Greece Mainland and Polyponnese
 

We have 6 days to spend driving in northern greece and polyponnese. What are the main cities or sites we should focus on? I would appreciate hotel recommendations as well. We plan to rent a car and love the out of doors, walking and hiking. We're not much into beaches. Is it too far to drive to the western coast above Corfu?

Have a look at Matt Barrett's Greece Travel website - he has a great section on the Peloponnesos at http://www.greecetravel.com/peloponessos/index.html.

Delphi was my favorite site in the Peloponnese. We also liked Olympia.

6 days is a bit tight to travel around Northern Greece AND the Peleponnese. I would try to focus your time to ensure your not in the car for you whole trip. Corfu is nice, but the island could easily amuse for 6 days in and of itself (especially lovely Corfu town).

Personally, if I only had 6 days - I would stick to the Peloponnese. I would spend a day (and 1 night - or drive there from a base town) in Monemvasia to see the amazing ancient city on the rock. I would base in Gythio (3 nights) or possibly Aeropolis (check out the Dirous Caves) and see: Mystras near Sparta, I would drive around the coast to Vathia and explore the towns in the Mani down to Geromilineas....I would drive through the amazing Langada Pass to Pylos (2 nights)...where I would check out the fortress of Methoni in the area.

On the other hand....I think even Pylos is a bit far for only 6 days..I would maybe put that last two days in Nafplio (2-3 nights) from here you are a stones throw from all kinds of good sites including Mycenae, Epidavros and of course - lovely Nafplio itself.

It would be a shame to go to lovely Greece and only see the inside of your car - distances are farther than you think. Does your 6 days include Athens, arrival and departure days? I would definately spend 2 nights in Athens.

IMHO, I would save Corfu for another trip unless it is your focus.

Greece is lovely! Have fun.

MollyB

In the Peloponnese, I liked Mycenae and Olympia. Not on the Peloponnese, but Delphi is wonderful. And since you like walking and hiking, the monasteries of the Meteora would be a great place; you can hike from one monastery to another, all perched on top of seemingly inaccessible pinnacles.

I recommend reading Stacey and Max's Peloponnese adventure for great ideas:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34898627

Her writing is wonderful and the two really explored the region well. It should help give you some ideas.

Paule

Thank you so much for your wonderful suggestions.
We have 3 days in Athens and 3 days in Santorini as well.
You've given me some framework to think about this.
I will read some of the entries you've listed.
Linda

You could do a shortened version of our trip, where we spent 10 days touring the Peloponnese. We stayed 3 nights in Monemvassia, which could definately be cut to 1 night:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34803709

Thinking about it some more...I would try something like this:

Santorini x 3
Napflio x 3
Aeropolis (or Gythio) x 3
Athens x 3

You could visit Monemvasia as a day trip from Aeropolis (or Gythio) its about 2hrs. Mystras can be visited as a day trip from Napflio.

Napflio: 1 day for the town and its wonderful fortress's, 1 day for Mystras and then one for Mycenae/Epidavros or Corinth etc.

Aeropolis(or Gythio): 1 day for Aeropolis/DirousCaves/Gythio/
Langada Pass
1 day for drive around Mani coast (Vathia/Geromilenas/all the wonderful towns in between)
1 day to visit Monemvasia.

Anyway - with the time you have that is probably what I would choose. Then, there are a myriad of wonderful itineraries to choose from.

Food for thought anyway,

MollyBrown

Thanks so much!!