I'll be a spectator at the Jr. World Waterski Tournament there for four days in Sept. What is there to do in that area, and what is the recommended mode of transportation from Athens? I wanted to drive, but others have been discouraging me from doing so.

Agrínio is the lively chief town of the nomos (state) of Aetolia and centre of the local tobacco trade. It lays just north-west of the beautiful Lake Trikhonis (north-west of Patras). In town, there's a small archaeological museum and the ancient Agrínion site is located some 4km to the north-west, above the village of Megáli Khóra. <BR> <BR>The main site close to Agrínio is the fine Temple of Apolo at Thermon, some 30km to the south east, on the northern shore of the lake. <BR> <BR>I would guess that the best public transportation means from Athens to Agrinio is the bus. The fastest route would be through the Corinth canal, then bordering the southern shore of the Corinth gulf, ferrying across Rio-Antirio and to Agrinio. One other possible route would be through Delphi. I would wild guess that the bus trip should take from 4 1/2 to 6 hours depending on the stops along the way and on the route (the route through Delfi would take about one hour more than the one through the Corinth Canal). <BR> <BR>I'd certainly be one to encourage you to rent a car. Once you're outside Athens (just follow signs to Corinth) driving in the area is a piece of cake. If you do, you may plan to leave Athens early in the morning and head to Delphi (some 2:20 hours away). After visiting the site, some additional 2 1/2 hours would get you to your destination. Eventually, another option would be the train from Athens to Patras and a bus thereafter. <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR> <BR>PS. Never been close to Agrinio Antirio was the closest we got when driving from Delphi to Patras. <BR>

Paulo, Thanks for the information. I've read in other postings that driving to Delphi is difficult due to lack of adequate road signs. How does one find their way from one place to another? Is there a place to get a good roadmap and/or directions for the route? I would much prefer to have a car than to take the bus. That way when in Agrinio we have transport as well.

There are basically two routes that lead from Athens to Delphi, both passing through Thiva (Tebes). <BR> <BR>The first is by taking the divided Autoroute 8A/E94 to Corinth and Patras. Once one passes Elefsina, one takes the two-lane state higway 3/E962 north to Thiva. In Thiva one continues on highway 3 which will lead into Levadia. From there, highway 48 will lead to Delphi, through Arakhova. The only critical point is really leaving the divided Autoroute past Elefsina. Once one gets on track to Thiva there's no way one can miss. <BR> <BR>The other route is by taking the divided Autoroute 1/E75 north to Volos/Larisa. One leaves the Autoroute in Thiva and from there oner follows the route above. <BR> <BR>We took the first route. My understanding is that both routes should take approx. the same time under normal traffic conditions. In the 2nd route one stays longer on a divided Autoroute but it's somewhat longer. When we drove to Delfi in summer, traffic was very low. <BR> <BR>We got a map in Athens. You may try to get maps out from <BR>http://www.cwlease.com/cwlint/index2.htm <BR> <BR>Fill in Athina (for Athens) and Delfi (for Delphi) and see what you get (travel times are overestimated in our experience). You may click on the map to enlarge it at the points of interest. <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR> <BR>

This is such helpful information. Thank you. Do you recommend renting a car at the airport or is there another location on the outskirts of Athens so we can avoid driving in the city? I think it's probably best to rent a car from Hertz, National or Avis - what do you recommend?

You should get quotes from the majors and AutoEurope and get the best available deal. We ended up renting through AutoEurope and got the car downtown (if you're staying at least one night downtown, it doesn't make sense going all the way back to the airport to get your car; also, from the Airport, say, to Corinth, one has to cross the city and traffic should be bad anyways). Though AutoEurope is a car rental wholesaler, in our case they acter as a car rental company and delivered our car at the hotel we were staying (Amalia). <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR>

You should get quotes from the majors and AutoEurope and get the best available deal. We ended up renting through AutoEurope and got the car downtown (if you're staying at least one night downtown, it doesn't make sense going all the way back to the airport to get your car; also, from the Airport, say, to Corinth, one has to cross the city and traffic should be bad anyways). Though AutoEurope is a car rental wholesaler, in our case they acted as a car rental company and delivered our car at the hotel we were staying (Amalia). <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR>