Greece: 8-Day Classic Self-Drive – Meteora, Delphi, Olympia & Nafplio

About this experience

Greece's greatest hits — all in one seamless 8-day self-drive journey. Starting and ending in Athens, this tour takes you on a sweeping circuit through the most iconic archaeological sites and landscapes in the country: the soaring rock monasteries of Meteora, the ancient oracle sanctuary of Delphi, the birthplace of the Olympic Games at Olympia, the golden city of Mycenae, the most acoustically perfect ancient theatre in the world at Epidaurus, and the romantic Venetian harbour town of Nafplio. Athens itself is a half-day introduction — the Acropolis and Parthenon, the Theatre of Herodes Atticus, Syntagma Square, the old Olympic stadium (first modern Olympics, 1896), and the legendary tavernas of Plaka and Monastiraki. Then the road opens up: four hours to Kalambaka and the extraordinary sight of Meteora — Byzantine monasteries built atop geological pillars formed 60 million years ago, UNESCO-listed and utterly unique. Delphi was the spiritual centre of the ancient world — 'navel of the earth' — with Apollo's sanctuary and oracle perched dramatically above the Gulf of Corinth. The Rio-Antirrio Bridge carries you to the Peloponnese and ancient Olympia — where the Olympic Games were born, and where Zeus himself was worshipped. The 'golden city' of Mycenae follows — home of Agamemnon and the Lion's Gate, Atreus's Treasury, and the walls of the most powerful Bronze Age citadel in Europe. Epidaurus's theatre offers near-perfect acoustics in a breathtaking ancient setting. Nafplio, the first capital of modern Greece, provides two nights of well-earned rest in a city of medieval castles, Ottoman fountains, and Venetian architecture.