Kefalonia is far awy from your itinerary and would bve a waste of time and money. Forget it!

I owe some replies to the helpful crowd on this thread. Unfortunately, an unexpected event means I need to go offline for a bit. Apologies and hope to return soon.

Good luck, ObscureName!

As the saying goes, "when life gives you lemons, go to Greece". Well, perhaps that is not quite the traditional phrasing... We decided to still take this trip. Although it has transitioned from "a little late for planning" to "last minute planning". We are leaving in a little over a week from today! All flights are now booked, both international and domestic. Our itinerary modifications since the last set of helpful comments include now reporting in nights rather than days, no single-night stay in Athens, some extra island time, etc. I'm glad I joined this forum!
The itinerary is now:

• fly to Athens, spend 7 nights (it will include a day of recovering from jet lag)
• bus to Nafplio for 5 nights (day trips to Mycenae, Epidaurus, and maybe Mystras)
• bus and plane to Santorini for 3 nights
• ferry to Naxos for 4 nights (day trip to Delos)
• fly to Thessaloniki for 4 nights
• fly back to US

Given that all the domestic flights are now booked, our only flexibility is in the Athens and Nafpliio portion. Any thoughts on possibly reallocating how we split the nights between those two places, or perhaps shave a night from each in order to spend two nights somewhere else that is not too hard to reach? As you know, we do not wish to rent a car. I will say that I tried to find a way to fit in Monemvasia but it just looked like there would be too much travel time involved.

We will stay in airbnb's in most or all of these places. We have something booked in Santorini (Imerovigli) and will figure out the rest of the accommodations today or tomorrow and so any thoughts on itinerary tweaks would be more actionable if we got them quite soon. But, who knows when people will actually see this message.

Then I just need to figure out what we are doing in each place...

All comments welcomed, constrained by plane tickets that are all non-refundable.

Should be great!

As for the Athens / Nafplio split ... it really depends on your interests. There's certainly enough in either location to justify the times you've allocated or to justify a bit more. If you more interested in city experiences, museums, and classical Greek and Roman ruins, leave your time as is. If you are more interested in a small town experience and in Mycenian and Byzantine ruins, shift a night to Nafplio. If you really want to add something else, consider Cape Sounion for just one night in between. (I don't think there's enough there to justify two nights; I think it's better as an overnight than a day trip because it's wonderful to see the sunset over the Temple of Poseidon.)

Your plan sounds great. If you would like to visit Mystras it would be reasonable to shave a night or two off Athens/Nafplio to visit there. I don’t think it’s practical to visit Mystras from Nafplio as a day trip using public transport. We had two nights in Mystras last year (a return visit after many years) and had a great time.

ps. Be aware that Mystras requires a fair amount of walking.

Those were tremendously rapid responses. It's also good to know that our plan, even without further refinements, could work out well. Thanks!

@kja:The Temple of Poseidon was on my "maybe" list, although as a possible day trip from Athens. I hadn't realized it was also celebrated for its sunsets.

@dreamon: I got a quote from Giorgos Ioannidis Taxi (Nafpio) of 220 Euros for a 7 hour tour that goes to Mystras (for 3 hrs), then typically adds 30 minutes at the statue of Leonidas (Sparta) and 30 minutes at the pyramid of Helinkion. Appreciate the warning about all the walking, and some seems to be hilly as well. Do you think 3 hrs there is sufficient?

I trust dreamon will also respond, but FWIW, I wanted more time than that at Mystras, but then I really took my time. If you have a good guide who can steer you to the most important sites, I suspect 3 hours could be quite reasonable. And even if you aren't guided on site, if you know you have 3 hours and do your research to plan which sites you most want to see, again, 3 hours should be fine. Better than skipping it, for sure! And yes -- lots of walking with the sites scattered down a hill that is steep in parts IIRC.

PS: I just checked: I spent about 4 hours on site at Mystras. As I said, my visit was leisurely and it included a 30-minute break.

@kja: thanks for sharing your personal experience. No guide included, and taking a break in the middle would be nice, but it sounds like 3 hrs is at least workable

I think so! And I hope you find it so.

If the cost is not an issue, then of course you could take a taxi tour, it would likely be more relaxing not having to worry about transport but you may have some time pressures. We travel on a budget so would hesitate to take taxi like this. Our visit last year was a little different and it may help you in deciding what to do.

We arrived in Sparta by bus and were fortunate enough to find that the bus to Mystras would be leaving shortly. It doesn't run that frequently and we had already resolved to take a taxi that short distance if we had missed the bus. We arrived in Mystras (the modern town) late afternoon, met our host, had a drink, wandered a little out of town to see the views, had a delicious home style meal at a local restaurant and slept in Mystras. The next morning we walked up to the Byzantine town (it's not super close, check google maps). Because we had the whole day to spend, we spent most of the day at the site, wandered back into town, had a beer, chatted with our host again (who was charming), dinner, and bed. The next morning, we got up early because we wanted to do a local hike. We returned to Mystras and caught the mid afternoon bus back to Sparta. It was an active but very chill time.

A word about Athens. We love visiting Athens and find it a vibrant, relaxed place to be, with plenty of options for sightseeing, bars, restaurants, etc. However, it is not a charmingly pretty city in the same way that, say, Paris, Vienna or Amsterdam are, and for this reason some people don't particularly warm to the place. Those who stay a little longer (I suspect) enjoy it more.

@dreamon: While the cost bugs me, I'm trying to get used to the notion that there will be a cost associated with the convenience of not having to drive ourselves. While we are fond of trains, we are currently somewhat hesitant regarding buses, particularly for long distances. Maybe Greece will change that perspective. As mentioned, I did think about shaving some time from Athens and/or Nafplio in order to stay somewhere convenient to Mystras and Monemvasia as day trips, and then head to Nafpliio. But, I can't figure out the right base nor the logisitics of doing it by bus transport with some "reasonable" amount of transport time (e.g., no more than 3-4 hrs a day).

It's very true that while it's possible to explore Greece using buses, it can take time and patience, not least because the online timetables are not consolidated and lack the functionality of some other countries. We persist with it because it's our preference and because we have time, but acknowledge that it's not always easy or even possible sometimes.

Enjoy your visit to Greece!

@dreamon: Thanks. Once we have some initial experience with Greece I expect everything will seem a little easier.