To Heimdall and Traveler 1959:
 

Heimdall and Traveler 1959:

Let's say I arrive in Athens I spend three days there. I then travel to Hydra and Septses for a night each, then go to Nafplio for two nights. How do I get to see those archaeological sites such as Corinth, Mystras, or Methoni?

Would either of you suggest a sample itinerary for 8 days? I am happy to go either way but must start and end in Athens.

Also Can you give me the exact details on how I might be able to move about? I would like to have it well planned before I get there so that I do not run into complications.

Thanks. Your ideas were great and helped give me focus.

I've done this whole itinerary but since you've asked for specific people to comment I'll simply top this in the hopes that one of them will see it.

I suggested Nafplio because it is easy to reach from Athens, and has lots of historic sights in the area. You could either rent a car in Nafplio, or rely on local bus/tour services to get you to Corinth from there. What about Epidauros and the other amazing sights around Nafplio?

Mystras and Methoni are both in the southern Peloponnese, Laconia and Messenia respectively.

You have a very short time for Greece, and need to work out an itinerary to fit that time scale. There is never enough time to see everything, even if you had 2-3 weeks at your disposal. If you want to see Mystras and Methoni you will have to drop something else, and probably rent a car to get around.

There are others on this forum with more knowledge of the Peloponnese than me.

I was in Nafplio last summer. There is a trip report somewhere. http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...greece-now.cfm The Nafplio bit is towards the end. I based myself there and got local buses to Mycenae one day and to Epidavros another. Both very easily done from the bus station. There were no coach tours to these from Nafplio at the time. No idea about hiring a car. The bus from Athens goes through Corinth. Don't know about Mystras and Methoni. I would say 2 nights in Nafplio is a bit tight.

To be honest, I would skip the islands and do the following itinerary instead:

Day 1: Athens, overnight in Athens
Day 2: Daytrip to Delphi and Hosios Loukas, overnight in Athens
Day 3: Drive via Epidaurus to Nafplion, overnight in Nafplion
Day 4: Nafplion and short trip to Mycenae, overnight in Nafplion
Day 5: drive to Mystras, overnight in Kalamata
Day 6: Messene and drive to Corinth, overnight in Corinth
Day 7: visiting Corinth and drive to Athens
Day 8: Athens

This will be the best of Greece what you can do in eight days.

WLMIV wrote in the other thread: "I would also prefer not to incur too many expenses such as renting a car..." I have tried making suggestions that would, for the most part, be possible by public transport, perhaps sometimes hiring a car locally for a day at a time.

One advantage of small islands is that you don't need a car: travel to the island by ferry, and walk or take public transport on the island itself. Nevertheless, traveller1959 has some good ideas, so if you are now open to car hire it would be possible to do such an itinerary.

Rental cars are inexpensive in Greece - as everything. Driving is very easy in Greece and usually you are faster than Google Maps (or other route planners) suggest.

It is very hard to run into complications in Greece with a rental car. Distances are fairly short, roads are in excellent conditions, you have gas stations, restaurants and hotels everywhere and everything is dirt cheap.

I OP insists in going to an island he/she may skip the Kalamata/Messene part of the iterary and use the extra day for Hydra or Spetses.

I have watched this series of threads with interest but have not responded because of the initial comment noted by Heimdall "I would also prefer not to incur too many expenses such as renting a car..."
Since our experience has been by car I thought it is probably irrelevant for the OP. But since the thought has now been introduced.

Since you do not have a big flight to get to Athens you will not be jet lagged so you can arrive early enough to rent a car and immediately drive to Nafplio. On the way stop in Corinth and visit the canal, ancient Corinth and Ancient Nemia, a sister to Olympia. There is a good museum, a partially restored temple and the stadium there.
Nafplio is a perfect base for day trips to Epidaurus and Mycenae as well as a long day trip to Mystras. (Count on about 2 hours drive to get there and a minimum of 4 hours on the site then the drive back.)
Nafplio is a delightful destination on its own and deserves a at least a day just to explore the old town and the fortresses.

Based on Gerties comments you can probably do this itinerary by local bus as well but then you will probably have to combine that with taxis to get to the actual sites. In the long run renting the car gives you enough flexibility to out way the expense issue.

