William_Baroo

A few days back, I got a lot of good advice here about an upcoming Greece trip. Now that I have actual bookings, I am back for more.

It now appears we will be in Athens for nearly 5 full days, including a day when we arrive at about 8 a.m. I scheduled a food tour, an Acropolis tour, and a Corinth tour, and I am thinking about adding Cape Sounios. Then we go to Nafplio for part of a day, then a whole day in Nafplio, and then we leave Nafplio and fly out of Greece on the same day.

My wife and I have booked a room in the Athos Hotel for an upcoming visit. I have been to Athens, but my budget was a lot lower at the time, so I am not familiar with decent areas and hotels. People online seemed to think the Plaka was the place to be, and the Athos got good reviews, so I chose it. I wanted to get something lined up fast in case hotels started filling up later.

Now I have time to rethink things, so I am here to ask experienced travelers whether our booking sounds like a good choice. We don't insist on Waldorf Astoria standards, but we do like reasonably nice places. Budget up to 300 per night, but 200 would be better. We don't go to clubs. We don't like noise. We would like to be near restaurants and sights.

Any suggestions? Should we hold onto the booking we have?

Also, does anyone think we might be better off cutting out one Athens day and adding another in Nafplio or somewhere else? We are not interested in lying on beaches.

dreamon

We love Athens and would easily be able to fill five days there (we had longer there last year). Some people aren't keen on Athens as it's not as architecturally attractive as some northern European cities but it's a vibrant city with heaps to enjoy. I think it's also more enjoyable in the milder months of the year but maybe that's just me. The Plaka is a popular area with tourists, in part because it is very centrally located for the places that tourists naturally want to visit. We're returning this year and staying there again ourselves. I have walked past the Athos Hotel but don't know anything about it but you should be able to read the reviews and decide. I assume you mean 300euro and I would say that's a lot of money and far higher than we would spend, but we don't need luxury.

I assume you're visiting Corinth on the way to Nafplio? Taking a day from Athens and spending it in Nafplio would also be a fine choice and may be more relaxing. Nafplio is attractive and very touristy nowadays, an easy place to be. And of course, it's not too far from several ancient sites (some not easily reached by public transport if that's your preferred mode of transport but I imagine tours would be readily available). This site is interesting and informative http://visitnafplio.com/

TravellerSince1970

Check out rates, and availability, for the Royal Olympic. It's central and removed from the touristy areas like The Plaka. It's got a fantastic rooftop breakfast buffet, and a lovely pool on the ground floor. It's also right around the corner from Kosmos, where you can rent a vehicle for your trip to the Corinth Canal. I can't recall when you said that you were traveling, but May or September would be a good time...definitely not July or August, when it's too hot and very touristy. Check it out.

William_Baroo

Thanks for the help. We have made plans now.

dreamon

What did you decide to do with regard to Nafplio?

William_Baroo

We chose a place called the 3Sixty. A lot of people recommended the Pension Marianna, but the 3Sixty provided a lot more space.