Poll:

If you are flying from the States to Athens and arrive 4:00 p.m., and your goal is to get to Nafplio, would you stay the night in Athens and leave for Nafplio in the morning, or hop right on a bus and head to Nafplio that night?

If it were me I'd take the bus directly to Nafplio. There is a bus from the central bus station leaving at 1730 and getting there at 1930. http://www.athensinfoguide.com/busTT.htm
But I like to start my vacations in Greece right away. I've never been to Nafplio, but it looks beautiful.

If it were I, I would stay the night in Athens. I am not worth much by the time I have flown all night and probably changed planes at least once before getting to Athens. To get to the central bus station and find the right bus would probably be more than I could do with virtually no sleep. But you probably know yourself well enough to know if you can handle it. By the way I loved Nafplio last October. You will enjoy it, I'm sure.

If you have never been to Athens, or don't plan on spending time there on your return, spend the night. Explore the Plaka, Monastiriki, or Syntagma Square areas in the evening to find somewhere to eat. See the Acropolis the next morning, and then head to Nafplio in the afternoon. Chances are, if you're arriving at 16:00, you won't make a bus at 17:30 anyway. After all, Athens is the birthplace of western civilization - you gotta give it at least a day.

I suppose I could have given more info! We'll spend a day or so in Athens at the end of our trip.

I'd prefer to power through and just head to Nafplio. We have limited time with friends there so I'd rather have the entire next day, rather than miss most of the morning and potentially the afternoon getting to Nafplio (my boyfriend tends to sleep late and I don't want it to be one of those 'have to get up early hit the road' kind of vacations).

My boyfriend would rather spend the night in Athens and head to Nafplio the next day. I'd prefer that too ideally, but like I said, we only have a few days with friends in Nafplio so I'd rather maximize the time there.

I'm looking for ammunition, as in "the majority of world travelers on Fodors are on my side!!"

Toss a coin. Have fun.

I ALWAYS vote for "powering through" and getting to a scenic place to get over any jet lag...its so nice to wake up your first morning in a lovelly place like Nafplio! Don't let mr. Lazybones drag you down -- get the BUS.

There's an express bus from the airport to BuS Station A -- where There are hourly busses to Nafplio most of the day.Go to the ticket window marked ARGOLIDA. You stand a chance of getting the 1730 (5:30PM) bus, and you'll be there by 7:30...if not, an hour later. They are air-conditioned, v. comfortable reserved seats..you can snooze as you ride, unless you're looking at the bay, the orange groves, the setting sun.

You'll wander down into the lovely marble-floored Town Square, and have a lovely dinner under trees, watching kids play soccer on the marble by moonlight.
That's what I ALWAYS do, coming to Nafplio and what I plan to do in late May.

travelerjan, thanks so much! Your reply makes it sound so easy! Mr. Lazybones will just have to sit and relax on the bus!

One Last thing -- the Express bus # is E93 -- to the Kissou or Kissousos (something like that -- otherwise known as Intercity bus Station A -- if you ask anyone, say "the bus to the Peloponnese."

Where do you catch it? Here's the paragraph from the Athens Airport website:

"All Express Buses disembark their passengers at the Departures Level and they depart from the designated area located at the inner curbside of the Arrivals Level, right outside the Intra Schengen area, between Doors 4-5."

Now he can't say "but how will we find the bus to the bus station?". Tell him that you have operatives worldwide bringing you info. (Actually it's more like Philadelphia).