Arriving Piraeus on June 12 early AM. Trying to determine best transportation from cruise ship terminal to Nafplion.

By bus, you'd need to take the metro or a taxi from Pireas to the bus station in Athens then a bus to Nafplio.
By train, you take the metro or a taxi to Athens then a train to Korinthos where you change to another train, then possibly a bus to Nafplio. It's confusing because the railway is being modernised, with a new standard-gauge line replacing the old narrow-gauge line (www.ose.gr).
By sea, you can get a fast craft (usually a catamaran not a hydrofoil) from Pireas to Porto Heli (www.hellenicseaways.gr), then a bus. I don't think there are any direct sailings to Nafplio.

Taxi (8E?) to Bus Station. Bus is fast, not expensive (17E round-trip) and the least complicated way to reach Nafplio.

Go to ticket wndow "Argolida." Aircond Busses on half-hour about every hour -- takes 2hr 15 mins...comfortable seats, (reserved);you can snooze if u didn't get a full night's sleep. Ask for seat on LH side, best view of Saronic bay! Also a squint at the NARROW Corinth Canal (look fast!!), orange groves etc.

we're also arriving Piraeus at 7am on a friday from a cruise. since its early in the morning, can we still take the bus to nafplion without catching the traffic? or is it faster to get to nafplion by taking the hydrofoil? im just worried that the trip might be cancelled due to weather. where in Porto Heli do you take the bus to Nafplion? how much and how long is the trip?

Thanks guys!

IF you take a taxi to the bus station, the next bus you could get would be 8:30... and you'll be going OUTBOUND, against the in-bound traffic of working folks. The "weekend getaway" heavy outbound traffic wouldn't start until about noon.

I share your iffyness about the hydrofoil -- not that it would be cancelled because the Saronic Bay is more sheltered. But because I have no idea where Port Heli is, and there is NO way to get a bus schedule online.

The Intercity Bus system, KTEL, took its schedules off the internet because someone was copying it and using the information on a commercial site. Now the only way to get bus times is to know a greek-speaker who can phone for you ...what a mess!

thank you so much!

Jing7600, chances are the hydrofoil will run as scheduled (if they really were that prone to cancellation the service would be unviable). Saronic Gulf is one of the few places those old hydrofoils are still being used, and as GeoffHamer wrote, have been largely replaced by catamarans. Given a choice, I would pick a catamaran anyway - hydrofoils are noisy and smelly.

Recommend you plan on taking the cat/hydrofoil, and leave the bus for your fallback. It will be easy to switch to Plan B in the unlikely event the cats aren't running. You don't have to book in advance, so the decision can be left for that morning.

thanks guys!