Exploring the Peloponnese: 10-Day Itinerary in Greece 2024

Our 10 day Itinerary in the Peloponnese during our August 2024 trip to Greece, found us enjoying the area and exploring new places. Although it may seem like we drove a lot, we are accustomed to longer distances from living in the United States, where driving five to nine hours to visit family is not uncommon.This is just a brief itinerary. You can click on the blue links to read my blog page on each individual site for more information

Day 1

• Arrive by plane to Athens International Airport.
• Rent car at airport
• Drive 1.5 hours to Ancient Mycenae.
• Explore Ancient Mycenae: These ruins are an acropolis site best known for it’s Lion Gate Entrance.

• Drive 20 minutes to Ancient Nemea
• Explore Ancient Nemea: best known for a Temple of Zeus and also the Stadium of the Panhellenic Games.

• Drive 35 minutes to Nafplio.
• Hotel in Nafplio, Anthemion Suites. This hotel is clean, easy to reach, comfortable, excellent facilities and the staff is friendly.

• Dinner at Hotel.

Day 2

• Breakfast at Hotel. This buffet breakfast was delicious with lots of healthy choices.

• Drive to Mycenaean Bridge. The Mycenaean Bridge of Arkadiko, also known as the Kazarma Bridge is a 3000 year old bridge.

• Acropolis of Kazarma, not far from the bridge. We just can’t seem to pass up a good hike. Although a short hike, it was a bit precocious and difficult to reach the ruins. This unmaintained fortress is truly amazing.

• Ancient Theater of Epidaurus and Archeology Site of Epidaurus. Known as the birthplace of modern medicine. The Theater has a capacity of 15,000.

• Sunken City of Epidaurus is just over a 20 minute drive from Ancient Epidaurus. This was a great place to snorkel and in addition, view underwater ruins. We use an Olympus Tough Digital Camera for our underwater photos.

• Hotel Nafplio Steve swam at the pool while I took a nap.
• Exploring Nafplio Old Town.

• Dinner in Nafplio. We ate dinner somewhere in Nafplio around the square but can’t remember the name of the restaurant!

Day 3

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Larissa Castle of Argos was on our must do list. It was a 30 minute drive from our hotel in Nafplio and was also one of our favorite spots in the Peloponnese.

• Ancient Theater and Agora of Argos. The Theater of Argos is one of the largest in Greece. The Agora had some remnants of mosaic floor tile.

• Lunch. We ate lunch by stopping at the fruit and vegetable market on the corner.
• Mycenaean Fortress of Tiryns The Mycenaean fortress of Tiryns dates back 7,000 years!

• Swim break at the hotel.
• Palamidi Fortress in Nafplio also known as the New Fortress. Built by the Venetians between 1711 and 1714. This large fortress also overlooks the sea.

• Acronauplia also known as the Old Fortress, is the oldest castle in Nafplio dating back to the 4th century BC. It sits high on a hill overlooking the sea.

• Exploring More of Nafplio Town. Enjoyed more shopping, learning how to use worry beads and even learned a Greek Dance step!

• Dinner at Alaloom in Nafplio. It was excellent!

Day 4

• Breakfast at hotel.
• Vresthena, Greece.It is not easy to get to, but this drive through the mountains from Nafplio is very beautiful with small villages scattered in the mountains. After reading the book A Boy Growing up Under the Nazi Boot and the Greek Civil War by George Kakridas we were inspired to visit Mr. Kakaridas’ home town, especially after reading about the atrocities this lovely little village withstood during WWII and the Greek Civil War.

• Ancient Sparta . While it may be less developed than other locations, the ruins, are still impressive.

• Lunch at Modern Sparta.
• Medieval city of Mystras, This was really an amazing site and also a lot of fun to explore. Highlights include the fortress, views, and the frescoes in the church.

• Monemvasia is one of the oldest continuously inhabited fortified towns in Greece and also all of Europe.
• Hotel in Monemvasia. We stayed at Villa Cazella, just on the edge of town. It was clean and also comfortable.

• Dinner along shore at Monemvasia although I can’t remember the name of the taverna, but was delicious.

Day 5

• Hike to the top of Monemvasia. Although most who visit Monemvasia in Greece come to enjoy the town’s shopping, quaint streets and villas, this was not part of our Peloponnese itinerary. We walked through the town, hiked up to Asia Sophia church, and then hiked up to the very top to view the ancient ruins.

• Breakfast at Monemvasia town after our hike.
• Old Kalamata to Sparta Road (Rte 82). This road is very scenic and we thoroughly enjoyed the drive.

• Ancient Messene. This was my very favorite ancient site. It is a large site and quite spectacular with mosaic tile floors in some of the buildings and also rows of columns standing tall.

• Aria Estate Suites and Spas in the Mani Peninsula. We stayed here for the next 3 nights so we had time to enjoy the amenities and also slow down a bit.

• Dinner at Hotel restaurant.

Day 6

• Breakfast at hotel.

• E-Bike Tour of the Mani Peninsula. All in all, this is a great way to see the deep Mani. In addition, this iincludes a tour of the abandoned town of Vathia.

• Morning snack at Porto Kagio during e-bike tour.

