A 13 day Greece cultural tour of Athens, Nafplio, Olympia, Delphi and Meteora covers twelve nights by road, with three nights in Athens at the start and one at the end. Find more trip ideas on Greece Tours. The sections that follow give each day its road leg, its ticketed site and its booking step, then the months, the beds and the usual traveller questions.
What is a 13 day Greece cultural tour?
It is a road route of twelve nights that links Athens, Nafplio, Olympia, Delphi and Meteora. On this plan, a 13 day Greece cultural tour reaches six UNESCO World Heritage properties. It needs no ferry or flight after you land.
UNESCO lists 21 properties for Greece, and six of them sit on this route. More routes of this kind sit under Greece VIP packages.
- Acropolis, Athens.
- Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns, in the area around Nafplio.
- Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus, also in the area around Nafplio.
- Archaeological Site of Olympia.
- Archaeological Site of Delphi.
- Meteora, near the town of Kalambaka.
Other 13-day plans add islands. The planning site kimkim says a 13-day trip can pair the mainland with three or four islands. Bookmundi’s second 13-day plan visits Meteora, Delphi, Epidaurus, Nafplio and Olympia before an island cruise.
A 13 day Greece cultural tour on this page stays on the mainland for all thirteen days. One Greek operator of private classical tours sells mainland loops from 2 days up to 13 days.
How are the thirteen days split between the stops?
Five hotel moves cut the days into six blocks. Athens gets three nights, then Nafplio, Olympia, Delphi and Kalambaka get two each, then Athens gets one. A 13 day Greece cultural tour on this grid holds five move days.
- Days 1 to 3: Athens. Day 1 is arrival, days 2 and 3 hold the city sites.
- Days 4 and 5: Nafplio. Day 4 is a move day, day 5 a site day.
- Days 6 and 7: Olympia, with the same move-then-site rhythm.
- Days 8 and 9: Delphi, with the same rhythm.
- Days 10 and 11: Kalambaka, with Meteora on day 11.
- Days 12 and 13: Athens for one night, then departure.
Count the days of a 13 day Greece cultural tour by job. Two are arrival and departure days. Five are move days (4, 6, 8, 10 and 12). Six are full site days (2, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11).
A Rick Steves forum thread on 13 days in Greece warns against one night per stop. Transfers eat the time. It puts Nafplio at two nights for Mycenae and Epidaurus. One reply calls Nafplio, Olympia, Delphi, Meteora and Athens a workable set of five places for 13 nights.
The same thread advises a last night in Athens as a safety margin for the flight home. The tours-greece.gr four-day classical tour has one overnight each in Olympia, Delphi and Kalambaka. This 13 day Greece cultural tour gives each of those towns a second night.
Which months suit this 13 day Greece cultural tour?
The weeks from late spring to June, and September to October, bring the pleasant weather. On this 13 day Greece cultural tour, mid-July to mid-August is the hottest stretch. Heat pushes sightseeing into the morning.
- Late spring to June, and September to October: Wikivoyage’s Greece entry names these as the pleasant months.
- Mid-July to mid-August: the warmest weeks. Greeks avoid heavy outdoor effort from 13:00 to 17:00.
- November to February: temperatures stay mild and the crowds thin out. Rain runs from November to late March or early April.
This 13 day Greece cultural tour starts and ends in Athens. Wikivoyage says the capital can stay uncomfortably warm on summer afternoons because of its concrete. Weather stations in Greece have recorded readings above 46 degrees Celsius.
The mountains change the picture further north. The mountain range east and north of Meteora swings from hot summers to severe cold and heavy snowfalls in winter. Wikivoyage’s Peloponnese entry describes hot summers and mild winters in the low-lying areas below 1,000 metres.
A fixed 13 day Greece cultural tour means your start date decides which of these weeks you meet. Choose the window first, then book hotels and tours inside it.
How do you travel between the stops by coach, hire car or train?
