bearbe

Hi!
I've been doing some research here and there trying to put together an itinerary for me and my bf's 9 days visit to Greece at the end of May. And thanks to all of you actively asking questions/giving suggestions, all the discussions gave me a lot of ideas, and I've finally decided on where to go/stay on our trip, but still got some questions to finalize everything, and wish any of you can give me some more insight or suggestions.

In the 9 full days, we'll visit Athens for 2 days, fly on to Santorini for 4 days, and drive to Peloponnese for the rest 3 days, then fly back to NYC the next early afternoon. The questions I have is especially for the last part of the trip -

What I have in mind now is
day 7: Arriving in Athen's airport to pick up the car and ready to go by 12pm,
Stop at Ancient Corinth, Nemea, and spend the evening in Nafplio
day8: Visit Epidaurus in the morning, tour Nafplio in the afternoon,
Head to Monemvasia and spend a night there
day 9: Tour the Kastro in Monemvasia in the morning,
Head back to Nafplio after lunch, and stop at Mystras on the way,
Drive along the coast, and stay in Nafplio for another night
day 10: depart in the morning to Athens and catch flight home

The most interesting places caught our eyes are Nafplio, Epidaurus, and Monemvasia, and we wish to visit other sites along the way. (ex. Ancient Corinth, Nemea, Mycenae, and Mystras) I got an idea of the driving time in between these sites, but not sure how much time needed to tour each place, can anyone share their experience? Also the closing time of each place seems to have various versions, though I learned it'd be affected by lots of factors (ex. may close early for a slow day etc.), but if anyone has any experiences visiting in 2008, 2009, I'd love to hear and get an idea what to expect.

I'm also willing to be flexible to drop some places if it's simply too much or things don't go smoothly as planned, and would love to hear your input!

Very much appreciated!!!

stanbr

Your Pelopponese plan simply cannot work.
You can drive from the airport to Nauplion in the afternoon and can probably take in Ancient Corinth and perhaps Ancient Nemia both will take an hour or so. Good plan
Day 8. You can do Epidarus and then Nauplion in a day. You cannot do both and still get to Monemvassia. As I recall that was easily a 5 hour drive without stopping.

Mustras is at Sparti about half way to Monemvassia. Mustras will take you at least half a day to visit. The coastal road from Sparti to Nauplion is through high mountains with switchback roads and will take a good half day to make that drive.
To be practical you are probably going to have to drop Monemvassia and make a long day trip to Mystras and back to Nauplion and take the good road through Tripoli not the coast road.

stanbr

I should have recognized your handle.
I know you wanted to look at that coastal road. There is really no way to do a round trip from Nauplion to Mystras and return in one day using that road. The distance is not too far but it is mountainous and takes hours.
You probably could leave Nauplion and hug the coast and get to Tiros through Astros and then turn around and head back.
Have fun planning.

HappyTrvlr

You need to take a day from Santorini and add it to your Pelopponesean Peninsula itinerary to acoomplish your goals.

parosblue

I love Nauplion and my recommendation would be to stay there for three nights instead of driving around. I'd rather be walking than driving. Nauplion is lovely: walk up the thousand steps to the Palamidi fortress, take a boat out to Bourtzi Castle, walk along the harbor front. I think both Epidaurus and Mycenae are spectacular and really absorbing the sense of place is what makes a visit to an ancient site so memorable. Enjoy!

bearbe

stanbr, hehe..yea, it's me Thanks for the reality check - didn't know the coastal road would be difficult to drive. I'll drop this idea and take the highway to Sparti, giving our tight schedule.

HappyTrvlr, now I really do with I have one more day, but our flights from Santorini-Athens and Athens-NYC have already booked, so probably not flexible to add one more day before or after to accomplish it..

I was originally thinking to leave for Monemvassia around 4pm from Nafplio, stay there, walk around the Kastro the next morning and head back to Nafplio in the early afternoon. Mystras will be an optional stop if time-permitted. Will it still be undoable? Or trying to get to Monemvassia, I'd actually lose more? (Sorry I'm decating with myself @@) I'd love to hear what you think and decide if I should just stay in Nafplio and do day trips as stanbr and parosblue suggested.

stanbr

Hey bearbe did I post my Mystras and Monemvassia pictures?
Mystras
http://travel.webshots.com/album/551988174qxbTNw
Monemvassia
http://community.webshots.com/user/lollypeter100
If you push real hard you can probably do Monemvassia in one overnight but it will be a hard day and you will have to drive right past many interesting places like Mystras. On the other hand I would go back to Monemvassia in a second. As my Greek friends say, there is something about Monemvassia that just makes you want to play pirate!

travelerjan

bearbe, you are not alone, so many people like you start out their planning with a fixation on Santorini (which certainly IS spellbinding, of course) and get locked in ... and only later realize how much there is to discover elsewhere. Well, just another reason to return to Greece! That's how a lot of us have become addicted. And why not? Unlike so many other addictions, this one actually is GOOD for you.

bearbe

I feel I somehow bypassed how magnificent Mystras can be - stanbr, your pictures definitely gets my interest up!

And truely, there's always good to have something look forward to for the next trip.

Thanks for all your feedback.