Day trips outside Athens
 

My son (18) and I will be arriving Athens next week for 5 days, interested in a day trip or day cruise or both and would like some advises on best use of limited time.

With Cape Sounion, Delphi or Corinth/Mycenae as possible day trips which might be our best bet? I understand the Temple of Poseidon and sunset is worth the trip.

Open on day cruise suggestions.

I have not been to Cape Sounion, so I can't speak to that. I loved Mycenae, and if you go, I recommend highly the book The Tomb of Agamemnon by Cathy Gere.

Delphi, however, is perhaps the most evocative place I have visited in all my travels: the home of the oracle consulted in so many of the ancient tales, with extensive ruins covering the hillside in a gorgeous setting on the slopes of Mount Parnassus.

For a day cruise, my daughter and I took a ferry on our own to Aegina. There is a beautiful temple and a colorful port. There is a popular day cruise that combines visits to Aegina, Poros, and Hydra. This is much more expensive and more like a cruise experience, with food and entertainment.

You might be interested in my trip report (warning, very long!):

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

Sounion is more of a 1/2 day trip (4-5 hr). The southern half of the coastal road to Sounion, is pretty. Many tours depart in late afternoon, to allow for a sunset experience.

Delphi or Mycenae will be a very long day, and you may feel rushed through the archaelogical sites (and museum at Delphi, if it's included in tour).

Note that part of the Delphi ruins, including the oft-photographed "Tholos", are below (south?) of the main road. I haven't noticed as many tour groups there, perhaps they skip it to save time -- too bad.

I agree with previous posts that Delphi is most spectacular of the 3 choices.

We visited Delphi on our own , as a daytrip a few weeks ago using the KTEL busline. The roudtrip cost was about 42 Euros and the ride is 3 hours each way. There is, I think a bus that leaves Athens at 7:30, but we caught the next one at 10:30 and still saw all we wanted to see and were back in central Athens by 9. It is an amazing site and well worth seeing.

Rick

Another option is Nafplio. 2-2.5 hr bus ride. 13E. Beautiful seaside town with some great shops and restaurants along the pedestrian "mall". Very historical. Free self-guided tour with hand-held tape - pick up at tourist kiosk on the harbor.

You could see Mycenae on the way (same bus), although that would make it a long day.

When our daughter lived in Athens, she and her friends liked Nafplio so much they made several day trips there. [We liked it so much we spent 3 days]

We also did a day trip to Delphi and it was wonderful. It was a long day, but we hired a private taxi to take us there and were able to make good use of our time.

Our trip included a visit to the museum at Thebes and an incredible lunch (the best meal during our time in Greece) at a small restaurant somewhere between Thebes and Delphi that our driver recommended.