Road carries every leg. A hire car or private driver covers the five legs in under 2 to just over 4 hours each. On a 13 day Greece cultural tour, buses need changes between Delphi and Meteora, and Nafplio has no passenger trains.
- Day 4, Athens to Nafplio: 147 km, 1.5 to 2 hours by car. The Corinth Canal sits about 1 hour out of Athens.
- Day 6, Nafplio to Olympia: about 2.5 hours across the Peloponnese.
- Day 8, Olympia to Delphi: about 270 km. The Rio-Antirrio bridge and Nafpaktos come after about 2 hours, and Delphi after 2 hours more.
- Day 10, Delphi to Kalambaka: 230 km, about 3 hours.
- Day 12, Kalambaka to Athens: 195 km and 2 hours 15 minutes to Thermopylae, then 190 km and 2 hours to Athens.
Public KTEL buses run 12 to 14 times a day from Athens to Nafplio in about 2 hours. Athens to Delphi takes about 3 hours by bus, and Athens to Kalambaka about 5. Wikivoyage says a rider coming from Meteora to Delphi changes in Lamia and again in Itea.
Trains are the weak link on a 13 day Greece cultural tour. Wikivoyage’s Nafplio entry says train services to the town are suspended, with Corinth as the nearest passenger station. Wikipedia’s entry on Kalambaka station says no trains serve it and a replacement bus runs to Paleofarsalos.
A forum reply in that Rick Steves thread says Peloponnese drive times run much longer than navigation apps show. Villages invite stops, and lunch needs time. Wikivoyage adds that Delphi has hairpin turns and hard parking. A private driver handles both.
For a guide and a vehicle in one booking, read how to choose the right escorted tour in Greece.
What happens on Day 1 of the 13 day Greece cultural tour in Athens?
Day 1 is a short walk and an early night. The 13 day Greece cultural tour keeps all three Athens days free of driving. The road legs start on Day 4 with the drive to Nafplio.
The Arch of Hadrian and the Temple of Olympian Zeus make a flat first outing. The arch is 18 metres high and dates to 131 or 132 AD. The face toward the Acropolis says that this is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus. The face toward the temple says that this is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus.
The temple stands about 500 metres south-east of the Acropolis. Work began in the 6th century BC, and Hadrian finished it in the 2nd century AD. It had 104 colossal columns, and fifteen still stand. The listing Athens: Entrance Ticket to the Temple of Olympian Zeus lasts 1 hour. Book it at least five minutes before entry.
Eat near the hotel and sleep early. In the 13 day Greece cultural tour, Day 2 opens at the Acropolis. A different order for the same three days sits in our Athens 3 day itinerary.
How do you spend Day 2 at the Acropolis and its museum?
Day 2 gives the morning to the rock and the afternoon to its museum. The 13 day Greece cultural tour sees four buildings that Pericles coordinated in the fifth century BC.
The Propylaea is the gate, and Mnesicles began it in 437 BC. The Temple of Athena Nike stands south of the entrance. The Parthenon crowns the rock. The Erechtheion has six female figures as porch supports, and one sits in the British Museum. Slots and gate rules sit in the Acropolis tickets guide.
Two theatres lie south of the rock. One is the Theatre of Dionysus. Herodes Atticus built the other in 161 AD.
The museum holds the finds. It shows more than 4,250 objects over 14,000 square metres. Its top level sits askew on the lower levels to match the orientation of the ancient temple. The 48 columns of the Parthenon hall follow the outline of that temple.
The listing Athens: Acropolis Museum Ticket with optional Audio Guide is valid for 1 day. It is wheelchair accessible. Buy it for Day 2, then end the day early. In the 13 day Greece cultural tour, Day 3 is a second museum day.
What does Day 3 hold, with the museums and the Agora?
Day 3 splits between the National Archaeological Museum and the Ancient Agora of Athens. The 13 day Greece cultural tour sees the Mycenaean finds here first. The sites of Day 4 then carry meaning.