Just as an aside Nafplio while not an island location does have the feel of an island because it is on the seashore. It doesn't have any beach to speak of just a rocky coast and a swimming club place, but the resort town of Tolo is only 8 km away.

After Nafplio take traveller 1959 advice and cross the bridge at Patras to visit Delphi and then return to Athens for a couple of nights. Its a lot to take in and the car is the key.

Here is what you can expect.
Olympia Delfi Meteora https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr...7645469717811/

Nafplio and Peloponnese http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7632094108982/

Just to chime in again:
The local bus goes directly to Epidauros and Mycenae. To the sites. No taxi necessary.
Nafplio has a nice beach round the headland from the 'swimming place'. Or you can walk up and over the hill from town in about 10 minutes.
But to do this by public transport you certainly need more than 2 days in Nafplio. I think I was there for 5.
Seems like an either or situation to me.
Maybe Traveler Jan will comment; I found her advice very helpful.

OK, gertie, since you mention me!
First off, I'll be candid about which you might consider skipping:
• Hydra & Spetses unless you have some special reason for visiting them ... not much in way of landmarks, and you can find beaches just as good OR better in areas of Peloponnese. They mainly get attention because they are highly promoted by Rick Steves to his American followers.
• Corinth -- Stanbr's been there, because he's been to Greece a jillion times as have I. It's famous, but maybe not that rewarding to those who are not deep-dyed archeology experts. Regular Corinth site is mainly Hellenic era (not Mycenaean/Homeric era), and poor signage, according to friends & guidebooks. If doing a "Christian pilgrimage" you can find a marker where st. Paul preached. Acrocorinth, the high part, has a great view they say, ruins are mainly from the Middle Ages onward. One thing sure, VERY time-consuming to visit if you dont have car. It involves KTEL Bus, taxi to town, Bus to Site, taxi back then bus etc etc.

Another key thing, how important is Delphi to you? If able to rent a car for the whole time, Stanbr's itinerary is perfect. IF not, &you DO want delphi, I suggest switching around to put delphi at end, with Athens.

CHOICES -- You are not specific, but I'm thinking you are solo ... when there are 2 or more, the car rental vs. bus is almost a wash. But as solo, you may do a combo of bus + shorter rental. I agree with gertie, that using public transport from a base in Nafplio will eat up more days ... you really can only do one ancient sight per day, because of the bus schedules; I know because i've done this. For this Combo approach, my itinerary suggestion would be:

DAY 1 -- Arrive ATH airport, take KTEL bus to Kifissos KTEL station & get intercity bus to Nafplio (hourly on half-hour, €13, takes 2.5 hr, nice scenery en route). Afternoon, explore town enjoy seafront sunset!
DAY 2 -- Explore Old Town AM, superb tiny museum, Acronafplia ramparts etc (see this website: http://www.visitnafplio.com for FAB advice re all!!!!). in aft, swim -- either town beach or 10min bus to Tolo (sandy) or ASINE (rocky cove PLUS sandy beach PLUS ruins to climb).
DAY 3 -- 8 AM car rental... hit MYCENAE by 9 to beat bus crowds, by noon head off to ANCIENT NEMEA ... then hit Nemea Village to visit vineyards OR wine-bottlers, to sample Greece's BEST reds, & buy a couple of bottles to go, then back for a swim & relaxing.
DAY 4 -- drive to EPIDAURUS in AM, take picnic & hit an area beach, come back late day & drive up back way to Palamidi fortress, final Nafplio sunset.
DAY 5 -- Let's face it, a looong travel day; take a good book! Morning bus back to ATHENS, switch to Liossos KTEL station to catcg a NOON bus to Delphi (3.5 hrs) arrive late aft, walk to a hotel(Budget hotel Pan has great views), walk 1/2 Km along the mountain rim road to Museum (open til 8, empty after 5!), Enjoy sunset at a cafe.
DAY 6 -- To ancient site by 8, explore almost alone; leave by 10:30-11, when bus crowds arrive; get a 1 pm bus back to ATH, in time to relax, have leisurely dinner... with Acropolis view perhaps.
DAY 7 & 8 -- ATHENS sightseeing

I forgot one sight handy to Nafplio ... TIRYNS, right outside town, a 5 minute drive or a 10-minute local bus ride ... same era fortress as Mycenae, NEVER any tour busses, some parts closed for repair ... very evocative if just for the giant stones constituting the walls; each boulder the size of a Volkwagon.

