Greece: Athens, Nafplio, Delphi and Meteora at a slower pace

1. Day 1: Arrive in Athens

   Athens International Airport to your hotel in central Athens

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Athens
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Athens International Airport (ATH), about 35 km east of the centre, and a driver meets you in arrivals for the 45-minute drive to your hotel; plan to land by about 3 pm. The afternoon is yours to rest after the flight. At about 5:30 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group in the hotel for a short briefing on the week, including how we plan the walking at each site. Then a gentle stroll of about 1.5 km on level paths: Syntagma Square, where the Evzones of the presidential guard stand at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, then the shade of the National Garden, with benches along the way, to the Zappeion, a 19th-century exhibition hall whose round colonnaded courtyard is usually open to walk through. The van takes us on to Plaka, the old quarter below the Acropolis, for a welcome dinner of meze at a taverna. Tomorrow starts early, for good reason, so the night is not a late one.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Athens International Airport (ATH)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • A gentle evening stroll: Syntagma Square, the National Garden and the Zappeion
   • Welcome dinner in Plaka

   Easier option: Skip the stroll and meet the group at the taverna; the van brings you from the hotel.

   Free time: Free until the 5:30 pm briefing

   Activity: About 1.5 km of level walking, with benches in the National Garden.

   

2. Day 2: The Acropolis at opening, then to Nafplio

   Athens to the Acropolis and its museum, then the Peloponnese to Nafplio

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Nafplio
   Day 2 details

   This is one of only three early starts, and it is worth it: we are at the Acropolis gate for its 8 am opening with a timed ticket and a licensed local guide, while the marble is cool and before the cruise and coach groups arrive from mid-morning. The path up through the Propylaia is uneven marble and steps, taken slowly with pauses. At the top stand the Parthenon, built for Athena in the 440s and 430s BC, and the Erechtheion with its porch of Caryatids. If the steps are too much, the lift on the north slope is there for visitors with limited mobility, or you start in the Acropolis Museum. At about 10 am we walk down to the museum, which has lifts and seats, and its top-floor Parthenon Gallery, with the temple in view through the glass. After a sit-down lunch nearby we leave at about 2 pm for the 2-hour drive to Nafplio, across the isthmus into the Peloponnese, arriving about 4 pm. The evening is free.

   Included

   • The Acropolis at its 8 am opening with a licensed local guide: the Propylaia, the Parthenon and the Erechtheion
   • The Acropolis Museum and the Parthenon Gallery
   • Sit-down lunch near the Acropolis Museum
   • Drive to Nafplio

   Easier option: Use the Acropolis lift on the north slope if you qualify (we arrange it in advance), or spend the first hours in the Acropolis Museum with a seat and a coffee, and meet the group there.

   Free time: Evening free in Nafplio

   Activity: About 3 km on foot over the morning, on steep, polished marble with little shade on the Acropolis and level floors in the museum.

   

3. Day 3: Mycenae and Epidaurus, at an easy pace

   Nafplio to Mycenae, then Epidaurus and back to Nafplio

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Nafplio
   Day 3 details

   A relaxed breakfast, then we leave at about 9 am for the half-hour drive to Mycenae. In Homer's telling this was Agamemnon's citadel, at its height around 1350 to 1200 BC. With a licensed guide we walk up a gentle ramp to the Lion Gate and look into Grave Circle A, where Heinrich Schliemann found gold funeral masks in 1876. The path to the palace on the summit is rough and steep, so it is a choice, not a given: the site museum and the Treasury of Atreus, a beehive tomb with a stone dome about 13 m high, are both on easy ground. We drive about 50 minutes to a sit-down lunch near Epidaurus, then visit its 4th-century BC theatre, which seats about 13,000. Sit in the lower rows while the guide drops a coin on the stage, and you hear it land. The level paths of the Sanctuary of Asclepius, the healing god, lie beside it. We are back in Nafplio by about 3:30, with the rest of the afternoon free.

