Driving in the Peloponnese

I am planning my next trip to Greece in May when I intend to explore the
Peloponnese. I am thinking of taking the ferry to Spetses and then on to the
mainland either at Porto Heli or Kosta, where I'll hire a car. Does anyone
know either of these resorts? I'm wondering if Kosta is a big enough place to
have car hire outlets, or whether I would be better off in Porto Heli for
this.

One slight worry I have though is about the state of the roads. I have
something of a phobia about the kind of mountain road which is narrow,
unmarked, and with a rock face on one side and a sheer drop on the other with
nothing to stop a car plunging over the edge if one was ever-so-slightly
careless! This kind of road is often marked in green as 'scenic' on maps, but
I would translate it more as 'terrifying'. I came across quite a lot of this
in Crete a few years ago.

I thought for example of driving through Sparta and then taking the road west
across to Kalamata. I notice though that much of this road is marked on my
map with the tell-tale green stripe. I wonder if anyone has driven this route
and could tell me what it's like.

Likewise any advice about routes to be avoided or not - places to see etc.
would be welcome. I know about Epidavros and Mycenae of course, and I'd also
like to get down to Monemvasia if I can. Any other favorite places?

Mike Lane wrote:

One slight worry I have though is about the state of the roads. I have
something of a phobia about the kind of mountain road which is narrow,
unmarked, and with a rock face on one side and a sheer drop on the
other with nothing to stop a car plunging over the edge if one was
ever-so-slightly careless! This kind of road is often marked in green as 'scenic' on
maps, but I would translate it more as 'terrifying'. I came across quite a lot of
this in Crete a few years ago.

We never saw any such roads. The road between Argos and Tripoli had
plenty of crosses along it where whole busloads of people must have
perished going over the side, but it was an excellent road when we were
there 15 years ago. Be aware that the road signs will use the Greek
alphabet, and it was annoying to always be directed up the hill to a
village while there were unmarked bypasses in many cases in the western
part of the Peloponnese.

I thought for example of driving through Sparta and then taking the
road west across to Kalamata. I notice though that much of this road is marked on
my map with the tell-tale green stripe. I wonder if anyone has driven this
route and could tell me what it's like.

Now this road may possibly be different. Those mountains when viewed
from Sparta were very steep and snow covered in early April, quite
impressive, never expected to see anything like that in Greece!

Likewise any advice about routes to be avoided or not - places to see
etc. would be welcome. I know about Epidavros and Mycenae of course, and I'd
also like to get down to Monemvasia if I can. Any other favorite places?

Monemvasia was my favorite place in the Peloponnese. Make sure that
you stay in one of the ancient modernized apartments that the hotel
there has, we had a nice one on the sea wall. Mycenae was nice, and
they had the best grilled meat I ever had when dining at noon in the
village. I liked Sparta a lot, nothing so much to see, but the snow
covered mountains in the distance and the orange trees as street trees
were nice and the people seemed to dress more traditionally than
elsewhere. I also enjoyed visiting the acropolis there which is in an
olive orchard. There were only two other people there in the evening
and hardly any ruins, but the singing birds and the sun setting over
the mountains was magical, a big contrast to the Athens acropolis which
was so jam packed with tourists you couldn't even enjoy it. Just
outside of Sparta is Mystra which you shouldn't miss. These fairly
well preserved Byzantine ruins cover the hillside for 900? vertical
feet with the castle on top.

After Monemvasia we took the southern route at Githio to Kalamata
along the Messenian Gulf making a small detour to Diros and its cave
which you tour by boat. We went then to Pylos and then up the west
coast. That stretch, near Nestor's Palace, was the only place I had
driving problems as it was late in the day, I was in a hurry, and I was
driving fast on a very curvy road and gently ran into the cliff in
front of me on an unposted curve, but no damage. Olympia is definitely
worth a visit, mainly for me because of the original Olympic stadium.

