The Northeast Peloponnese

 

There are many places worth visiting in the northeast Peloponnese.  It's not very far to Corinth and you can visit the archaeological sites of Ancient Corinth, Ancient Nemea, Mycenae, Tiryns, and the amazing amphitheatre at Ancient Epidavros.  To see it all properly you'll need two days.  Rather than returning to Athens overnight you could stay for one night in the lovely old town of Nafplio.

 

Your first stop should be at the Corinth Canal:

www.grisel.net/corinth_canal.htm

There’s a great view of the canal from the high bridge.  The low bridge is fascinating because, very unusually, it goes down under the water to let ships pass.  Please see this local map.

 

A short distance further is Ancient Corinth:

http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2388

www.ancient.eu.com/corinth/

 

If you’re feeling energetic, take a climb to the large Acrocorinth hill fort above Ancient Corinth for some amazing views:

www.ancientcorinth.net/acrocorinth.aspx

https://www.corinth-museum.gr/en/archaeological-site/acrocorinth/

 

Half an hour further there’s a very nice archaeological site and museum at Ancient Nemea:

http://nemeangames.org/en/ancient-nemea/excavations-ucb.html

https://nemeangames.org/ancient-nemea/temple-and-sanctuary-of-zeus.html

 

In that area you can taste some excellent local wines. Many of the red wines of Nemea are among the best in Greece. One example is:

https://palivos.gr/en/

Unfortunately they have become very greedy and shop prices are sometimes cheaper than their direct sales.

 

From there it’s a short drive to Ancient Mycenae (if you’re running out of time, head for Nafplio and return the next day):

www.grisel.net/mycenae.htm

 

and then Tiryns:

https://ancient-greece.org/archaeology/tiryns.html

 

The lovely old town of Nafplio is a great place to stay overnight if you need a second day and you don’t want to return to Nea Makri:

www.nafplion.gr/homepage_en.html

www.visitgreece.gr/en/main_cities/nafplio

 

Half an hour from Nafplio is the amazing amphitheatre at Ancient Epidavros, still used for summer theatre:

www.hikenow.net/Greece/epidavros-greece.html

 

To return a different way you could drive down to Galatas, take the very short local ferry crossing to Poros island, then get a ferry to Piraeus.