Nafplio snorkeling takes you into the Argolic Gulf, from the sunken ruins near Old Epidaurus to the islets off Tolo. For more sea days, browse Greece Tours.
This page sets out the trips you can book, the snorkel spots, the season and the answers to common questions.
What is Nafplio snorkeling?
Nafplio snorkeling means swimming face-down in the Argolic Gulf around Nafplio while you breathe through a snorkel tube. Nafplio is a coastal city in the Peloponnese. It served as the first official capital of the modern Greek state.
Snorkelling is the practice of swimming face-down while breathing the ambient air through a shaped tube called a snorkel. The tube lets you breathe while face-down at the surface. You watch the underwater world for long periods with little effort. Unlike scuba diving, it needs no complicated equipment or training. It appeals to all ages for that low effort.
Nafplio is the capital of the Argolis regional unit and an important tourist destination. It lies on the Argolic Gulf in the northeast Peloponnese. The old town stands largely on a peninsula jutting into the gulf. Our Nafplio page covers the town beyond Nafplio snorkeling.
This arm of the Aegean Sea cuts into the east coast of the Peloponnese. It measures about 50 km in length and 30 km across. Nafplio, at its north-western end, is its main port. The island of Spetses lies at the entrance to the gulf.
The main islands in the gulf are Psili, Plateia and Bourtzi. Bourtzi is a small island with a Venetian fortress that protects the port of Nafplio. The old town’s peninsula forms a naturally protected bay, enhanced by human-made moles. Nafplio snorkeling from the town takes place in the waters of this gulf.
Which Nafplio snorkeling trips can you book?
GetYourGuide lists four Nafplio snorkeling and sea trips. They are a sunken city snorkel day, an Athens sea kayak day and two Tolo scuba sessions. Viator adds four kayak, RIB, cruise and sailing days around Nafplio and Tolo.
Each card below shows only the facts its booking page states. The two Tolo cards come from a PADI dive centre in Tolo, 20 minutes from Nafplio. Both describe outings across the Argolic Gulf.
- Ancient Corinth, Mycenae & snorkelling in sunken city: 11 hours, small group, pickup available, private option available, English. GetYourGuide files it under Nafplio.
- From Athens Sea Kayak Sunken City of Epidaurus: 12 hours, small group, pickup available, English. The title names Athens as the start.
- Discover Scuba Diving in Tolo – for non-certified divers: 3.5 hours, small group, English and French.
- Scuba diving in Tolo – for certified divers: 5 hours, small group, English and French.
Beyond Nafplio snorkeling, Viator lists four kayak and boat days. They are Aphrodite island kayak tour-Tolo and Private RIB Boat Tour in Nafplio and Argolic Gulf. The third is Nafplio Private Shore Tour: Half-Day Cruise & Swimming. The fourth is Tolo Sailing | Nafplio | Half day | Private.
The shore tour is the one that names swimming in its title. For more days on the water, see our Nafplio boat trips page.
Pick your Nafplio snorkeling day by the hours you have. The Tolo sessions take 3.5 or 5 hours, and the day trips take 11 or 12.
Pick by base and experience as well. The kayak day starts from Athens, and Tolo splits non-certified from certified divers.
What is the sunken city of Epidaurus?
The sunken city of Epidaurus is a set of ruins under the sea, named after the ancient city of Epidaurus. Through the clear water, visitors see house foundations, pottery, structural supports and floor sections. It is the snorkel stop on a Nafplio snorkeling day tour.
Ancient Epidaurus was a small city-state on the Argolid Peninsula, at the Saronic Gulf. The town of Palaia Epidavros, also called Archaia Epidavros, now stands in the same place. It is built on and around a small peninsula between two bays. The town lies 34 km east of Nafplio and 60 km south of Corinth.
The name Epidavros now belongs to two modern towns, Palaia Epidavros and Nea Epidavros. Both sit in the municipality of Epidaurus, in the regional unit of Argolis. The seat of the municipality is the town of Lygourio. Palaia Epidavros is a coastal town in the Peloponnese.
Epidaurus took its name from the hero Epidauros, a son of Apollo. According to Strabo, the city first bore the name Epikaros under the Carians. It became Epitauros under the Ionians and Epidauros after the Dorians took it.
Ancient Epidaurus stayed independent of Argos and joined Argolis only in Roman times. With its land, it formed a small territory called the Epidauria. Our Epidaurus page covers the rest of the area on land.
For Nafplio snorkeling, the sunken city is the stop that two GetYourGuide tours share. One tour snorkels over it, and the other paddles there by sea kayak.
How does the sunken city snorkel day from Nafplio work?
This Nafplio snorkeling day joins three stops in one tour: Ancient Corinth, Mycenae and the sunken city, where guests snorkel. GetYourGuide lists it under Nafplio, while its title names Athens as the start.
The title names the stops of the Nafplio snorkeling day in this order, from Athens:
- Pickup: the tour offers pickup for the trip out of Athens.
- Ancient Corinth: the first site in the tour title.
- Mycenae: the second site, covered in full on our Mycenae page.
- Sunken city: the Nafplio snorkeling stop over the sunken city of Epidaurus, the last site in the title.
- Return: the trip back closes the day.
The tour summary mentions ancient and modern history and the blue of the Aegean Sea. It also names farms with lemon, orange and pomegranate trees.
Beside Nafplio snorkeling, a second tour reaches the same ruins by sea kayak, with Athens as its start. Pick the snorkel day to see the ruins through a mask, or the kayak day to reach them under your own power.
Where else can you go Nafplio snorkeling near Tolo?