The cogwheel train ride up Vouraikos Gorge at Diakofto is nice. If you
do this, make sure to get off at the village half way up for lunch and
go back down when the train returns. We made the mistake of continuing
to the end of the line which wasn't so scenic. At Rio we took the
ferry (now a bridge?) to the main part of Greece and stayed in
Naupaktos, a very pleasant small town with an interesting harbor and a
nice Venetian castle. From there we went to Delphi, which also
shouldn't be missed.

I did this trip with my then teenaged children and we all had a good
time. What's nice is that you can mix classical Greek ruins, Venetian
ruins, and Byzantine ruins with some enjoyable natural sights, thereby
not getting overdosed by just one thing.

George

We drove from Patras down to the extreme south of the Peleponnese
several years back and back through Sparta. Not really a big problem. I
assume the roads can only have improved since then.

T.

Driving in Greece is an adventure and the other drivers were always more
of a concern than the cliffs!

Go to Naphlion or Navilon whatever the spelling(always two or three ways
in Greece) when you are there too a nice town! It's not far from Sparta
or where the ferry from Spetses lands.

Thanks very much for your post. I would very much like to do the railway trip
from Diakofto to Kalavrita , but reluctantly I've decided that it's probably
not on this time. I've only got 3 weeks and there's so much to see -so I
think I'll concentrate on the southern half of the Peloponnese (Diakofto will
still be there next year!).

Thanks again for your valuable insights. I'm looking forward to the trip
immensely.

Driving in Greece is an adventure and the other drivers were always more
of a concern than the cliffs!

I am not sure that I can agree with you. I have never found drivers in Greece
particularly dangerous or aggressive (unlike some other European countries).
However the unmarked roads and poor signposting I find difficult to cope
with.

I don't really want adventures that could lead to my own untimely death or
disfigurement.

Go to Naphlion or Navilon whatever the spelling(always two or three ways
in Greece) when you are there too a nice town! It's not far from Sparta
or where the ferry from Spetses lands.

Yes well, 'Nafplio' is how I have usually seen it transliterated. The Greeks
don't spell things two or three ways - that's just the English who have
difficulties with the Greek alphabet. The actual Greek spelling is:
Ni, Alpha, Ipsilon, Pi, Lamda, Yiota, Omikron. (I can't write it in Greek
because I don't think my software will do it.)

Go to Naphlion or Navilon whatever the spelling(always two or three ways
in Greece) when you are there too a nice town! It's not far from Sparta
or where the ferry from Spetses lands.

Yes well, 'Nafplio' is how I have usually seen it transliterated. The Greeks
don't spell things two or three ways - that's just the English who have
difficulties with the Greek alphabet. The actual Greek spelling is:
Ni, Alpha, Ipsilon, Pi, Lamda, Yiota, Omikron. (I can't write it in Greek
because I don't think my software will do it.)

In my experience the trains, as well as the buses, are always right on time
in Greece.

I took the train on the 'tooth-railway' a few years ago, from Diakofto up to
Kalavrita and straight down again (the onwards towards Olympia), and it was
quite interesting, but disappointingly less interesting than I had expected.

If I do this trip again I shall do what George also advocated, namely get
off at the half-way point, explore a bit, and then go down to the coast
again.

However, a train journey that I can recommend very strongly is from Tripoli
to Argos (where I changed trains to get to Nafplion)!

Henry.

I thought for example of driving through Sparta and then taking the
road west across to Kalamata. I notice though that much of this road is
marked on my map with the tell-tale green stripe. I wonder if anyone
has driven this route and could tell me what it's like.

I've driven this road and it is in good condition - very pretty, and
you need to pay attention, but it's not particularly dangerous.

Ah that's just what I wanted to hear. OK if all goes well I hope to do that.
Thanks!

In general the roads in Peleponnesos are pretty good by Greek
standards, and there are some excellent EU-funded highways eg Korinthos
to Patras, and Korinthos to Tripoli.

Yes I've noticed a general improvement in lots of places in Greece - the
trouble is it tends to be a bit patchy so you never quite know what's round
the next corner! The thing that I find most difficult though is the general
lack of any road markings. When one is used to it one forgets what a help a
simple white line or two can be.