What Should You Not Miss in Peloponnese? 8 Places I Loved

Peloponnese is such a beautiful region in Greece, but is sadly overlooked by Athens and the islands. Before I visited Greece, I knew that my first experience must be Athens and the Peloponnese region because as a Historian I had to see all those ancient sites before anything else. Most of the places I visited in the Peloponnese were ancient ruins, but I also fell in love with some smaller towns. If you’re planning a trip to the Peloponnese and you’re asking yourself what you should not miss in Peloponnese, you’ve come to the right place.

In this blog post I will share 8 places I have personally visited and loved and they will start from the one that impressed me the most. To be honest, all of these places were amazing, so it’s almost like picking your favourite child or pet, but I tried to be as objective as possible so you can make an informed decision on which places to visit and which ones to skip.

P. S. I wouldn’t skip any of these.

✅ If you’re looking for a custom travel plan, find out more about my personalised itinerary service here.

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📖 Read my Peloponnese Itinerary for 7 Days: Ancient Greece Road Trip blog post.

Mycenae

Mycenae was my favourite place in the Peloponnese and it completely blew me away! Ever since visiting Egypt, I had thought that I would never again visit a historical place with such mystical vibes – and I was wrong.

Mycenae was founded in 2100 BC and was one of the major centres of Greek civilisation and a military society which dominated much of Southern Greece, Crete, Cyclades and parts of southwest Anatolia.

The ancient city is well preserved and because of the important historical significance, the whole site was enlisted to UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We spent 2 hours at the site, so there’s definitely plenty to see and read about. You can buy tickets at the site.

✅ While I definitely recommend renting a car to explore Peloponnese independently, you can also visit on a guided tour.

Corinth

Corinth is actually the first place you can visit from the Peloponnese if you’re coming from Athens because once you cross the Corinth Canal, you’re in the peninsula and you officially left mainland Greece.

I was most excited to see the canal and ancient city of Corinth, but I was completely left in awe with Acrocorinth, which is my 2nd favourite site after Mycenae!

Acrocorinth was the acropolis of ancient Corinth and it’s surely the most impressive acropolis of mainland Greece I have ever seen.

Firstly, it’s the highest acropolis I’ve personally visited – it’s 575 m (1886 ft) above sea level!
Second, it’s huge – the wall is about 3 km (61 acres) long.

And in terms of the Corinth Canal, the best place for photos is on the Old Isthmia Bridge.

✅ You can explore Corinth on your own or on this Ancient Corinth Private Tour from Corinth.

Olympia

Olympia was the place I was most excited to see after Mycenae because it is the birthplace of the Olympic Games – the first one was played exactly on this spot in776 BC!

Besides that, Olympia is also a place of one of the Seven World Wonders of the Ancient World – Statue of Zeus. The statue was about 12.4 m (41 ft) tall and was made of ivory plates and gold panels.

Sadly, nothing has survived of the statue today, but there are still ruins of the Temple of Zeus where the statue was held. To me and my husband, even seeing those ruins was enough because we knew we were standing at a place of this once magnificent structure and wonder.

✅ You can visit Olympia on your own and get tickets on the spot or on this private guided tour.

For a unique experience, you can also book this Famous VR Glasses Tour to imagine how Olympia once looked like when it was in its full glory.

Kardamyli

I found out about Kardamyli in Rick Steve’s episode on the Peloponnese peninsula when I was looking for ideas on what to visit in the region.

As soon as I saw the place, I knew I had to visit myself because it’s very unique and quite different from all these historical sites.

Kardamyli is in part of Peloponnose called the Mani Peninsula, and Mani people are basically clans of the 16th century which formed into patriarchal groups linked by blood ties.

They were an autonomous society, which is why they built walled cities in Byzantine styles to defend themselves, especially from Ottoman Turks. They unified with the rest of Greece in the 19th century.

So, it’s not surprising that you will find Byzantine architecture in Kardamyli, which is what gives it a unique style and why I loved it so much.

It’s one of my favourite places on this Peloponnese road trip.

📖 Read my Is Peloponnese Worth Visiting? And Why I Loved It blog post.

Mystras

And speaking of Byzantine architecture, another place that I fell in love with instantly was Mystras.

When I was looking for places near Sparta I came across this and decided to visit as I was sold on dozens of Byzantine churches and castle on a hill, but I never expected Mystras to be this beautiful and big. We spent 3h exploring and still didn’t see it all!

Mystras was a Byzantine town which was inhabited until the 19th century when the modern city of Sparta was built and the people moved down there. Today, some people still live in a modern village of Mystras which is slightly below the Byzantine archaeological site.

All these buildings have been abandoned, apart from Pantanassa Monastery which is still inhabited by nuns.

There are 2 entrances, but if you’re with a car, I definitely recommend driving to the upper entrance first to see the Castle, Holy Church of Hagia Sophia and the Church of Agios Nikolaos.

When you’re done with that part, then drive to the lower entrance to explore Metropolitan Church, Pantanassa Monastery and other nearby churches.

You can get tickets at either of the entrances, just don’t throw it away when you’re done with the first part.

Epidaurus

I always knew I had to visit Epidaurus, mostly because of its theatre which was really amazing to see.

What makes Epidaurus different from other sites is that it was a Sanctuary of Asklepios, god of medicine. It was the most important healing centre in the Ancient Greek world.

It’s not a surprise that the sanctuary and theatre of Epidaurus were enlisted in the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

✅ You can buy tickets on the site or visit on a guided tour.

Nafplion

Nafplion was such a beautiful coastal town and a place where I would definitely love to come for a summer holiday.

The vibe is great, there are interesting sights to see and it has beautiful sandy beaches and turquoise sea.

The mistake we made is that we didn’t bring any swimming suits because we were visiting at the end of October and we thought there’s not a chance we could swim – and we were wrong! Lesson learnt – so from now on I will always pack a swimming suit when travelling around the Mediterranean because you never know.

✅ Consider taking this best rated Nafplion City Walking Tour.

Sparta

Before visiting Sparta, I read all over the places that it’s not worth going there, that there’s nothing left to see.

But as a Historian, I just couldn’t not go! So, I decided that I will visit even if there’s only one stone to be seen.

And I don’t know if it’s because I have expected little from Sparta, but it was awesome! All those people who are saying to you not to visit, don’t know what they’re saying. Obviously, the archaeological site is not as impressive as others you’d see on this trip, but there’re definitely things to see + the further excavations are undertaking. Plus, the modern city of Sparta had such a cool and local vibe, though it’s not pretty at all.

Where to Stay in Peloponnese

Firstly, let me say that the Peloponnese is a larger peninsula, so you can’t really stay in one place only. Me and my husband changed 5 different hotels in 7 days, and while it can seem inconvenient, it was not. When you’re with a car, things are definitely easier, especially travelling with luggage.

If you’d be visiting all the places I have listed here, then you’d need to stay in Corinth, Olympia, Kardamyli, Sparta or Mystras and Nafplion (like I did).

💡I will mention below places where we stayed personally, apart from Corinth because we had a negative experience there where we didn’t get a suite we booked and paid for as they rented it to someone else! Instead we got a cheaper double room with no views! This hotel no longer seems to appear on Booking, but it was called Apollonio Suite, so keep away from it. Instead, I will recommend the next place I would book if I knew this would be the case.

✅ If you’re looking for a custom travel plan, find out more about my personalised itinerary service here.

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