoy them, I'm very willing to sacrifice museum visits on this trip, given the short duration -- leaving me more time to just walk around, enjoy the views and historical sites
• I won't have access to a car, as I'm uncomfortable driving abroad
• I guess I don't mean "island" necessarily -- for example, Nafplio is frequently recommended as a day trip or overnight from Athens. I just mean some smaller, slower, pretty town, and ideally I'd like to sail there

In terms of itinerary, here's what I'm looking at:

• May 30th: arrive Athens 5pm
• May 31st: sightseeing Athens
• June 1: day trip to Nafplio
• June 2: morning bus to Sparta, sightsee Sparta
• June 3: sightsee Sparta, afternoon bus back to Athens
• June 4: depart Athens, arrive Rome
• June 5: sightseeing Rome
• June 6: sightseeing Rome, wedding
• June 7: depart Rome

Based on advice here, I would replace June 1 with another full day of sightseeing in Athens -- or I could replace it with more time in Sparta, perhaps to visit Mystras?

That definitely sounds like a better-paced vacation. It just feels weird to visit Greece without ever seeing the water, lol.

You mean staying in Nafplio on the 1st, right?
Nafplio is on the water, quite atmospherically so.
I can't see how else you would do it if Sparta is a must--I hope you will share the book title with us, congrats!

June 2nd: leave Nauplia by bus at 8.30 and change at Tripoli. As there is absolutely nothing to see or to do at Sparta (except the sidetrip to medieval Mystras) you will never need a full day for the visit of Sparta.

We all travel in different ways. I would find your plan painfully rushed -- just a day trip for Nafplio?!? Just a day for Athens?!? But maybe it will work for you.

Here's my recommendation: Don't listen to what ANY one says about how long to spend in a place. Get a good guidebook or two, decide what YOU want to see, check their opening hours, and then mark then on a calendar (along with time to get from place to place). That's really the only way to come up with a plan that matches your interests.

Oh for pity's sake, kja. I enjoy leisurely vacations too! This is a small trip I'm only doing because I'm attending a friend's wedding nearby, as I think I said. If I had my druthers, I'd travel when I had more time.

Of course I can make a list of things I'm interested in. Perhaps my biggest area of ignorance is in getting around between cities in Greece, how long to budget for transiting from one city to another, etc.

I created this post because I'm very interested in others' opinions, and how folks who know the area would best maximize their time!

yorkshire : Thank you so much! I actually did not mean to overnight in Nafplio, but return the same day to Athens. Is that doable or crazy? Also, I see that Nafplio is roughly in between Athens and Sparta. If I did overnight in Nafplio, is it easy to catch a bus from there to Sparta?

neckervd : I think you're suggesting what Yorkshire is getting at! You say to "leave Nauplia by bus at 8.30 and change at Tripoli" -- do you mean en route to Sparta? Is that a morning bus I could take, and if so, how long is it, roughly, to take that bus trip from Nafplio to Sparta via Tripoli?

I think I'm coming around to skipping Nafplio altogether (something probably has to give). I guess the question is -- which is the better choice, a 2nd full day in Athens? Or a day in Nafplio/Aegina/some other smaller town?

Since Nafplio is in between Athens and Sparta, then I would certainly stopover and not backtrack, but I don't know the bus schedules.
Either that or just skip it, as you suggested. Sparta has few boosters it seems, but it's still Greece and if you have time to visit the amazing nearby Mystras (I am sure that is doable by bus), then it will be time well spent in addition to your research interest.

IMelda --- I think you can do your Sparti thing, and still have a Nafplio overnight -- The trick is to make the connection at Isthmia KTEL (by the Corinth Canal), not in Tripoli. (The Tripoli connection isn't good - it requires yet another connection) I looked up the Isthmia option on Rome 2 Rio, & it works Here's how it might go (others cx me if in error, please):

June 1 Taxi from ATH hotel to KTEL @ Kissifou St (€13=15; 20 mins). 1st Nafplio bus is 8, then 9:30, then hourly; takes a bit over 2 hours. I suggest staying at Omorfo Poli, lovely small pension just a few 100 yards from Bus station on a charmng street. Before u leave Nafplio bus station, buy a ticket for next morning to the KTEL Isthmus Station (which is on the highway, not in Corinth or Isthmus, go figure). The schedule just says 6:30 Am - 7:20, next one is noon. However the 8 am bus to Athens stops at that station @ about 9, see if they will sell u a ticket on that bus. If not -- have breakfast at the highway station (a big pastry/coffee bar). .

Jun2 - Leave Nafplio at 6:30 or 8, depending Get to Isthmia station (1 hr) & connect with first available Sparta bus...there is no online timetable but there are 5 busses per day in June and it takes 3 hrs 30 minutes. you should be in Sparta by 1 pm latest ... You will have a very loooong day (in June it wont get dark until past 9) to research whatever you can in that boring modern concrete city -- good luck in finding any vestige of Ancient Sparta!

June 2 - Catch any one of the 5 busses per day back to Athens (3.5 hrs) - you may have enough time to see a bit more of Athens, which DOES have major Ancient Landmarks.

Well, I don't travel for leisure, and I don't take the time to respond just to have OPs dis me, but if you want to know how much time it will take to get around check google maps (for car or public transportation) or check rome2rio for your public transportation options.

Good luck!

Imelda72:

Given the stated parameters of your trip, your times are workable, but given the underlying premise (i.e., your focus on Sparta), I think you may be headed for a real disappointment, and a sense that there would have been better things you could have done with your limited time.