Hey Jan I was waiting for you to chime in here with the excellent do it by bus plan. Great advice.

Gertie you are correct the local buses do go to the sites from Nafplio. Unfortunately there is no edit button here as I realized my statement was incorrect based on Nafplio. What I was referring to was taking the bus to Corinth and trying to see the sites there. If one doesn't have a car then the bus/taxi option is pretty much necessary to get to Ancient Corinth and Ancient Nemia from the bus station. My bad.

Now, the riddle is solved:

I was thinking why the heck do you want to go to Hydra and Spetsos?

Okay, it was this notorious Rick Steves (who is unknown in Europe and to whom Europe is unknown too - with ridiculously wrong maps in his books, to start with).

A few words about several sites:

- Corinth's excavations are somewhat in the second league, at least compared with first-league archeological sites like Delphi, Messene and Epidaurus. But the place is conveniently located right on the way between Athens and Nafplion and it is historically significant because of St. Paul (there is a small altar on the terrace where he spoke). And Acrocorinth is spectacular. Very easy to visit with a rental car.

- Mycenae. There is not too much left, but it is very old and from a culture that was before the Greek culture. The museum is very good (although the best pieces are in the National Museum in Athens) and the Treasury of Atreus is impressive. And the Lions' Gate alone in worth the visit. And also very conveniently located between Corinth and Nafplion.

Given your limited time, I would not spend too much time in Athens. The main attractions - Acropolis, theatres, Agora, Areopagus, Pnyx, Hephaistos temple - can easily be visited in half a day, because they are practically in one archeological field. Then the National Archeological Museum is a must. The Old Town is nice, but Nafplion is certainly better. And, again, do not waste your precious time with public transport. With a car, you can easily visit Corinth, Acrocorinth, Mycenae, Tiryns and half of Nafplion in a single day - it is so close!

Good insights, traveller1959. Stanbr's itinerary also was good, if one is able to rent a car for the entire time. However, the OP specifically stated in his original post (not this thread), that he decided against Crete because he hoped to avoid renting a car for the entire time, and was looking for an itinerary that could avoid this... I'm assuming it's because of budget constraints. Since (tho he doesn't say specifically) he's going solo, there is not anybody to split the cost of car rental. That Is why I proposed a compromise -- travel ATH - Nafplio via public bus, and do the most-local sightseeing on food or local bus... then rent a car for just 2 days, to bunch together the other landmarks.

I agree with travelerjan, but it's not always budget constraints that makes someone want to avoid renting a car. I travel solo, and would much rather use public transport where I can look at the scenery rather than concentrate on the road. I do enough driving at home, and enjoy walking and using public transport during my trips to Greece.

If WLMIV wishes to avoid renting a car, we should be suggesting itineraries that don't require one.

Yes, me too Heimdall
Wonder where WLMIV is? We are all offering all kinds of ideas and nothing from the OP. :)

WLMIV indicated he didn't want to have to rent a car for the whole time he was in Crete, but he didn't indicate aversion to a limited rental. When I travel solo, I'm all about public transport. When with others, we rent & I'm the map & GPS person... and they are the ones who can't look at the scenery!

Some great replies.

Sorry I have not replied. I have been busy all week and had not time to think about what you all have said.

Yes I am solo and want to avoid working for my holiday. In other words I would prefer not to deal with the hassle of renting a car, but would do so if necessary. I dislike driving as it is stressful for me especially in an unfamiliar place. I am kind of laid back and do not want to deal with the stress of a car as a solo driver.

I do wish there was an inexpensive tour in Nafplion.

I was looking for a bit of beach experience, history, and Greek authenticity. Some posters on the message board suggested avoiding the islands because they were mostly party beach spots (minus parts of Crete and few sites on other islands (I do not want to knock them) and that doing this circle route would fit the bill).

What do you think of going from:

1 night Athens
1 night Spestes - beach (to avoid the Rick Steves Hydra suggestion)
1 night Nafplion beach
1 night Nafplion to visit Mycenae by bus (maybe Tiryns thrown in here somewhere)
1 night Nafplion to visit Epidaurus by bus (can I get anywhere else this day? i.e. beach-fishing village and get back to Nafplion)
1 Athens return
1 Athens historical sites
1 Athens to Delphi?

