Peloponnese, Mycenae, Epidaurus and towers above the sea.

Nafplio or Mani?

The Peloponnese is the great peninsula of southern Greece, joined to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth. You travel it by car and it offers two very different trips, about three hours apart:

• Nafplio, for ancient Greece. It was the first capital of independent Greece and has a Venetian old town you can walk, the Palamidi fortress above it, with about 850 steps, and the Bourtzi castle on an island in the harbour. It is the base for Mycenae (24 km), Tiryns, on the way, and the theatre of Epidaurus (28 km). Two or three nights. It works without a car and with children.
• The Mani peninsula, for the landscape. Dry mountains falling into the sea, villages of tower houses such as Vathia and Areopoli, caves you tour by boat at Diros and Cape Tainaron, the southern tip of mainland Greece. To the north, Kardamyli and its paths among the olive trees. Three or four nights, with a car.

Before you arrive, at the gateway to the Peloponnese, Corinth deserves a day of its own from Athens: the canal, Ancient Corinth with its Temple of Apollo and Acrocorinth. And half an hour from there, Nemea, Greece's biggest wine area, with wineries you can visit and the sanctuary of Zeus among the vineyards.

With a week, do both: three nights in Nafplio and four in Mani, sleeping on both sides of the peninsula (Kardamyli or Stoupa, and Areopoli or Gerolimenas). If you have a day to spare, Mystras is over an hour and a half from Areopoli and Monemvasia an hour and a half from Gytheio: give each a whole day.

How do you get there from Spain?

By flying to Athens, with direct flights from Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga and other cities. We have not found scheduled flights from Spain to Kalamata, the airport in the south, which mostly receives seasonal flights from the UK and central Europe.

To Nafplio, by car or bus. It is about 150 km and two hours via the A8 motorway to Corinth and the A7 towards Tripoli, with three tolls totalling about €8. Without a car, the X93 bus takes you from the airport to Kifisos station, and from there KTEL Argolida buses take about 2 h 10 min to Nafplio, from early morning to night. There is no passenger train.

To Mani, by car. From Athens airport to Kalamata it is about 270 km and a little over three hours on the Moreas motorway, and to Areopoli about 300 km and four hours. From Nafplio to Areopoli or Kardamyli, about three hours.

Do you need a car?

In Nafplio, not entirely: the old town is seen on foot and there are buses and excursions to Mycenae and Epidaurus, although few buses go to Epidaurus and almost all on weekdays. In Mani, yes. The buses from Kalamata and Gytheio reach some villages, but not Vathia, Cape Tainaron or Porto Kagio.

Distances deceive: from Kalamata to Areopoli along the coast is 80 km and nearly two hours of bends, and the loop round inner Mani, 87 km, takes half a day. Fill up in Areopoli or Gytheio, because further south there are very few petrol stations.

When to go and what does it cost?

April, May, June, September and October. In July and August maximums go above 31 °C and the ruins and the Mani towers have no shade: visit at opening time and leave midday for the water. In return, in summer Epidaurus hosts the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, with night performances in the ancient theatre (in 2026, from 20 June to 29 August). In winter, from November to March, Palamidi, Mycenae and Tiryns open from 8:30 to 15:30, it rains more and many hotels in Mani close; Nafplio stays lively all year.

The Peloponnese costs less than the islands. Admission: Mycenae, Epidaurus and Palamidi, €20 each; Tiryns, €10; the Diros caves, €12. EU citizens under 25 get into the sites free, and from November to March, on the first and third Sunday of each month, it is free for everyone.