For the 13 day Greece cultural tour, the museum opens at 13:00 on Tuesday. Put the Agora in a Tuesday morning and the museum in the afternoon. Victoria station on Line 1 is a 5-minute walk from the museum.
The Mycenaean collection holds the gold funerary masks that Heinrich Schliemann found at Mycenae. One mask bears the name of Agamemnon, a name given in error. The listing Athens: National Archaeological Museum Ticket & Audio Guide lasts 45 minutes to 4 hours. Book it at least 5 hours before entry.
Excavators plotted the course of the Panathenaic Way to fix the full boundaries of the Agora. The Monument of the Eponymous Heroes served as a noticeboard for new laws, public events and military call-ups. Swap the Agora for a half-day at Cape Sounion when you want a sea view.
How does Day 4 of this 13 day Greece cultural tour reach Nafplio by Corinth and Mycenae?
Day 4 drives from Athens to Nafplio in 1.5 to 2 hours without stops. The 13 day Greece cultural tour adds three stops, so the day runs from breakfast to dinner. They are the Corinth Canal, Ancient Corinth and Mycenae.
Start at the Corinth Canal, a sea-level cut 6,343 metres long. The rock walls stand 90 metres above sea level at an angle of 80 degrees. A road, a railway line and a motorway cross it about 45 metres up.
For this 13 day Greece cultural tour, Ancient Corinth is the second stop. It lies 5 kilometres south-west of the modern city. Wikivoyage lists the museum there as open 8:00 to 15:00 between 1 November and 31 March. Our Ancient Corinth page covers the site itself.
Mycenae lies 48 kilometres south of Corinth, 11 kilometres north of Argos and 120 kilometres south-west of Athens. The ministry’s museum listing gives winter hours of 8:30 to 15:30, and the full ticket includes the site. Reach the gate by midday in winter.
The listing Archaeological Site of Mycenae: E-Ticket with Audio Guide offers an optional audio guide. Book it at least 1 hour before entry. The first road day of the 13 day Greece cultural tour ends in Nafplio. Drivers can use the large car park at the harbour. An old-town hotel is 10 to 15 minutes on foot from there.
What fills day 5 of the 13 day Greece cultural tour at Epidaurus and in Nafplio?
Day 5 gives the morning to Epidaurus and the afternoon to Nafplio. The 13 day Greece cultural tour drives 26 km, about 30 minutes, to a gate that opens at 8:00 daily. The old town waits for the afternoon.
Closing time shifts with the season, and the last visitor enters 20 minutes before it.
- April: 19:00.
- After April, until the end of August: 20:00.
- September: 19:30 until the 15th, then 19:00.
- October: 18:30 until the 15th, then 18:00.
- November to February: 17:00. March: 18:00.
Our Epidaurus guide covers the theatre and the sanctuary. For the day, the listing Epidaurus Tour from Nafplio with the Ancient Theater and Old Epidaurus lasts 5 hours and includes skip-the-line entry, a private option and free cancellation. The tour adds the seaside village of Palaia Epidaurus. Bookings close 4 hours before the start.
Back in Nafplio, the 13 day Greece cultural tour spends the afternoon in the old town. Nafplio was the first official capital of modern Greece. The Palamidi fortress crowns the hill north of the old quarter. The Bourtzi castle sits in the middle of the harbour.
How far is day 6 of the 13 day Greece cultural tour from Nafplio to Olympia?
Day 6 runs 169 km west, from Nafplio on the Argolic Gulf to Olympia in the Alfeios valley. The 13 day Greece cultural tour leaves at 9:00 and reaches Olympia by late morning. The afternoon stays free for the village.
Rome2Rio lists no direct bus. The route changes at Tripoli. Nafplio to Tripoli takes 1 hour 20 minutes, and Tripoli to Krestena takes 1 hour 26 minutes. With the change, the trip takes about 3 hours 59 minutes. Krestena lies 4 km south of Olympia.
Our guide on how to get to Olympia covers the routes from Athens, Patras, Kalamata and the Katakolo port. The bus needs two rides and a last 4 km, so this 13 day Greece cultural tour uses the car.
