Peloponnese, ancient Greece and mountain Greece in a single road trip.

What is the Peloponnese?

The great peninsula of southern Greece. Today it is almost an island: the Corinth Canal, about 6 km long, separated it from the mainland in 1893, and to the west the Rio-Antirrio bridge, opened in 2004, joins it. Inside it is mountainous and dry, with olive groves in the valleys and three peninsulas that reach south like fingers: Messenia, Mani and Malea, where Monemvasia is.

It holds a good part of what is studied of ancient Greece: Mycenae and Tiryns, the theatre of Epidaurus, Olympia, Corinth. And at the same time it has another Greece, medieval and mountainous: Mystras, Monemvasia, the tower-house villages of Mani and the stone hamlets of Arcadia. What it does not have is island tourism: there are beaches, but you come to travel around.

How do you get there and get around?

You fly to Athens, with direct flights from several Spanish cities. Kalamata airport, in the south, receives mainly seasonal flights from central and northern Europe; we have not found scheduled routes from Spain.

A car is almost essential to see the whole peninsula. From Athens, the motorway reaches Corinth in an hour and Nafplio in about two. To Olympia it is more than 320 km and about four hours; to Kalamata, a little over three. Inside, the roads are good but slow: from Nafplio to Mystras it is about 125 km and two hours; from Mystras to Monemvasia, 90 km and almost two hours more.

Without a car you can do part of it. The Athens suburban train reaches Corinth in an hour, and KTEL buses link Athens with Nafplio, Tripoli, Sparta, Kalamata and Olympia. For the sites around Nafplio they work well; for Mani or Monemvasia, not, because there are few buses and they do not reach the most interesting villages.

What is there to see in the Peloponnese?

The gateway, at the isthmus. Corinth is the first stop: the canal, which you can cross by boat, Ancient Corinth with its Temple of Apollo and Acrocorinth above. Half an hour away, Nemea, the country's biggest wine area, with agiorgitiko wineries and the Sanctuary of Zeus. Both can be seen on an excursion from Athens, but they are more enjoyable with a night.

The Argolid. Nafplio, the first capital of independent Greece, is the best base in the Peloponnese: a Venetian old town on foot, the Palamidi fortress and Bourtzi castle in the harbour. Less than 30 km away are Mycenae, Tiryns and Epidaurus, three World Heritage sites.

Mani. The Mani peninsula is bare mountain falling into the sea, tower-house villages such as Vathia and Areopoli, the Diros caves toured by boat and Cape Tainaron, the southern tip of mainland Greece. To the north, Kardamyli, with its paths among olive groves and the house where the writer Patrick Leigh Fermor lived.

Laconia. Next to Sparta, Mystras is an abandoned Byzantine city on the slope of Taygetus, with frescoed churches and a palace of the despots. To the southeast, Monemvasia is a walled village on a rock joined to the land by a bridge: you enter on foot through a single gate.

The west. Olympia, the sanctuary where the Games were born, lies further off, near Pyrgos. In Messenia, Navarino bay, where the naval battle of 1827 was fought, and the Venetian castles of Methoni and Koroni.

Arcadia. In the centre, mountain villages such as Dimitsana and Stemnitsa, above the Lousios gorge, for anyone who wants to walk away from the ruins.

When to go?

April, May, June, September and October. In spring the countryside is green and the sites can be seen without the heat; in autumn the sea is still warm. In July and August the highs pass 30 °C and neither Mycenae, nor Olympia, nor the towers of Mani have any shade: you have to visit at opening time. In winter the sites open with short hours, it rains more and many hotels in Mani and Monemvasia close, although Nafplio is alive all year.

How many days do you need?

With four or five days you see the north: Corinth, Nemea, Nafplio, Mycenae and Epidaurus. With a week you add Mani. To go all the way round with Mystras, Monemvasia, Messenia and Olympia, allow ten days or more. The practical thing is to change base two or three times: Nafplio, Mani or Kalamata, and Olympia or the Messenian coast.

What is worth knowing?

The Peloponnese costs less than the islands. Mycenae, Epidaurus and Palamidi cost €20 each; EU citizens under 25 enter the sites free. Tickets are bought at hhticket.gr, the official portal. The Diakopto to Kalavryta rack railway, one of the classic excursions of the north, has been suspended since May 2025 because of a landslide; check whether it is running again before counting on it. There are few petrol stations in southern Mani: fill up at Areopoli or Gytheio.