   Included

   • Mycenae with a licensed local guide: the Lion Gate, Grave Circle A, the site museum and the Treasury of Atreus
   • Sit-down lunch near Epidaurus
   • Epidaurus with a licensed local guide: the theatre and the Sanctuary of Asclepius

   Optional experiences

   • A boat ride around the Bourtzi island fortress (paid locally, when it runs)

   Easier option: At Mycenae, stay at the Lion Gate and Grave Circle A and go to the museum and the Treasury of Atreus; at Epidaurus, watch from the lowest rows.

   More active option: Climb the rough path to the palace at the top of Mycenae, and the theatre steps to the top row at Epidaurus.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Nafplio

   Activity: About 3 to 4 km on foot over the two sites, on stone paths with some steps; the climbs are optional.

   

4. Day 4: Over the Corinth Canal to Delphi

   Nafplio to the Corinth Canal, then by Thebes and Arachova to Delphi

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Delphi
   Day 4 details

   We leave Nafplio at about 9:30 and split the day's drive of about 3 hours in two. After about an hour we stop at the Corinth Canal, cut through the isthmus between 1881 and 1893. Walk a few steps onto the bridge and look straight down the narrow cut, about 6.4 km long, to the water far below, then sit down for coffee by the canal. The second half, about 2 hours, crosses into Central Greece by Thebes and Livadeia, then climbs past the mountain village of Arachova to Delphi, which sits at about 570 m on the slopes of Mount Parnassus above a sea of olive trees running down to the Gulf of Corinth. We arrive in time for a late sit-down lunch in the village, and the afternoon is free: rest at the hotel, or sit with a drink on a terrace over the valley. Tonight we have dinner together, and tomorrow we are at the sanctuary when it opens.

   Included

   • Coffee stop at the Corinth Canal
   • Sit-down lunch in Delphi
   • Dinner in Delphi

   Easier option: At the Corinth Canal, watch from the van side of the bridge or go straight to the café seats.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Delphi

   Activity: Very little walking today. The drive is about 3 hours, split by the stop at the canal.

5. Day 5: Delphi at opening, then a free afternoon

   Delphi village to the Sanctuary of Apollo and the Delphi Archaeological Museum

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Delphi
   Day 5 details

   The second early start: at 8 am we are at the gate of the Sanctuary of Apollo with a licensed guide, before the day trips from Athens, about 180 km away, arrive and while the slope is still cool. The Sacred Way zigzags uphill past the rebuilt Treasury of the Athenians to the Temple of Apollo, where the Pythia gave the oracle's answers, and on to the theatre with its view across the valley. We take it slowly, with pauses, and you can stop at any terrace and wait in the shade. Delphi was listed by UNESCO in 1987. At about 10:30 we move to the museum, which has ramps and a lift, for the bronze Charioteer, cast around 475 BC, the Sphinx of the Naxians and the offerings sent to the oracle by kings and cities. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the village, and the afternoon is free. Late in the day the van can take anyone who wishes down to the round Tholos at the Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia.

   Included

   • The Sanctuary of Apollo at 8 am with a licensed local guide: the Sacred Way, the Treasury of the Athenians, the Temple of Apollo and the theatre
   • The Delphi Archaeological Museum and the bronze Charioteer
   • Sit-down lunch in Delphi

   Optional experiences

   • A late-afternoon van ride to the Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia and the Tholos (entry included, no extra cost)

   Easier option: Go as far as the Treasury of the Athenians and wait on a seat in the shade, or start in the museum and meet the group there.

   More active option: Climb on past the theatre to the stadium at the top of the site, where the Pythian Games were run.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Delphi

   Activity: About 3 km on foot, steadily uphill on uneven stone paths and steps; the higher parts are optional.

