It’s always interesting to read how others see us. In September Lonely Planet updated its article on the 16 best things to do in Greece, and Rick Steves, one of the best-known travel writers in the US, runs an eight-day tour dedicated to Athens and Nafplio. We read both. Some things they get exactly right; others they simply don’t know about.

What Lonely Planet says

The list, by Alexis Averbuck and updated on 9 September 2026, opens with the expected:

• Ancient Athens. The Acropolis as the quintessential Western landmark, surrounded by Plaka, the Roman Agora, the Tower of the Winds and the Ancient Agora. For more depth it points to the Acropolis Museum and the National Archaeological Museum.
• Island hopping. A reminder that Greece has 227 inhabited islands, each with its own character, contrasting party-focused Mykonos with quieter picks like Kefallonia and Crete.
• Greek food. Olive oil, herbs, tomatoes, seafood, and some sound advice: local tavernas and psistarias rather than touristy waterfront places.
• Delphi. The Sanctuary of Apollo, the oracle and the views over the Gulf of Corinth.

The list goes on with twelve more suggestions, worth reading in Lonely Planet’s own article. The overall picture is familiar anyway: Athens, islands, food and the big archaeological sites.

What Rick Steves says

The “Best of Athens & Nafplio” tour runs eight days. The first three are in Athens: the Acropolis and Parthenon, the Ancient Agora, Plaka, the Central Market, Syntagma, Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Zeus. Then Corinth for its ruins and canal, and a base in Nafplio for visits to Mycenae (Lion Gate, tholos tomb), Nemea and Epidaurus, which he calls Greece’s best-preserved ancient theater.

He describes Nafplio as “small, cozy, and strollable,” a town that keeps some of the panache of its days as capital of newly independent Greece, and recommends it as a base precisely because it’s close to Athens and to the ancient sites. Hard to argue with that.

What they get right

Both sources nudge travelers beyond the “Athens plus one island” formula. Steves in particular does something few foreign guides do: he spends half the trip in the Argolis, with one fixed base and short hops. That’s how we’d tour the Peloponnese ourselves.

What a Greek would add

Ask us what’s missing and the answer is the places where Greece looks less like a postcard and more like a real place:

• Mani. Stone tower houses, dry-stone walls, tiny harbors and a stark beauty that has nothing to do with the island cliché. Outer Mani starts right from Kalamata, and the road continues into Deep Mani.
• Zagori. The stone villages of Epirus, arched bridges and the Vikos Gorge. It’s a drive or a flight to Ioannina from Athens or Thessaloniki, but in autumn the colors repay the effort.
• Prespa. Two lakes on the border, birdlife, Byzantine hermitages and real quiet. Easiest from Thessaloniki, and one of the most distinctive landscapes in the country.
• Messinia. This is home, so indulge us: Ancient Messene, the castles of Koroni and Methoni, Pylos and Navarino Bay, olive groves and beaches that are almost empty in autumn.

None of these needs a ferry or a special budget. They just need you not to follow the list to the letter.

An autumn long weekend: Nafplio, Mycenae, Epidaurus

If you want to see why Steves builds his tour around Nafplio, autumn is the time: thinner crowds at the sites and milder weather for walking. From Kalamata, the Argolis is an easy Friday-afternoon drive.

• Friday. Arrive in Nafplio, stroll the old town and eat near the harbor.
• Saturday. Mycenae in the morning, before the heat builds, for the Lion Gate and the tholos tomb. Back to Nafplio in the afternoon and up to the Palamidi fortress for sunset.
• Sunday. Epidaurus, with the theater and the ancient healing sanctuary, then home via Arcadia.

Site opening hours and tickets change with the season, so check them before you set off.

Want us to put it together?

At Penguin Travels & Tours we can organise a long weekend in the Argolis or a route through Mani and Messinia, with accommodation, transfers and guiding where it helps, starting from Kalamata or Athens.

This autumn, the foreign guide’s list or the local one? Stop by our office in Kalamata (Vasilissis Olgas 4) or call us at +30 27210 80701.