• Swim and poolside lunch back at Aria Suites.

• Explore the village of Areopoli. This charming village is really a great spot to visit.

• Dinner at Koroni Grill House in Areopoli.

Day 7

• Breakfast at hotel.
• Diros Cave Tour . This was one of the first places we put on our Peloponnese Itinerary and is one of the many great caves in Greece.

• Afternoon back at Aria Suites. Massage, Swim and lunch.
• Dinner in Karavostasi at Ο Φάρος του Παντελή. It was excellent.

Day 8

• Morea Olive Oil and Honey Sampling. They have some wonderful product.
• Old Town Kardamyli. This is a great way too see the old Mani style and freely roam through much of this once fortified town.

• Hotel in Pylos. We stayed at Karalis Beach Hotel. It was convenient, comfortable and friendly.

• Lunch at the hotel.

• Hike to Old Navarino Fortress. We love the fortresses in Greece, so when we saw this on a video we knew it would be on our Peloponnese Itinerary. It was a great hike and also a fabulous fortress with amazing views.

• Dinner in Pylos I didn’t catch the name of where we ate but it was right along the town square. Fantastic food and service.

Day 9

• Breakfast at hotel.
• Ancient Olympia. Birthplace of the first Olympics which were held in 776 BC. A great place to visit.

• Drive to Ancient Corinth through the mountains.
• Check in at Maria’s Boutique Rooms in Ancient Corinth. Room was clean and also comfortable.

• Ancient Corinth. We walked here from our room. I must say, this site was quite a surprise. So much history here including ruins from St Paul’s biblical visit.

• Dinner at Marinos in Ancient Corinth. Very good food and service. We had a greeat view and also enjoyed relaxing as the day turned into evening.

Day 10

• Coffee in Ancient Corinth.

• Acrocorith. It was only a 5 minute drive to this beautiful and massive fortress towering over the area.

• Corinth Canal. Completed in 1893, The Corinth Canal is a man made canal that connects the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Sea.

• We ended our Peloponnese Trip with a drive to Athens International Airport,here we hopped aboard an airplane and flew to Karpathos Island in Greece.

Locations of Our Itinerary

Here is a map with our Peloponnese locations. Note, the locations are color coded by day to make it easier to visualize our travels.

Conclusion

Our Peloponnese itinerary kept us busy in Greece with diverse ruins, excellent food, and welcoming locals. While we plan to go island hopping in Greece this year, we plan to return to the Peloponnese in 2026 to explore even more sites and revisit some of our favorite spots.

Greece at Home

I have had a hard time finding Greek items that I love to import to my home in the United States. Below are a few links to items I have found to be dependable businesses and also great items. I actually use all of these items almost on a daily basis!

• For true Greek honey, mountain tea, and and also olive oil, I order online through Kilo Tea. They are prompt and in addition, I have never had problems with any of my orders. I highly recommend ordering from here as everything is delicious. You can click here to view and also order the Klio Tea products.
• A Greek product I love that I can order from home is Korres Skin care. This line of skin products uses natural products from around Greece and I really can feel and see the difference. As a matter of fact, you can order their products through Amazon by clicking here.

Resources

Rick Steve’s Athens and the Peloponnese. When planning a trip I like to use travel books which I can mark, hi-light and take with me. If you have watched Rick Steves travel shows, and are familiar with him, this book will feel familiar. The book is organized and it also gives very good practical information. In addition, it includes a great two week itinerary. What I especially like is Athens and the Peloponnese in one book is very convenient.

DK Eyewitness Guides are my tried and true tour guides for just about everywhere. If you follow my posts, you will see I have recommended these for everywhere we go, from the USA to Europe. I love the way these books are broke down in sections for top 10 of each area, type of tours, places of interest and also places to eat. You can click here to view the DK Eyewitness Guide for Mainland and also the Peloponnese.

Map of Greece. I really like the National Geographic Maps and utilize them everywhere. Therefore, I am getting quite a collection. I already have this map of Greece so I did not purchase a separate Peloponese map. The map is durable, and also water resistant. Actually, I have been using the same map for a number of years now.

My Greek Odyssey-My Greek Odyssey is a collection of videos amassed over a few years by Peter, a sailing and also exploring Greece on his yacht. Peter has many adventures on the various islands and also on the mainlands. All in all, these videos are a plethora of information.

Greeka.com-This web site has information on just about everything and everywhere in Greece. Worth taking a look at.

You Can Also Follow Me on Instagram!!

Here are More of My Greece Itineraries:

Two Weeks in Greece-Delphi, Meteora, Corfu, Santorini-Sept 2022

14 Days in Greece-Crete, Naxos, Santorini, Athens-Sept 2021

10 Days in Greece-Crete,Santorini, Athens -Sept 2019

8 days in Greece-Athens, Milos, Santorini -Sept 2018

The Gen-X Travels recommendations for hotels, restaurants, activities or tour companies are based on our own experiences unless noted. We are not sponsored by any business or company and all trips are at our expense. All photos are by myself or my husband unless otherwise noted. We are affiliates of some companies such as Amazon,Viator, and also others which we do receive a small commission from, at no cost to you if you buy or book through one of our links.