38.48° N · 22.50° E
An excursion from Athens to the sanctuary of Apollo, the theatre and the stadium, the Charioteer in the museum and the tholos. By car or KTEL bus, tickets and where to sleep.
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Visit · 2 h 30 · The uphill Sacred Way to the temple of Apollo, the theatre and the stadium of the Pythian Games; €20 with the museum
Museum · 1 h 30 · The bronze Charioteer, the Sphinx of the Naxians and the friezes of the Siphnian Treasury, included in the sanctuary ticket
Walk · 1 h · The spring where pilgrims purified themselves and the circular tholos of Athena Pronaia, a 10-minute walk from the sanctuary of Apollo
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
In spring and autumn, with the valley green and a temperature right for climbing the sanctuary slope. In July and August you need to go in at 8:00. From November to March the site closes at 15:30, the first and third Sunday of the month is free and Arachova fills with skiers at weekends.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
By car you do the whole route: the Hosios Loukas monastery on the way out, Arachova for a coffee and Delphi for the afternoon and the next morning. From Athens it is about 180 km by the motorway towards Lamia and the Livadia road. It is a long day to go and come back; with a night, you enjoy it.
Without a car, Delphi is perfectly possible if you sleep one night: the KTEL Fokidas bus takes about three hours from Athens and drops you on the main street, a few minutes from the sanctuary. A day return is possible but tight.
Delphi is visited by flying to Athens, with direct flights from Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga and other Spanish cities. From the airport it is about 180 km: a good two and a half hours by car along the Lamia motorway and the Livadia and Arachova road. Without a car, you go to central Athens, from there to the Liosion bus station, and take the KTEL Fokida, about three hours more. That is why it is worth sleeping here a night.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
Delphi tells its own story: the priestess who spoke in Apollo's name, the navel of the world, the stadium where the athletes ran. For children it works best in the morning and with the promise of reaching the very top, the stadium.
For a teenager, Delphi has real history behind the myths: cities asking whether to go to war, ambiguous answers and games that rivalled those of Olympia. Add the descent along the ancient path among olive trees and you have a day with some effort.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: A large hotel on the edge of Delphi, with gardens, a summer pool, a restaurant and rooms with a balcony over the valley that runs down to Itea.
Why we like it: A town hotel on Delphi's main street, with rooms with a panoramic view of the Gulf of Corinth and the Pleistos olive grove.
Why we like it: A hotel of 27 rooms and 3 suites on Delphi's main street, 300 m from the museum, the bus station and the taxi rank.
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: a stew of the day and a homemade pie to share, with a wine from the Parnassus area
What to order: a house dish at the window table, at midday, to see the valley
Map
The places to stay and services on the map are the ones for the way you travel. Turn on the layers you want and tap a point to see its details.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
38.48° N · 22.58° E
By carCar-freeBy plane
38.38° N · 22.38° E
By carCar-freeBy plane
37.91° N · 22.88° E
By carBy plane
37.81° N · 22.69° E
By carBy plane
Tips
At 8:00 in summer or 8:30 in winter, before the groups and the sun.
The stadium, at the top, is what fewest people see and what impresses most.
It closes at 15:30 all year.
There are few to Athens and the last one leaves early.
Six hours on a bus for a site that closes at 15:30. In winter, sleep one night or go by car.
Delphi was for the Greeks the centre of the world. Here the oracle of Apollo spoke, and cities came to consult it before founding a colony or declaring war. The sanctuary climbs in terraces up the slope of Parnassus, beneath two rock walls, with the Pleistos valley full of olive trees at its feet and the Gulf of Corinth in the background. It is about 180 km from Athens: you can go and come back in a day, but with one night you see it calmly and in the best light.
By car, about two and a half hours from the centre: motorway towards Lamia, exit towards Livadia and a mountain road through Arachova to Delphi. If you leave early, stop on the way out at the monastery of Osios Loukas, which closes at 15:30. There is parking at the site.
By bus, KTEL Fokidas buses leave from Liosion station in Athens, which is not the Kifisos one: the nearest metro station is Agios Nikolaos, on line 1. The journey takes about three hours, with a stop at Arachova, and there are few departures a day. It drops you on Delphi's main street, a few minutes' walk from the sanctuary.
From Spain, you fly to Athens. If you are coming to Delphi on the first day, pick up the car at the airport and save yourself crossing the city.
The sanctuary of Apollo is the main thing: the Sacred Way zigzagging between the treasuries of the cities, the Doric temple where the Pythia spoke, the theatre with the view of the valley and, right at the top, the stadium of the Pythian games. Allow two and a half hours with the climb.
The museum is included in the ticket and holds the Charioteer, the bronze statue of a chariot driver with intact glass eyes, the Sphinx of the Naxians and the friezes of the Siphnian Treasury. An hour and a half.
Going down the road towards Arachova, ten minutes' walk away, are the Castalian Spring and the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, with the circular three-column tholos that appears in every photo.
Admission costs €20 (reduced, €10) and is valid for the site and the museum. From April to August it opens from 8:00 to 20:00; in September and October closing time moves earlier every fortnight, to 18:00 at the end of October; from November to March, from 8:30 to 15:30. The last entry is 20 minutes before closing. It is free on 6 March, 18 April, 18 May, the last weekend of September, 28 October and the first and third Sunday of each month from November to March. It closes on 1 January, 25 March, 1 May, Easter Sunday and 25 and 26 December.
A day trip is possible, especially by car: leave at 7:00, sanctuary and museum, lunch and back. You have the hour-by-hour plan in the day trip to Delphi from Athens. But it is five hours on the road, and in winter the site closes at 15:30. With a night you see the sanctuary at opening time, in the cool and without the groups that arrive mid-morning, walk down the old path among the olive trees and have dinner looking at the valley. The getaway to Delphi and Arachova organises it over two days.
Delphi is a village with one main street and two parallel ones, all on foot. To eat, the Vakhos taverna, with home cooking and open every day at lunchtime and in the evening, and Epikouros, with the dining room looking over the valley. To sleep, the Parnassos Delphi Hotel and the Fedriades are on the main street, next to the bus stop; the Amalia, at the edge of the village, has a garden, a summer pool and parking.
Arachova, about 10 km away, is the stone village of Parnassus, lively in winter thanks to skiing. The monastery of Osios Loukas, about 35 km away, has 11th-century Byzantine mosaics on a gold background. If you carry on north, Meteora is about three and a half hours away: many travellers combine Delphi and Meteora in a three-day circuit from Athens.
Questions
About two and a half hours by car and about three on the KTEL Fokidas bus from Liosion station.
€20 with the museum included; reduced, €10.
Yes, by car and leaving early. By bus it is possible but tight; with a night you enjoy it much more.
From November to March, from 8:30 to 15:30, with the last entry 20 minutes before.
At Liosion station, not the Kifisos one. The nearest metro station is Agios Nikolaos, on line 1.
Yes: Meteora is about three and a half hours to the north, and many travellers do Delphi and Meteora in three days.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/greece/central-greece/delphi