If you're writing a historical novel on Sparta, I'm guessing you're probably setting it in ancient Sparta? Remember that Thucydides wrote that if all future times knew about Sparta was what they could learn from the remains of its public buildings, they would never believe that it had been a place of any consequence at all. And he was right! The remains of the ancient town are on a hillock to the north of the modern town. There are a few walls and low stumps of columns scattered about the olive groves. I'm a compulsive photographer, especially of ruins, but I remember thinking there was little need to take more than a couple of photos there, and I knew those would not be memorable. Even the scant remains that you can see today often date to the late Hellenistic period or even to the late Roman period in the second or third centuries AD (for example, the remains of the surrounding walls).

You can see the site of the Sanctuary or Artemis Orthia, which played a big part in ancient Spartan life as a setting for endurance contests where boys were flogged (charming, eh?). It's down along the Eurotas River, but most of the remains date from Roman times when the later Spartans did a milder re-enactment for tourists. The main thing you will get from a visit to the site is a sense of the surrounding setting: the Eurotas valley with the towering and impressive peaks of the Taygetus range looming above it to the west. I did manage to find an album on Flickr called "Sparta theater" (95 photos) which will show you pretty much all there is to see there. If you can buy/find a copy of "The Blue Guide: Greece," it has a good map of the modern town and the ancient site. It shouldn't take you much more than an hour to tour the site.

There is one far more evocative ancient site near Sparta, but it would help to have a car to get there -- the Menelaion, an ancient fertility sanctuary devoted to Helen of Troy and her husband, King Menelaus (pregnant mothers went there and left offerings in the hope of having handsome children). It is roughly three miles east of Sparta. Take the road out of town over the Eurotas; turn right on the Geraki/Yeraki road; and in about 2.25 miles you'll probably see signs on the left for the Menelaion and a parking area, which I remember being near a chapel. It's then about a 20 mile walk along the side of a somewhat steep hill, with limited visibility as you're walking through olive groves or woods. And then all of a sudden you come out on the flat summit of the ridge, with the stone platforms of the sanctuary in front of you, and a to-die-for view across the Eurotas valley to the peaks of the Taygetus range.

But it gets better. On the back (eastern) side of the ridge, sort of behind you when you first come into the clearing and see the summit, are the ruins of Bronze Age Mycenaean palace. Not a huge one, but you can see the outline of corridors and rooms -- a portion of it has been left exposed, with the hilltop peeled back like the covers thrown partially off a bed. It isn't Tiryns or Mycenae or Pylos, by a long shot -- but, hey, if there really was a real person behind the legends of Helen of Troy, this is where she lived. It also would be where Telemachus comes in search of his father Odysseus in the early books of "The Odyssey."

If you do get to Sparta, don't miss going to see the Byzantine ruins at Mistra (Mystras), which are only 5 miles west of town. Those are one of the great sites of Greece, but they are late Byzantine -- mid-1200's to mid-1400's, If you'd like some historical background, try and find the beautifully written "Mistra: Capital of the Byzantine Peloponnese" by the British historian Sir Stephen Runciman.

If any of the above leads you to rethink what you want to do, I'd suggest the following. With just a few days in Athens, you can see the highlights of Athens itself. You can do a day trip to Delphi - it's only about two hours away, as I recall. Or take two days to go explore the northeastern corner of the Peloponnese (a car would be helpful here, but not completely essential). The ruins of ancient Corinth are worth seeing, given St. Paul's time there, and with the unforgettable sight of the huge rock of the Acrocorinth rising up a thousand feet just behind it. It's well worth going up to the top of the Acrocorinth to see the walls built by ancient Greeks, Byzantines, and Venetians, and the small castle with a tower built by French knights who conquered the area after the 4th Crusade. Then, climb up to Acrocorinth's highest peak (about 30 minutes) for a dazzling view of the isthmus of Corinth and the surrounding landscape.

Off to the side of the road between Corinth and Nafplio are the very substantial and interesting ruins of the Bronze Age Mycenaean citadel of Mycenae, with its giant underground "beehive" tombs. Nafplio itself (on the peninsula) is quite wonderful and charming -- essentially, a late 1600's/early 1700's Venetian fortress town with a bunch of neoclassic second quarter of the 19th century buildings that date to the short period when it was Greece's capital. The very impressive Mycenaean citadel of Tiryns with its huge stone walls is just a few miles outside of town, and the beautifully-preserved/restored theater at Epidaurus is also easily reachable from there. The well-preserved Venetian fortress of Palamidi sprawling across a tall peak overlooking the tow offers great views not just of Nafplio, but extending across the Argolid plain, so famous in Greek history.

I think you can also catch hydrofoils from Nafplio out to some of its nearby islands, like Spetsai, which was the setting of John Fowles's novel "The Magus."

You've only got 4 days in Greece, can't you stay in Athens the whole time? You can visit or stay in one of the hotels on the Athenian Riviera (Vouliagmeni is really nice), visit Cape Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon. Then you can see Athens, you can go on a day trip around the islands in the Saronic Gulf (Hydra, Poros and Aegina) or take a trip to Nafplio and a trip to the nearby islands from there plus see a bit of traditional Greece without venturing on long journeys. Here are some links that might help you planning your trip

https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle...-a4163376.html

https://www.ktelargolida.gr/en/3237-2/ Bus timetable from Athens to Argolida

https://www.visitnafplio.com/islands.html

"You say to "leave Nauplia by bus at 8.30 and change at Tripoli" -- do you mean en route to Sparta?"

Of course. As you told us that you want to gowant to go to Sparta anyway.

neckervd -- according to Rome2Rio, a change at Tripoli would be extra-long, the bus goes to Kalamata & other places takes many hours... also might just be 1 per day, with a bad connection. If OP can take a sthort bus from Nafplio (1 hr) to that Corinth/Isthmia? Highway bus transfer "depot" she could get the outbound bus from Athens that goes right to Sparta.