The first afternoon fits one short stop. The listing Guided tour of an olive mill and olive oil tasting in Ancient Olympia lasts 1 hour. The last booking is 1 hour before the start. It offers free cancellation and is wheelchair accessible.
Which stops fill day 7 of the 13 day Greece cultural tour at Olympia?
Day 7 covers the sanctuary and the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, and one ticket opens both. The 13 day Greece cultural tour adds the Olympic Games history museum on that ticket.
The Kladeos river runs along the west edge of the site, and a bridge leads to the main gate. The full site needs extensive walking, so this 13 day Greece cultural tour sets aside the whole day.
The museum has twelve rooms. Its stars are Hermes and the Infant Dionysus, the Temple of Zeus pediments and the Nike of Paionios. Its shop stands in a separate building on the path to the site.
The museum keeps these hours every day.
- April to August: 8:00 to 20:00.
- September: closes at 19:30 until the 15th, then at 19:00.
- October: closes at 18:30 until the 15th, then at 18:00.
- November to March: 8:30 to 15:30.
Entry stops 20 minutes before closing. The site is closed on Easter Sunday and on 25 March, among other public holidays. Sunlight on a parabolic mirror in front of the Temple of Hera lights the Olympic flame.
The listing Ancient Olympia: 2-Hour Archaeologist-Led Site & Museum Tour lasts 2 hours. The tour has skip-the-line entry, a private group and a small group. Book at least 8 hours ahead.
How does day 8 of the 13 day Greece cultural tour cross from Olympia to Delphi?
Day 8 leaves the Peloponnese at the Rio-Antirrio bridge, where the strait is 2.4 km wide. The 13 day Greece cultural tour then follows National Road 48, which links Antirrio, Nafpaktos and Delphi.
The speed limit on the bridge is 80 km/h, and stopping or parking on it is banned. Two parking areas near the toll plaza serve both directions. The east side one has public toilets, an ATM and wi-fi. Walkers use sidewalks on both sides, reached by stairs at each end.
Nafpaktos lies 9 km north-east of Antirrio. Its port and castle keep Venetian remains, and two cafes sit inside the castle walls. A stop here splits the drive. From Nafpaktos to Delphi is 93.5 km and 1 hour 53 minutes by car, says Rome2Rio.
Rome2Rio lists no direct bus from Olympia to Delphi. The bus route changes at Patras. Pyrgos to Patras takes 1 hour 30 minutes, and Patras to Delphi takes 2 hours. For this 13 day Greece cultural tour, the car keeps the day shorter.
A cooking class in Delphi fits the evening. It lasts 2.5 hours and serves lunch or dinner. The cut-off is 30 minutes before the start. It offers free cancellation and is wheelchair accessible.
How do you spend day 9 at Delphi on a 13 day Greece cultural tour?
Day 9 is a full site day with no driving. Plan this 13 day Greece cultural tour stop as one morning in the open air and one afternoon indoors. The sanctuary and the museum both lie within walking distance of the village.
You sleep in Delphi on night 8, so you need no vehicle today. A travel guide calls the village small enough that walking is the only transport you need. Taxis are easy to find if you want a ride.
Book the entry ahead. The listing Delphi: Archaeological Site & Museum Ticket with Audio Tours covers both places and adds a mobile audio guide. The ticket stays valid for one day and lets you skip the line at the ticket booth. Book it no later than 10 minutes before you enter.
The same guide advises an early start, before school classes and tour groups fill the sanctuary from 10:00. Walk the ruins first, then take the museum for the midday break, since it has food and restrooms.
Add the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia and its Tholos if you still have energy. The 13 day Greece cultural tour keeps the evening free in the village. Roads to and from it are set out on the page about how to get to Delphi.
Which stops fill day 10 from Delphi to Kalambaka on this 13 day Greece cultural tour?