Tolo is a summer resort on the Argolic Gulf, and its bay widens the map for Nafplio snorkeling. Two islets in Tolo Bay, Daskaleio and Romvi, hold old ruins. A kayak trip from Tolo heads out to Aphrodite island.
Tolo belongs to the municipal unit of Asini, in Argolis. The bay of Tolo forms part of the Argolic Gulf, and Homer was the first to write about it. The bay was later revived as an auxiliary port to Nafplio. From the middle of the 20th century, Tolo grew into a summer resort.
Three named islands lie off Tolo, and each gives Nafplio snorkeling days a fixed landmark:
- Daskaleio: the ruins of a fortress stand on this island in the bay of Tolo.
- Romvi: fortifications, ruins of houses and reservoirs survive on this island.
- Aphrodite island: a kayak tour from Tolo, listed on Viator, paddles out to this island.
A kayak reaches these islands under your own power. Our Nafplio sea kayak page covers paddling trips from the town. Pairing a paddle with Nafplio snorkeling joins two water sports in one day out on the gulf.
Can you try scuba diving after Nafplio snorkeling?
Yes. Tolo, on the same gulf, has a scuba trip for non-certified divers and a second one for certified divers. A try-dive moves you from breathing at the surface to breathing underwater, one step past Nafplio snorkeling.
The first difference is how you breathe. A snorkeller breathes surface air through the tube. Scuba divers carry their own breathing gas instead. Their equipment works without any air supply from the surface.
The second difference is depth. Training agencies limit recreational dives to a maximum of between 30 and 40 metres. Entry-level divers can be restricted to 18 or 20 metres. Diving instructors train scuba divers in the skills that match their level of certification.
A try-dive opens scuba to people with no certificate. It is a supervised scuba experience, and during training the instructor is responsible for planning the dive. Snorkellers can progress to free-diving or recreational scuba diving. A try-dive is that next step after Nafplio snorkeling.
The non-certified card suits first-timers with no certificate. The certified card is for divers who already hold one. Both dives start in Tolo, so a beach day there fits around either session.
What sea life can you spot on Nafplio snorkeling?
Nafplio snorkeling puts you above the shallow-water life of the Mediterranean Sea. The main sights are meadows of Neptune grass, purple sea urchins, the common octopus and the damselfish. The ornate wrasse also lives in these waters.
Neptune grass (Posidonia oceanica) grows only in Mediterranean waters. Its meadows reach from 1 metre down to 35 metres, as deep as clear water lets light through. The meadows give young sea creatures a place to feed, shelter and grow.
These animals live in Mediterranean coastal water. One fact each helps you name them during Nafplio snorkeling.
- Purple sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus): lives on rocks, boulders and in Neptune grass meadows.
- Common octopus (Octopus vulgaris): it shifts its colour to match the rocks and sand around it.
- Damselfish (Chromis chromis): the youngest fish are brilliant iridescent blue; adults are dark brown.
- Ornate wrasse (Thalassoma pavo): males have red heads with blue markings.
The common octopus prefers rocky floors in shallow coastal water. It rests in a shelter with little of its body showing. Damselfish swim in small shoals above or near rocky reefs. A slow Nafplio snorkeling swim along a rocky edge gives you time to spot both.
Look without touching on every Nafplio snorkeling trip. Float flat above the seabed and keep your fins clear of the floor. Never stand on sea urchins, whose long spines are sharply pointed, or on Neptune grass. The seagrass is shrinking across its range, and boat anchors tear up its meadows.
When is the season for Nafplio snorkeling?
The snorkel day trip lists a date for every day from the start of summer into October. Its calendar then pauses from November to April. Nafplio has a Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers, so the warm months suit Nafplio snorkeling.
In climate terms, Nafplio belongs to the north-east Peloponnese. The Climate Atlas of Greece places the eastern and southern low-lying Peloponnese in the Mediterranean climate zone, Köppen type Csa.
Sunny, dry weather is the commonest summer pattern in this zone. As a rule, summer air is hot by day and warm at night. Summer rain falls as showers or thunderstorms, and winters are wet.
On the coast, a cooler sea and the sea breeze temper the heat during summer heatwaves. The etesian winds of Greece peak in frequency in July and August. The mild climate of Nafplio draws visitors all year round, yet Nafplio snorkeling follows the trip calendars. For timing on land, read about the best time to visit Nafplio.
The sea kayak card opens a month earlier, in April, and lists every day through September. Outside the Nafplio snorkeling dates, compare the Nafplio beaches for a swim from the shore.
What do travellers ask about Nafplio snorkeling?
What gear do you need for Nafplio snorkeling?
You need a snorkel for breathing and a diving mask or swimming goggles for vision. Swimfins are common, since they move you through the water more efficiently. A mask fits well when it seals all round its skirt without pressing on your nose or forehead. The booking cards list no gear, so ask the operator what the trip supplies.
Can children join Nafplio snorkeling?
Each booking card we checked sells one ticket type only, labelled “Adult (Age 99 and younger)”. None of the cards shows a separate child ticket or a minimum age. Snorkelling appeals to all ages because it takes little effort. Check the full tour page for age rules before you book a place for a child.
How do you book Nafplio snorkeling?
Book Nafplio snorkeling through the GetYourGuide cards on this page. The snorkel day trip needs at least 3 hours’ notice. Across the cards, the cut-off runs from 1 hour to 10 hours before the start. Every card we checked shows free cancellation, so read its terms before you pay.
Is Nafplio snorkeling safe?
Jet skis, speedboats and other leisure craft are the greatest danger to snorkellers. Only the snorkel tube shows above the water. Bright colours or a dive flag on a float help boaters spot you. A rash guard, a T-shirt or sunblock cuts the sunburn risk on your back. Swim with a buddy and watch each other at all times.