Seeing Delphi and Meteora
 

After many years of trying, we are finally making it to Greece in May! We would like to combine history with the islands. We are arriving at 4:30 PM and I am wondering if it would make more sense to stay 2 nights in Athens to see the sights and then leave for Delphi? Or pick up the car at the airport and stay the first night in Delphi moving the next night to Meteora? We will need to come back to Athens at the end of our trip for our flight home, which is very early in the morning, so we could build in time to see the Athens sites at the end. Thoughts?? Also, is the drive to Delphi and Metora straight forward? I have thought about doing a tour which includes both, but we have never done a tour before and I have hesitations.

I can not answer your question about driving because I took a tour to Delphi, Meteora and Olympia. I had not been on a tour since I was a teenager and also hesitated to take one, but I ended up enjoying this tour very much.

There was a mix of ages and nationalities in the group and I met some really interesting people. These tours are short, and most of the people on our tour were traveling independently for the rest of their vacations.

You might be interested in my trip report, which describes the tour experience:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34589254

Photos:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&y=-b9k6sz

Meteora was the BEST spot for me. Climbing up to the monasteries - WOW!!! Make sure your legs are covered if you go in the manastery though they will provide you with skirts!
We had a hire car and found it an interesting scenic drive. Although the roads are not perfect, they are not too bad.
I would not recommend the small hotel we stayed at outside Delphi, but I would recommend a lovely little guesthouse in the shadow of Meteora on the edge of the town(Kastraki). The views were wonderful. Watching the sun go down,sitting on their quiet terrace with a glass of wine.... I wish I was there!!!
It is called Dupiani House and the email address is
[email protected]
The owner (4 years ago)was Thanassis Nakis who was a lovable rogue.He tried to charge us more than we wanted to pay so we had to keep haggling!i can't remember what we did pay but it was well worth it for the spectacular vista.

I have only been to Delphi and it was years ago, but my friend and I took a bus from Athens to Delphi. If I remember correctly, we had an express that didn't stop. It was a pleasant ride. I can't remember the name of the hotel, but it was right in town on the main drag and was very clean and nice. I don't know if you can extend your trip, but Monemvassia (sp) is amazing. If the ferry service is not available, I would probably pass unless they now have a direct bus. Our bus journey was h&*%! You actually stay in an old castle (fort).

I am always so exhausted by the time I arrive in Athens that I wouldn't want to drive. The times that we visited we immediately flew to Santorini and worked our way back to Athens. We would usually get to Santorini late in the afternoon and would catch a bite and then sleep. Back in Athens, we "headquartered" in a cute little hotel in the plaka area and left our luggage there and only took overnight bags to our journeys on the mainland. I am leaving on a cruise next week and we will be in Athens and several islands. I am so excited to see my much loved Greece. The Greek people are so wonderful.

May is a lovely time to go to Greece. Either option would work although if flying in from US it might be advisable not to pick up a rental car right away due to tiredness/jetlag. It's pretty straightforward to get to Delphi and Meteora, the sites are easy to do without a tour. Some of the tours do not include the smaller monasteries as the buses cannot get close enough to them. Also there can be alot of tour buses at certain times.

For accommodation in Delphi, we stayed in a beautiful small village couple miles from Delphi called Galaxidi which is by the sea, in an old "arxontiko" (merchant's house) converted to a hotel. It had alot of character. There are a few such arxonitika in this area.

Driving from Delphy to Meteora will be a bit tricky because its a long way driving through mountains (wonderfull scenery though).You have to go from Delphi to Lamia (E65)and head towards Karditsa ,Trikala and Kalambaka. You should make the jurney during the day so 2 days IMO won't be enough if you want to enjoy both Delphi and Meteora.
Here are 2 webpages with information about the 2 areas

http://www.in2greece.com/english/pla...and/delphi.htm
http://www.in2greece.com/english/pla...nd/meteora.htm

While I agree with Odin's overall comments above, note Galaxidi is more than a "couple" miles to Delfi.

Via Michelin website shows it as a 31km/19mile drive, and from my experience it's about a 45minute drive

We also overnighted in Galaxidi- Our first night out of Athens. We stopped at a guest house but they were full so this very friendly man hanging around outside led us to his newly refurbished hotel! He had to get his wife to clean and prepare the rooms first which took quite a while. It was a charming location - village setting complete with donkey in the garden. It was a new building so the rooms were new and clean. We arranged a price with him (not cheap)and he gave us instructions on how to walk down to his restaurant that he ran along with his brother. We would get a special price he said! Well that was our most expensive meal in Greece in the 3 weeks we were there and he fed us tough old goat!!! What a rogue! We discovered on going to bed that there was no a/c in the room so we had to open the window. The donkey "ee aaawed" the entire night and my husband ended up with 45 mosquito bites !!! I wasn't bitten once - I was just so hot I kept having to wet a flannel to put over me!!! I felt so sorry for my poor husband who was in agony from the bites as well as tired from lack of sleep.Thankfully my son did the driving that day.
We were very wise after that rip-off and wary of friendly Greek men with special prices. We always inspected the rooms before taking them after that !

The moral of the story? Go by your guide book or fellow Fodorite recommendations!

May is a great time to visit -- we were there the first 2 weeks this year. We stayed in the Hotel Apollonia in Delphi, you can read about it in my Tripadvisor review (with pix). The hotel is first rate, food good and is close to the archealogical site close so you can take a walk back if you wish. Street parking is tight, I assume you will rent a smallish car. Enjoy your trip -- we did the 3 day-2 night bus tour.

The drives from Meteora to Delphi and Delphi to Athens are longer than they would seem based on the kilometer distance because both involve a lot of mountain driving. However, the roads are well-maintained, well-marked with signs to where you want to go, and very safe.

We were happy to have our own car rather than be on a tour, especially when we saw the prices for some of the tours! Whew!

We stayed in Galaxidi as well for exploring Delphi and found it quite pleasant. The drive was about 30 minutes between Galaxidi and Delphi, and includes a fabulous view of the Amfissa olive groves down to the sea (here's a pic http://www.flickr.com/photos/7707505@N04/1387569489/).

You can read about visits to both on my blog, http://travelathomeandabroad.blogspot.com. Individual posts on the destinations are:
http://travelathomeandabroad.blogspo...untainous.html Climbing to the monasteries situated in the sandstone cliffs at Meteora, plus a near-death experience at the hands of an impassive tour bus driver.

http://travelathomeandabroad.blogspo...quabbling.html Arriving in the seaside town of Galaxidi, our base for visiting Delphi, and causing an international incident over a stuffed tomato.

http://travelathomeandabroad.blogspo...07-delphi.html A beautiful day in Delphi and some musing on the need for more tchotchkes.

http://travelathomeandabroad.blogspo...k-comtrex.html A nice afternoon and evening in Galaxidi, with no stuffed tomatoes or international incidents.

You might also be interested in what I wrote about driving in Greece: http://travelathomeandabroad.blogspo...in-greece.html

HI! We're going to Greece in July, and also are thinking about renting a car to drive from Athens to Delphi and Meteora, before returning to Athens. Can you share any tips from your trip? Did this work out? What were the driving times between each place? Thanks!