Hello All,
We'll be going to Athens at the end of March, and we'd like to do several day-trips from Athens to interesting places, yet returning each night to Athens. Some suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I know a lot of the islands are too far to go there and back same day, so there must be other options.
Your help would be great!
Thanks,
Ross

Hi, Ross!

I saw you had another post with this question. There's no need to make multiple posts--just reply to your own post (with "ttt," for example) to bring it back up to the top.

We've only been to Athens once, but we had a wonderful day trip! We hired a fellow at our hotel, and he drove us to Delphi, the spot where the oracle prophesied (less than 100 mi. from Athens, I think). The same day, he took us to a spot some 20 mi. from Delphi, the Byzantine monastery of Osios Loukas.

The ancient ruins of Delphi, in their mountain setting, are stunning, and the millenium-old monastery, with its architecture set off by gold-backed mosaics, is splendid!

The only thing is that it was a little rushed. Delphi could easily be a day trip by itself, and there are bus companies that do day trips from Athens.

Hope your trip is wonderful!

I only did one day trip and it was to Delphi. I highly recommend it, Delphi was the highlight of our visit to Athens.

We had only one day for a side trip and chose to go to Corinth, Mycenae, Naufplio, and Epidaurus (with a driver.) It was wonderful.

Next time, Delphi!

Enjoy.

The islands of Hydra and Aegina are very close to Athens, only a couple of hours away by ferry.

Thanks for the info so far... Sounds like the concensus is for Delphi! Anything additional ideas would be helpful!
Thanks again,
Ross

I second Delphi and strongly recommend Hydra (but I would try to stay overnight if you can manage it). We did the three-island day trip (Aegina, Poros and Hydra) and enjoyed Hydra so much that we decided to go back. We found that 3-4 days in Athens was plenty, so we checked out of our Athens hotel and spent a couple of nights in Hydra instead. Also, we enjoyed a day trip to Cape Sounion (spelling?).

Nothing against Athens, mind you. We wnet for 9 days and planned to stay in Athens the whole time, doing day trips as you have planned. However, we found that we quickly grew tired of Athens and changed our plans. It is a great base for day trips and fun by itself for a few days, but I would recommend spending at least a couple of days somewhere else.

Have fun,
Dave

Nafplio, Epidavros, and Ancient Mycenae are clustered together. If you have a car and are willing to rush around a bit you can see all these three remarkable sites in one day.