What do you all think? Does this work. Can you help me tinker with it to make it perfect.

Also in Nafplion and in Athens can you tell me the exact spot or name where I can catch the buses/boats I need?

Thank you very much for your time one and all.

Well, I can help with the buses in Nafplio. There's a bus office of sorts on the (very short) main street with taxis outside and lot of buses/people milling around. Inside you can find printed copies of timetables. Beware, buses leave on time! You can buy a ticket either inside the office, at the machine outside or from the driver. For the long distance bus to Athens, there is a lady in the office who will give you times (every 30 mins as I recall) and sell you a reserved seat.

I'm going to post on this thread, rather than confuse things by posting on a new Thread. And WL, since even on this thread, you did not repeat certain vital information -- I had to go back and find your original thread for a reminder about the DATES of your trip. Please, when u start any new thread on the same topic, please do a recap of important info such as this.

I still don't get it why you keep putting in Spetses??? It's a long boat ride from Athens, and then it is not convenient to Nafplio... you'd have to take a local bus ... maybe even a bus to Corinth area and change. WASTE of time. What is it about Spetses.

BEACHES --There are wonderful beaches right outside Nafplion... did you yet visit the BEST website? http://www.visitnafplio.com Has whole section on beaches: http://www.visitnafplio.com/beaches.html I Looove the tiny stony town beach Arvinita (u can avoid stones by jumping in from pier).. Karathona a 45-min walk along sea, from Arvinita.. TOLO a 10=min bus ride it's a beach resort, not a fishing village, but beach is sandy & fine.

On the same bus route as Tolo, my secret favorite is Kastraki, right by the Asine ruins in photo u see Tolo Beach in distance. At Kastraki, sunbrellas furnished by the sole taverna, family-run, terrif traditional food, fresh fish, stunning sunsets right from your table, go there late day,swim, dine, take last bus back to Nafplio. AND, if you walk around the side of the ruins of Asine, there is a totally UNpublicized sandy beach -- no facilities (no sunbrellas, cafes, or WC) but in June very few people aside from those from campground. These beaches all give an island "feel" besides being superhandy via public transit.

SIGHTSEEING -- For Epidaurus, the nearest beaches require a car. Get local bus early AM to Epidaurus, about 1 or so, catch bus back to Nafplio bus station & immed. take 10-min local bus to Tolo or Kastraki/Assine. TIryns is on local bus from Nafplio on Argos route i Think.. takes 10 mins, tey drop u off by road. Check return times. Ask where to stand.

You CAN do it all by public transit u just have to plan, ask ask ask at bus station, write down schedule times, on busses talk to drivers, be sure u know where to stand for home-bound buses, that work is up to you.

DELPHI -- When you bus back to Athens area, must more time-efficient to go directly to Delphi. Nafplio bus ends at Kifissou KTEL bus terminal, there u catch a connector bus to Liosson KTEL Terminal. Time it to connect an express bus to Delphi. Here are the two KTEL Timetables (unchanged year by year): http://www.athensguide.com/practical...schedulesA.htm http://www.athensguide.com/practical...schedulesB.htm
-- Your best bet: catch Nap-Ath bus 7 AM arr 9:30, catch 10:30 bus out of Liosson Term, arrive 2pm in Delphi. Find hotel (Pan is cheap & good-- back rooms have FABBB view). Take nap, recover. at 5 pm you can go to Museum (EMPTY at that time) and down to Tholos ruin at sunset... then find nice taverna overlooking mountainside. Next AM get to Delphi main ruins by 8 AM ... again, blessedly empty unti tour busses arrive around 10:30-11. You can catch an 11 am athens-bound bus or have a big lunch & get 1600 bus (4pm)... on some days, there's also a 1330 (1:30 bus). Again: ask ask ask.

SIGHTSEEING - Delphi Museum v. good signage -- the ruins will mean more if u do your homework, read guidebooks, download relevant online stuff to take. This site -- http://www.planetware.com/map/greece...-gr-grcrep.htm -- has some of BEST available printable maps of Delphi, Nafplion and central Athens.