Day 10 is a move day with one stop, at Thermopylae, about 80 km north of Delphi. On this 13 day Greece cultural tour, a 09:00 start from Delphi puts you in Kalambaka after midday. Keep the stop to about an hour.
The A1 motorway follows the old shoreline and splits the pass in two. The Leonidas monument stands on the east side of the road. Across from it rises the hill with the epitaph for the fallen.
The ground of the battle in 480 BC now lies under 20 metres of soil. So the hour on this 13 day Greece cultural tour goes to the hill and the monument. The hot springs that name the pass still flow close to the foot of the hill.
Kalambaka is the base for nights 10 and 11. The monasteries close between 15:00 and 17:30, and you arrive after midday, so keep them for day 11. Use the evening for the sunset instead.
The listing Meteora: Sunset Off-Road SxS/Buggy Adventure with Guide lasts 4 hours for a small group. You drive the buggy yourself on dirt roads and end at a panoramic viewpoint. Booking closes one hour before the start.
How do you plan day 11 at Meteora within a 13 day Greece cultural tour?
Day 11 is the monastery day, and the weekday decides which gates are open. On a 13 day Greece cultural tour, check the closing day first. Each of the six monasteries shuts one day a week in summer. Saturday and Sunday leave no gate closed.
A travel guide lists the summer closing days. Saint Stephen shuts on Monday and the Great Meteoron on Tuesday. Roussanou shuts on Wednesday and Holy Trinity on Thursday. Varlaam and Saint Nicholas Anapausas shut on Friday. In winter the list changes, so check it again.
Group the gates by walking time. The Great Meteoron and Varlaam sit a 10-minute walk apart. Holy Trinity and Saint Stephen sit 15 minutes apart. Saint Nicholas Anapausas is a 10-minute road walk from Kastraki. Five of the six open at 09:00.
Car, bus and taxi choices between the gates are in the guide to getting around Meteora.
The listing Meteora: Private Highlights Tour for Up to 4 Guests collects you at your Kalabaka hotel. You enter 3 or 4 monasteries of your choice, so pick them from the open list.
The tour lasts 4 hours, and booking closes 4 hours before the start. That leaves the afternoon of this 13 day Greece cultural tour free for the town.
When do you leave Meteora for Athens on day 12 of the 13 day Greece cultural tour?
Leave Kalambaka by 11:00 and you reach Athens by mid-afternoon. On this 13 day Greece cultural tour, day 12 keeps one spare morning at the rocks. A travel guide puts the drive from Athens to Meteora at about 4 hours.
Use the spare morning for a walk. The listing Meteora: Private Hike to the Holy Spirit Rock and Monks’ Prison runs for 3 hours. A private group walks the trails past the Holy Spirit rock and its caves.
A start at 07:30 ends before 11:00. Booking for the hike closes 4 hours before the start.
If you do not want to drive, Viator sells a private one-way transfer from Kalambaka to Athens. Match the pickup to the hour the hike ends.
Night 12 is spent in Athens, so arrive with time to check in. This closes the road part of the 13 day Greece cultural tour.
What happens on day 13, the departure?
Day 13 is the flight home, not a sightseeing day. You check out, ride to Athens airport and clear check-in and passport control. The 13 day Greece cultural tour ends with one booked ride and one early start.
Start the night before. The airport says online check-in runs from 30 days to 4 hours before the flight, on airlines that offer it. A traveller with hand baggage only goes straight to security and passport control. A traveller with a hold bag still drops it at the airline counters.
Four airlines run a self bag drop near their check-in area: Aegean, Olympic Air, Air France and Scandinavian Airlines. It opens 4 hours before departure. Check in online first. Make the bag tag at the kiosk, then scan the boarding pass at the drop.
A driver who drops you at Departures gets 10 minutes of free stay and 2 entries a day. That rule applies at the drop-off point, says the airport. Unload the bags and leave the lane. Then move to the control areas at once, because waits can be long in high season.