   

6. Day 6: North to Meteora

   Delphi by Amfissa, Lamia and Trikala to Kalambaka

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Kalambaka
   Day 6 details

   No early start today. We leave Delphi at about 9:30 and drive down through the olive groves to Amfissa, then north over the hills to Lamia, where we stop for coffee about halfway. The second half of the drive, about an hour and a half, crosses the wide Thessaly plain past Trikala, and the Meteora rocks come into view, grey pillars of sandstone and conglomerate rising straight up behind Kalambaka. In all the drive is about 3 hours. We arrive in time for a sit-down lunch, and the afternoon is free to settle into the hotel and rest. Before sunset the van takes us up the road above Kastraki to a viewpoint over the Roussanou nunnery, a few steps from where we park, to watch the light leave the rocks. Meteora became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988, and the monasteries on top of the towers were built from the 14th century, when supplies and monks were hauled up by rope. Dinner tonight is your choice.

   Included

   • Coffee stop near Lamia
   • Sit-down lunch in Kalambaka
   • Sunset viewpoint above Roussanou by van

   Easier option: At the Roussanou viewpoint, watch from the van or a bench by the car park.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Kalambaka

   Activity: Almost no walking. The drive is about 3 hours, split by the coffee stop.

7. Day 7: The Meteora monasteries

   Kalambaka to the Great Meteoron and St Stephen's, then Kastraki

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Kalambaka
   Day 7 details

   The third and last early start: the van leaves at 8:30 so we reach the Great Meteoron at about 9 am, as its doors open and before the coaches. It was founded in the 14th century on a rock more than 600 m above sea level, and it is the largest of the six monasteries still lived in, with a frescoed church, the old kitchen and a long view down to the plain. Reaching it means a few hundred steps down and up again, so it is your choice: the van waits at the car park, where the view across to Varlaam is a few steps away. Then everyone visits St Stephen's, a nunnery reached by a short bridge from the road, with no long stair, and its quiet garden over Kalambaka. A local guide tells the story of the hermits who first lived in the caves here. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the village of Kastraki, and the afternoon is free. In the evening we gather for a farewell dinner in Kalambaka.

   Included

   • The Great Meteoron at opening with a local guide
   • St Stephen's nunnery
   • Sit-down lunch in Kastraki
   • Farewell dinner in Kalambaka

   Easier option: Skip the steps to the Great Meteoron: wait at the viewpoint by the car park, then join everyone at St Stephen's.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Kalambaka

   Activity: Dress for the monasteries: skirts below the knee for women, long trousers for men, shoulders covered; wraps are usually lent at the door. About 2 km on foot. Day 7 never falls on a Monday or Tuesday, when St Stephen's and the Great Meteoron close.

8. Day 8: Past Mount Olympus to Thessaloniki

   Kalambaka by Larissa and the Tempi valley to Thessaloniki Airport

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   A slow breakfast with the rocks outside the window, then we leave at about 10 am. The drive to Thessaloniki Airport (SKG) is about 3 hours, and we split it in two. The first half crosses the Thessaly plain to Larissa and joins the motorway north through the Tempi valley, the narrow gorge of the Pineios river between Mount Olympus and Mount Ossa. We stop for coffee below Mount Olympus, at 2,918 m the highest mountain in Greece and, in myth, the home of the gods; on a clear day its summit ridge is in view. The second half follows the coast of the Thermaic Gulf north to Thessaloniki, Greece's second city. We reach the airport at about 1:30 pm, or drop you in central Thessaloniki if you are staying on. Your guide checks your flights before saying goodbye. Book a flight leaving after about 4 pm; many connect through Athens, about 50 minutes away by air.

   Included

   • Coffee stop below Mount Olympus
   • Drop-off at Thessaloniki Airport (SKG) or central Thessaloniki

   Easier option: Stay seated in the van or at the café table at the coffee stop; there is no walking today beyond the airport kerb.

   Free time: A seated coffee stop below Mount Olympus breaks the drive in two.

   Activity: Book a flight leaving Thessaloniki after about 4 pm.

Wildlife and weather: April to June and September to October are warm and bright, with wildflowers on the hillsides in spring and gentler heat than summer, when days often pass 35 C and sites can close at midday in heatwaves. Orthodox Easter fills Meteora with Greek visitors. Evenings at Delphi and Meteora can be cool in April and October, so bring a warm layer.

• Athens1 night
• Nafplio2 nights
• Delphi2 nights
• Kalambaka2 nights