Thank you for your replies. There is no way to e-mail anyone in order to ask a specific question. I read somewhere the best way to talk to that person was by writing their name in the headline. I was not too sure how often you checked the site, posted or even saw my replies. This is why started the new thread. This was helpful.

I was hoping to do an easy loop in less crowded places.

Karathona and Tolo looks like they get packed. I do not know how keen I am on that. That is more of the type of place I think I would want to avoid.

I am looking for a good itinerary, that does not require driving. I would like to see the ruins like Mycenae, Delphi and Athens etc. I also wanted to find a remote place to relax.

I thought Spetses had a boat from Athens since there was one from Hydra that took only 1 hour. I assumed incorrectly that it continues on the Nafplio. Spetses seemed like a less travelled place. I read that the Saronic islands are accessible from Nafplio though, so maybe I should work out of there and Athens.

My thought was to do a loop. I would still like to. I abandoned the idea of going to Crete, because it seemed easier to get around on the mainland using the busses without the stress of driving.

This has made it much harder. All I wanted was a suggested itinerary that was doable in the time I had. Hence the suggestion. If can be fixed or amended please let me know. I would extend over to Olympia if you think it possible.

I'll see if anyone replies.

Well, you can not get a place with all the amenities and easy access on public transport without the crowds, but if you are willing to compromise a bit you could still find something quiet. The problem here is that you try to fit too much on my opinion, especially on public transport which is time consuming and less flexible than your own transport. With some effort though and some compromisses you could find a place to relax for a day or two. For example although I have not visit Nafplio area for ages, a combo of bus/taxi may lead to you to Didyma/Salanti, a pleasant beach with some hotels but not too developed or you could stay somewhere near Drepano (google Plaka Drepanou beach) which is not too far from the beach tj keeps refering as the Ancient Asini secret beach.

From Delphi you could use a bus or taxi to head to Itea and Trokadero hotel/beach or to Galaxidi on one of the various hotels either inside the town or on a beach a couple of kms away. Those places are not unknown but are not terribly busy usually. I may be wrong but I think you have not mention your dates which may make a great difference in terms of crowds too.?

PS: There might not be a so frequent ferry connection to Spetses, but this doesn't necessarily mean the place is quiet. Spetses is a posh yaught port, you may believe there is no regular tourist around but find tons of the yaught crowd.

WLMIV, there are fast ferries from Piraeus (Athens) to Porto Heli (Nafplio area) that stop at most of the Saronic Gulf islands, with Spetses the last stop before Porto Heli. In summer they run several times each day, and take about 2½ hours for the full journey. It would be possible for you to get on the ferry at Piraeus and get off at Spetses (or Hydra for that matter), then buy another ticket to get you from there to Porto Heli.

I'm not necessarily advocating you go to Spetses, but if you do it would be possible to do that loop you are contemplating through Nafplio back to Athens. I agree with the others who say you don't need to go to an island for a beach experience, though — in fact some of the best beaches are on the mainland.

WLMIV -- was it Einstein said that asking the same question over and over, and hoping to get a different answer was definition of ?futility? something like that. I think that's where you are.

In your original post (but unfortunately not repeated, for the help of late-comers), you gave your basic specs -- you have 7 or 8 days at the end of June, want to see a great many things, want to be able to use only public transportation but at the same time you also say you want to avoid crowds and find "a remote place to relax." You ask for a number of things & you cannot get them all.

You can travel to Nafplio area & back to athens by KTEL bus, only 2.5 hours each way. No "circle route" is anywhere near as fast! To Get to Spetses is too complicated for your short visit -- and this island can be quite crowded on June weekends because of popularity as a getaway for Greeks.

And as for a remote beach to relax on, what was wrong with the two I suggested. a 15-minute bus ride from Nafplio? I was at the Kastraki cove in June last year, there were only 6 people sunning, and 3 people in the taverna when I had an early dinner. Do you need to be the only one around, for it to qualify as remote. Remember that in such a case, there would not be a bus, or a taverna.

For a less-visited isle, Lividakia Beach on Serifos-- it has only 2 places on entire beach (1) small taverna/pension http://www.vacation-greece.com/hotel...ros-vassiliki/ and (2)http://www.thesaurus.gr/hotels/serif..._bungalows.php ... I have stayed in early june and it was very sparsely populated, especially #1. However, there's only 1 ferry per day (about 4 hrs), only a few tavernas in the port village, there is not much else to do on the island. You can't have it all.

