greengiant

My family (DH + myself + 2 boys 13 & 8 years old) is hoping to make a trip to the Peloponnese for 6 nights at the end of March / early April, and I would love help determining the best home base for us.

This will be our second trip to Greece (we visited Athens and Aegna in 2019 and fell in love) and we're excited about the beautiful scenery we've read about in the Peloponnese. I know we'll be there in the early spring, but I hope we'll see some of the wildflowers that I've read about.

We're looking for a moderately active vacation: hiking the Lousios Gorge sounds like something we would love, as well as general countryside walks / bike rides, hopefully a river raft trip if my 8 year old is old enough to be permitted, as well as some of the archaeological sites (Mycenae, etc.), the Cave of Diros, and on and on.

Nafpilon sounds like the type of charming town we love, but it doesn't seem particularly close to the countryside activities I've listed above.

Do you have recommendations on towns that would be good bases for the activities I've described? Because we are going to be in the area for such a short time, staying in just one place would be ideal, but if that's not possible, then we want to limit it to two places.

Oh, and we'd love to find a boutique hotel with a heated outdoor pool that's walking distance from restaurants in a charming town. I realize this is a big ask (and that March/April is not yet really considered warm), but it's our wish list.

Thank you for any town recommendations, as well as favorite countryside walks or other activities, as well as hotel ideas.

*** One other note -- I was debating between the Peloponnese and Crete for this trip. If anyone thinks that Crete would be a better fit for the time of year and our interests, please share that opinion. We'll be flying from a connecting city in Europe, so flying to Crete instead of Athens would work, too ***

travelerjan

Greece is not over-supplied with luxury boutique hotels except for hot-spots (Mykonos - Oia in Santorini - Hydra) who serve the 1% -- most hotel pools are unheated. COsta Navarino on the SW coast of the Pelopponese may have what you want, however, it is not walkable to restaurants in a charming town, it is a resort for spa people. Why not look at the Caribbean.

balthy

There are plenty of boutique & luxury hotels in the Peloponnese. I’d start with this list and research where they are (if you like the look of any)to see if suitable for the activities you want to do & close to restaurants etc in the area. If you gave a rental car, location shouldn’t be an issue.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/d...onnese/hotels/

Other resources such as TA are worth looking at, esp if this one yields such negative & inaccurate responses as above.

crazyh

Don't overlook Nafplio as it's one of Greece's loveliest towns and perfect base to explore nearby world class archeological/historic sites

Six-to-eight days will give you ample opportunity to explore the area and beyond.

With your time frame I would pick one area to stay in and explore.

Crete will have far more options but deserves far more time than you have.

Check out this website for Nafplio as it's the very best. You'll be surprised just how much there is to do in the area. It may not cover everything you want to do but you'll find it has more than you think to keep you occupied.

https://www.visitnafplio.com/

I spent 13 days this past October exploring the Peloponnese and just scratched the surface of what to do, see and experience.

I spent 3 days in Nafplio for the Argolis, 5 in Gythio for the Mani and 5 in Petilidi for Messenia and beyond.

Check out my photos. Click on any to enlarge it and a caption or just start at the beginning. Not all photos have captions:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2RwHoj4NAxBD7VcZA

greengiant

These are great resources @balthy and @crazyh , thank you! I'll spend more time on TA, and the telegraph list is a great place to dig into.

@crazyh, your photos are gorgeous and make me even more excited. Other than Nafplio, if you had to choose just one of the cities/towns you stayed in, which would you recommend?

I think my use of boutique hotel was misleading, travelerjan -- we are not looking for a carribean all-inclusive type experience, I probably should have said small hotel. Kids do love pools, though!

crazyh

greengiant:

I liked all three towns, each had something different to offer and atmosphere.

Nafplio is a very popular town not only for tourists but for Greeks, especially from Athens who go there for a day trip.

It is mostly devoted to tourism but not glitzy or tacky. In fact it's lovely. I stayed just outside the Old Town in New Town as I like more of a local experience rather than a tourist one. However, most would go to Old Town for their first trip. Nothing wrong with Old Town.

Gythio is a working class town, not overly touristy and very Greek. Perfect to explore the Mani and central location to get to Monemvasia & Mystra. Great Greek atmosphere.

Petilidi is a small working class town with virtually no tourist infrastructure. Nice town square with numerous tavernas and markets. Saw just one "tourist" shop and even that had goods for locals. May not be what most go to Greece for but it's what I like.

If this is your first trip then Nafplio would be my choice but if you want a more "Greek Experience" then it's Gythio. The Mani area is very wild, mountainous and a treasure trove of history.

Petilidi is more for those who want to escape the hordes of tourists and fit in with locals.

Do what's best for you.

PS: I'm mostly on Trip Adviser as it has more members and covers far more of Greece. I post there often and there are experts on just about any area in Greece.

travelerjan

OK, greengiant, I gotcha, but Greece still won't have what you want for swims, in March/April. Greece simply doesn't do heated pools (except v. occasionally a small chlorine-y Indoor pool, no more fun than the Y). And the sea & outdoor pools are not warm enough for swimming until Mid-May. I'm used to CT swimming, but even May 8 was too brrrrr for me; learned my lesson. The problem for most of us Americans is that we hear "Sea" and we think "caribbean weather." A look at a globe will show that Greece is about the latitude of Washington DC, and no one tries swims around there, in fresh or salt water, until June.

CaKnK

We really enjoyed staying in Nafplio for 5 nights after staying in Monemvasia for 2 nights. Nafplio has plenty to do and nearby sites that are easy to see with a rental car. We (two adults) spent 3 hours exploring Palamidi Fortress in Nafplio and I imagine kids would have fun there too. We really enjoyed a kayak trip out of Epidavros old port (that included snorkeling over sunken ruins). If you want info on this, I’m happy to share the company which was fantastic. We loved Ancient Nemea (easy to stop at on the way to/from Athens) and we were nearly the only people there to walk amongst the ruins! We didn’t hike the gorge but we did stay one night in Diakopto so we could ride the rack tooth train through the Vouraikos Gorge from Diakopto to Kalavryta (with a short bit to grab food and explore Kalavryta and their Holocaust museum before catching the train back). We chose this option as we didn’t have time to hike the gorge but still wanted to see the beauty.
I know this doesn’t help you in deciding where to stay, but just know there will be so much to do and see you will want to go back right away!