The private transfer “Athens: 24/7 Private Transfer to/from Athens Airport” takes 45 minutes, offers pickup and shows free cancellation. Book it on day 12 at the latest, because the listing closes 10 hours before the start. The last morning of the 13 day Greece cultural tour then runs on one fixed pickup.
Where does each of the twelve nights go on this 13 day Greece cultural tour?
You sleep in five bases across six stays. Athens takes nights 1 to 3 and night 12, and Nafplio, Archaia Olympia, Delphi and Kalambaka take two nights each. The bags move five times on this 13 day Greece cultural tour.
- Nights 1 to 3: Plaka in Athens.
- Nights 4 and 5: Nafplio old town.
- Nights 6 and 7: Archaia Olympia.
- Nights 8 and 9: Delphi town.
- Nights 10 and 11: Kalambaka, or Kastraki beside it.
- Night 12: Plaka again.
Plaka carries the nickname Neighborhood of the Gods, for its closeness to the Acropolis. Settlers from the island of Anafi built Anafiotika, a village in Cycladic style, at the highest point of Plaka. For other districts, read our guide on where to stay in Athens.
Nafplio’s old town is built mainly on a peninsula that juts into the gulf. Palamidi stands on a hill north of it. Acronauplia, the oldest part, now holds a modern hotel. Our Nafplio itinerary sets out a two-day plan that fits the stay on this 13 day Greece cultural tour.
Archaia Olympia is a small village in the valley of the Alfeios river. It serves the adjacent archaeological site, and the census counts 882 residents in the community. Two nights here cover the whole of day 7 on the 13 day Greece cultural tour.
The modern town of Delphi stands next to the sacred precinct. It was created after buildings left the precinct, which freed the ground for excavation. The town lies on National Road 48, between Amfissa and Livadeia.
Kastraki fills a small valley on the southwest side of the Meteora massif. Rocks surround it except on the west side, at the mouth of the valley. Kalambaka lies at the foot of the same massif.
How do you reserve and cancel the tours on this route?
Book each tour from its listing page, and read the cancellation line and the cut-off before you pay. Opening hours and heat closures then decide which days of the 13 day Greece cultural tour stay flexible.
Winter hours cut the day short. The state museum portal lists 8:30 to 15:30 from November to March, and 9:00 to 16:00 for the major museums. Last admission is 20 minutes before closing. A standard museum takes its last visitor at 15:10 in winter.
Heat closes outdoor sites at midday. On one June Wednesday the Ministry of Culture shut the Acropolis from 12:00 to 17:00 as a precaution. Ticket holders for those hours were still able to enter later that day.
Day 2 of the 13 day Greece cultural tour is the Acropolis day, and heat can shift it. In summer, book the first slot of the day to stay clear of that window.
What do travellers ask about this 13 day Greece cultural tour?
Travellers ask about holidays, airport help, car hire and the walk from Kastraki. Each answer comes from the airport, the state museum portal or Wikipedia. It fits one stop of this 13 day Greece cultural tour.
Which holidays close the state museums on the route?
The state museum portal names six closed days. They are 1 January, 25 March, Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday, Labour Day, 25 December and 26 December. Check those dates against your plan for the 13 day Greece cultural tour before you pay for hotels.
Which holidays keep the museums open?
The same portal names six open days. They are 6 January, Clean Monday, Orthodox Easter Monday, Holy Spirit Monday, 15 August and 28 October. Easter Monday works for a museum day.
How early do you ask for help at the airport?
Tell the airline, agent or tour operator what help you need. The airport asks for this at least 48 hours before the flight. Do it when you book the flight home for the 13 day Greece cultural tour, not on day 12.
Which car hire companies serve Athens airport?
Six: Avis, Hertz, Enterprise, Sixt, Avance and Europcar. Their desks stand at Arrivals, Exit 4, and list Monday to Sunday opening around the clock. The airport page names no return point, so ask the desk before you drive away.
Can you walk from Kastraki to Kalambaka?
Yes. Wikipedia puts Kalambaka a 20-minute walk away along the main road. Kastraki holds hotels and tavernas that cater to international visitors.