BTW, the other 2 mentioned in your headline do not list contact info in their profile, but I do.

All of your advice helps so thank you.

Tavelerjan: Thanks. Your advice helps.

Now it is time to make a decision.

Well how is this idea? Does this work. That is my question?

1) Arrive Athens
2) Athens - Sight see
3) Athens - Delphi
4) Athens- Nafpilo
5) Nafpilo - Mycenae
6) Nafpilo - Epidaurus
7) Nafpilo - Cape Suounion
8) Cape Souunion - Temple of Poseidon and Beach
9) Return to Athens -
10) Leave

Does this itinerary work?

We went to Spetses as a day trip from Napflion. We drove down to a point on the coast where the water taxi to Spetses was located. We loved Spetses, so green after the arid Cyclades. Lovely island. I would like to stay there on another trip.
There also,were organized day trips to Hydra and Spetses from travel agents in Napflion.

Happy Traveler, the Original Poster wishes to avoid driving if possible. The organized day trips, when they do show up, are usually only in High Season (early July thru mid-august), and OP is going last week in June.

Here's what I put on the other thread re Sounion:

Have you looked at a map yet, WL?? THere is no direct route from Nafplio to Cape Sounion. If you are still planning on Public transportation, you will take a KTEL bus back to Kifissou station in Athens. Then you'll have to taxi to one of several places (bus near Arch. Museum, Or a tram?? I don't have the transp. at my fingertips). I presume you plan to stay at that hotel which is near to Temple of Poseidon. Looks lovely, fairly pricey. Friends tell me that the Temple is best visited early AM , good light for photos, and NO tourists. If you try to do the sunset thing, you'll be sharing the view with 4-5 busloads of tour groups.

1) Arrive Athens
2) Athens - Sight see
3) Athens - Delphi
4) Athens- Nafpilo
5) Nafpilo - Mycenae
6) Nafpilo - Epidaurus
7) Nafpilo - Cape Suounion
8) Cape Souunion - Temple of Poseidon and Beach
9) Return to Athens -
10) Leave

Without getting into too many Nafplion and surrounding practicalities, 4 nights/3 full days seem fine there.
What I do not get is the so many in and out of Athens. It will eb a long day, but dependin on what time I would arrive on Athens, I would try to connect straight away to a bus to Nafplion, avoiding one packing/unpacking, checking in/out of Athens session there, Spend Night 1,2,3,4, on Nafplion, then making it back towards Athens. You have to decide what about Delphi. A day trip or overnight? Again a long day but if an overnight, you get from Nafplio to Athens, swap bus stations, get bus to Delphi, overnight in Delphi night 5, visit sites and museum next day, get back to Athens on night 6,7,8, enjoy 2 full days at Athens. Get early to Sounion the following day, relax, spend night 9 on Sounion, get to the airport on day 10 straight from there rather than backtracking to Athens once again.

So something like
1) Arrive Athens, get bus to Nafplion, Nafplio
2) Nafplio
3) Nafplio
4) Nafplio
5) Leave Nafplio, get to Delphi through Athens, Delphi
6) Delphi AM, bus to Athens, Athens
7) Athens
8) Athens
9) Early bus to Sounio, Sounio
10)Leave

Still fast paced on my opinion and a couple of long travel days, but more feasible.

PS: If you decide to do Delphi as a day trip or stick with your original plan and return in Athens multiple times, use same hotel and store part of your language in Athens hotel carrying part of your stuff or a small backpack with you on Delphi and/or Nafplion if you wish.

I have my plane ticket and 8 days in Greece. I have made an itinerary of sorts. I would like a little more advice. I am kind of stuck in regard to maximizing my time. Again, I am alone and am not renting a car.

Let me list what I have planned if you would be so kind please help me figure out how to iron out the kinks in plan.

With your suggestion, please be specific especially in terms of logistics. I do not need open ended options. I need a fixed itinerary.

Day 1- Arrive Athens in the afternoon. Take taxi to hotel in center of the city. Not much planned. Any advice for the late afternoon? I was basically going to walk around. There was no time to get to Nafplio on the first day.

