We are planning six weeks in Greece in Sept/Oct and will be spending 5 nights exploring the Peloponnese Peninsula. We'd like to enjoy a combination of historical sights, nature, food/wine, and time with local people just absorbing the ambiance. Would you recommend we use Nafplion as our base for all 5 nights, or split our time between Nafplion and somewhere else? If somewhere else, where?

We stayed in Napflion four nights and then one night each in Sparta(for Mystras) and Olympia. Olympia is far from Napflion so an overnight worked well.

Five nights would be good to see the sights around Nafplio, but if you have six weeks in Greece why not spend more time in the Peloponnese? You don't have to go to an island for beautiful beaches and quaint seaside villages, they have all that and more in the Peloponnese. Here are a few photos I took in the Messinian region (south coast) of the Peloponnese: https://www.flickr.com/photos/heimda...57627739427148

We have a lot of places we want to see ... we're going to Santorini for a few days and then Milos for a 7-day sailboat cruise through the Cyclades, so we are limited to only 5 days in this region.

Your photos are beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing.

Thank you for sharing your photos! They are beautiful! I still haven't decided between Greece, Croatia, or Italy for next year. So I keep browsing other people's posts. sorry for hijacking this thread.

@ lbmary: If you still haven't decided, I think it really depends on what, exactly, you hope to see and do in the Peloponnese. Nafplio is delightful and would easily make a great place to stay for the time you have, but if you want to see (say) the Mani Peninsula or Messene or Olympia, then you might want to split your time. Have you seen my trip report? You might find some useful information... the section on the Peloponnese begins with post # 137
With Gratitude for a Glorious Solo Month in Greece

My photos of Messinia were taken in a small area near the city of Kalamata, which is about 2 hrs on a modern motorway from Nafplio. They were taken a few years ago in mid-September. In September and October there will be few tourists, but being on the mainland everything will still be open.

The archaeological site at Ancient Messene is huge. When I took the photo of the stadium I actually had to wait for some people to walk through to get some perspective of size, as there were only about a half-dozen other visitors on the entire site while we were there. The monastery is just down the road from Ancient Messene, and the friendly monks welcome visitors.

When limited to 5 nights, you need to be careful about using up too much time driving .... IF you are a true Olympics buff & have taken courses in Greek archeology/classics and MUST go there, be aware that it's a 5.5 hour trip nonstop from Athens, going around the Western rim road. If you go from Nafplio there, it might be almost as long because you have to go through mountains on smaller roads. Getting there & back would take 2 half-days = 1 full day. I've had many many trips to GReece but my companions wanted to go to closer destinations... it wasn't til my 7th trip that I made it to Olympia, and that was after long studies/classes & I particualry wanted to see the Museum (which IMHO was superior to the ruins site, the latter had bad signage, hard to visualize).

Instead, as I've lately recommended, get your "Sacred Games" thrill directly en route to Nafplio -- ANCIENT NEMEA. https://nemeangames.org/ancient-neme...tions-ucb.html -- It has temple columns, fine ruins, a small museum and a Stunning stadiium, where u can run from the same starting-blocks used by athletes 2500 years ago! Has everything but Crowds! Outbound it's about 15 km past the Corinth Canal, just 5 km off the road... and after u enjoy the site for an hour, go to local village of Nemea, in heart of Greece's Best (red) wine country ... right on the main st. there's a bottling plant, where you can do tastings & choose a bottle to enjoy on your Nafplio balcony.

Here are some thoughts about organizing your time if you start in Central athens or Airport, on 9 am morning of Day #1 and end in evening of Day 5 back in Athens. This fab NONcommercial website will help you find & enjoy all the highlights of Nafplio & argolid area - http://www.visitnafplio.com

• DAY 1 - Nonstop until past Corinth Canal ... Stop at Ancient Nemea/village (lunch), Nafplio by 3. Explore Old Town, enjoy seafront Sunset
• DAY 2 - Early start to Mycenae, 4 hours? -- afternoon @ Tolo beach? Water's still warm, NO crowds - My fave secret cove is Asine/Kastraki, with ONE tiny taverna for sunset drink/dinner
• DAY 3 - Morning Nafplio's 3 fab museums - afternoon, Scenic walks - http://www.visitnafplio.com/walkalone.html - a DON'TMISS is the stunning walk around the Acronafplio base at waters edge - http://www.visitnafplio.com/volta.html
• DAY 4 - A day for Day trips ... if as you say you want to just encounter locals, absorb the ambience, try someplace like Paralia Astros http://www.visitnafplio.com/astros.html West along the bay (nice beach), or Into the hills at Agionori http://www.visitnafplio.com/agionori.html -- easy drive of less than hour either and NO tourists there. Have lunch in town square, back for Nafplio sunset.
• DAY 5 - Up early, outbound drive up back of Palamidi for awesome fotos!!!... then E to Epidaurus, watch LH side of road for World's OLDEST still-used bridge Ermioni Info Visit Kazarma Mycenaean Bridge Argolida Peloponnese Greece | holiday information and homes in Ermioni, Greece -- At Epidaurus, don't dwell on confusing rubble, main thing is world-famed theatre (!!). Then drive up seacoast road, jump off at ISTHMUS to get on Old Bridge, see Corinth Canal (lunch); then back to Athens or Airport for car return.

Thank you all for your thoughts and recommendations. We put this aside for a few weeks as we had family visiting. Now ready to get back into it. We need to do more research and think about this. The simplicity of staying in one hotel and following the suggestions travelerjan laid out is very appealing. However some of the other areas are very beautiful and appealing also.