Day 2 - Athens - I have planned a walking tour of the Plaka and the Acropolis. The tour has an option of going to Cape Sounion at 2:30 in the afternoon. My question to you is if it is better if I visit Sounion on my own and stop off at a beach along the way? Would there be time if I were to leave around 1 pm by bus?

Day 3 - Tour to Delphi from Athens and I will return to Athens. The option was travel to Delphi from Athens and spend the night (or to go to Nafplion first and then take a bus there from Delphi). This seemed like it was a lot of travelling by bus and hence I thought it might be better to have a guided tour from Athens.

Day 4- Travel to Nafplio (KITEL Bus). Is it difficult to take this bus? Do you know how long it takes? See the sites in Nafplio and going swimming!

Day 5 - Visit Mycenae and Epidaurus stay in Nafplio. (I have found a service where someone will drive me to these sites. Alteratively, do you know of any tours from Nafplio?

Day 6 - I am booked in Nafplio, but I have the day free. How can I maximize this day. Where could I go? Is there somewhere in not too far distance to Nafplio that I could reach in order to enjoy the day and do some sight seeing/and swimming? Of should I go back to Athens and then take a boat to a nearby island for a night or two? Alternatively, I could stay in Nafplio and to take in some beach nearby. Being near some water would be key. I did find a day sail, but have not contacted them yet. It might be too long spending it all day on the boat.

Day 7 - Currently I am returning to Athens from Nafplio. I expect I will leave in the morning. Do you have a suggestion for the remainder of the day in Athens after I check back in to my hotel? I was thinking of visiting the national war museum and the area (maybe Benaki Museum if there is time. Or do you think it might be more fun to take a half day trip from Athens?

Day 8 - This on is a toss-up. I was thinking of maybe taking a Hydra, Poros, and Aegina Day Cruise. I would like to do this, if you think I can fit some beach time into this trip. We have about two hours in each location. It seems like a massive tour full of people which is not exactly my cup of tea, I am already on a couple of tours as it is. I want to avoid feeling like cattle like you are on big tours (I am already doing one to Delphi but it is allegedly a must see). Do you think I would be better off going to either Ageina, Poros, and Hydra by myself as a day trip? Again, my goal would be sightseeing (like hiking somewhere and swim time.

I plan to leave the following day. It is possible I could add a day to the itinerary, but this is a maximum I could add.

Again, Thank you. I post this here, but if I have no answers, I will put it on a new post - so forgive me. Please concrete answers only - as if you are a travel agent planning this for me.

IF only! if we were travel agents we'd be getting commissions ... so we might not have quite as much patience as they do. And at least W, for all the time we've devoted, we hope you'll come back with a trip-report thread to tell us how things worked out
Once again WLM, it's thoughtful to recap the DATES you are going, for any new readers. I had to repeat it once up above & it's now buried 2 months back. You are going sometime in JUNE 2016. My concrete comments:

DAY 1 - You'll still have 3-4 hours of daylight (sunset bout 8:45-9!). If oon day 2, u are doing Athens Walking tour (Athens City Tour & Acropolis) YOU will need the 6part Landmark ticket but only use 1 or 2. So Why not buy the ticket ahead on aft. of Day 1, and use it to browse around the Ancient Agora (which yr walking tour won't do) -- it's lovely in the Late-Day light.. RICK STEVES Site has FREE D-I-Y tour of Agora to download to mp3 i-pod or smartphone. https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-rea...-turkey#athens. then walk west on the lovely promenade and find the hill of the Pnyx sit & enjoy sunset turning the Parthenon gold! Bring a beverage or, Walk back on walkway, by Lysikrates Monument, for a drink at DIogenes, cafe under the flowering trees .. a lovely place, mainly greeks, beautiful people.

DAY 2 - I would not do tour to Sounion. Save Sounion for end of trip if you have time, and inclination. When your tour ends on Acropolis, why not go a few steps more to Acropolis Museum, lunch on their beautiful terrace looking up at Parthenon (no charge just to go to cafe - good prices too). Then u can decide whether to tour that museum OR --Rick Steves ALSO has free D-I-Y tour of Nat. Arch Museum ... taxi there (5E) and walk back. OR look at this super list (Print & take) of all fascinating Athens highlights w. hours & any adm. fees: http://www.athensinfoguide.com/open.htm

DAY 3 - as u said.
DAY 4 - NAFPLIO -- Hey WM, did you even click on the link I gave you waay back in Dec ???? http://www.visitnafplio.com I bet not. I am not going to re-write all the wonderful info on there, but will just tell you to click on The website links to (1) TRAVEL DIRECTIONS (tells u ALL about Ktel bus!! Sked, time, cost. Take taxi from your hotel, just 11-12E, most efficient. (2) Old Town -- great to explore, DONT MISS SUNSET at seafront! (3) BEACHES - One right in town on other side of ramparts, or TOLO beach a 15 min bus ride The seawalk around base of peninsula; breathtaking.
DAY 5 MYC-EP TOUR -- Sometimes trav. agencies run one; check on Day 4
DAY 6 - Go to Tolo! OR Kastraki (Asine)! ask anyone OR read website!
DAY 7 - Check the List link I gave you ...
DAY 8 - Don't take that stupid 3-island tour; almost all time in a boat jammed w others. Take Metro (30 mins) to Piraeus, buy ticket on first available Ferry (NOT hydrofoil) to Aegina... about 50min ride - great views of boats, shore, birds etc). Bring swimsuit.. either take bus or rent scooter or taxi to Temple Aphaia, then go to Ag. Marina beach & have nice lunch. sunset cocktail at port & ferry back by moonlight. Here's a photo album that shows ALL: https://www.flickr.com/photos/362647...646139/detail/

You will get answers to a lot of those questions when you are actually in Greece. Why not do what you want to do rather than what someone else tells you?

DAY 3 : You can do Athens-Delphi-Athens by public bus too if you are not a big group person. A licensed guide is a licensed guide of course, but otherwise tour buses are not that much more convenient than public bus. You stop here and there to collect fellow tourists from other hotels, you arrive on Delphi approximately the same time that public bus arrives, then usually your rush through the ruins and museum and often skip the stadium and the whole lower site in order to have a mediocre lunch in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere and/or stop by Arachova to shop rugs or something. I always find it a bit ironic that most people think of this round building with three columns standing (the Tholos) when they think of Delphi, but are fine to completelyt skip it when they are finally on the spot...
Of course either way you arrive on the busier part of the day, around 10-10.30 am on site and of course it gets not only crowded but hot on summer but DIY you can chose on what pace to explore, chose where to eat and explore a bit more around, not only the ruins and museum but the town too. And decide to depart as late as 7.15pm or latter or not. One has to get to bus station using the public ktel bus of course, but bus ride is around 3 hours one way, either using tour bus either the public one.
Just saying...

Heimdall that is not a concrete answer, don't you want to get the job of travel agent he he he ...

Xa xa xa, travelerjan, as they write in Greece! No, I don't want to be a travel agent...nor be treated like one.

My comments weren't just a brush-off, though. There is rarely a trip where everything goes according to plan, and it's important to leave room for a little spontaneity. The Greek people are very helpful to travellers — it's easy to get information when you are actually there (and it will be up to date!).

The day I took a bus from Athens to the Peloponnese the metro and all the taxi drivers in Athens were on strike. How did I get to the bus station? No problem! I just asked the hotel receptionist and she got me there.

I totally agree, Heimdall, I have encountered SO many random acts of kindness in Greece ... and have always gone into an "iffy" travel situation there with the attitude of "well, something will work out -- and what can be bad? I'm in GREECE" and sure enough it works. You & I know this, it's just people who haven't traveled much, I find mainly Americans, who really feel uncertain when they can't just jump into a car anytime they want, and go where they want, on roads that they know.

Many memorable moments in Greece have occurred for me en route, quirky ones, that I'm grateful for. Perhaps by the time William the 4th comes back, he will have had a few of these.

It's True that it is my first time to Greece and so I do not know what to expect since I do not speak Greek. But It's not that I am worried about something. I lived in South America and so I have experienced all kinds of Murphy's Law incidents. However, my time is short and so I want to have a plan to make the most of my time.

I am travelling alone. As a result I like to have the logistics sorted out so I do not have to stress and can enjoy my time.

I wish I did have more time...!!!Thank you Traveler Jan. I have looked at your links. You have been helpful. Thanks for your input again. It really helped on several issues I am working over in my head.