Nafplio…the most beautiful city of Greece. If you really want to enjoy a great vacation with your family or your beloved one or even by yourself, Nafplio is the right destination. Below I will share with the reasons why everyone who visits the city says that it is the most beautiful one in the country.
First of all, let’s start with the location. The city by itself it is located only 140Km away from Athens airport (almost 1:45h drive).
How to get here? Well, you will find many articles on the internet suggesting many different options, I will go straight to the most convenient ones – you either rent a car from Athens airport – or you pick up a taxi – and you arrive in Nafplio in less than 2 hours.
An Introduction about the city – well, the city has two parts – the new and old city – they both are connected but you can easily understand the difference once you are here. The old part of the city makes you feel like you are on an island with these old classic buildings, with its port, with its castle (on the top of the hill) Acronafplia, with its amazing pedestrian streets. ( as you can understand, I am referring mostly to the old city – which is actually what you must see).
At the below map, I marked with red color the zone of the old city:
Below you can find also a few videos about the old city:
Well, the old city is full of amazing pedestrian streets. Small streets, with shops, restaurants, coffee shops. You will for sure love to walk all day around.
Where to park? The city – I am referring to the old part of the city – has no parking spaces – it is mostly pedestrian areas, so in order to explore it you will have to park either at the beginning of the area or at the port’s parking, which by the way it is free. At the below map, you can find the easiest places to park in order to visit the old city of Nafplio:
What to do in Nafplio? The city has many landmarks that they worth to visit.
First of all the “Fortress of Bourtzi”.
There are small boats that you can take to visit Bourtzi. At the below map you can find the exact location:
Second – you must visit Palamidi castle. It is located on the top of the city. There are two ways that you can reach it. Either driving (click on the below map – it is a link to google maps with directions)
or you can reach it by its stairs. You have to walk next to the downtown (check the map below):
and from there you take the staircase to the top (keep in mind that there 999 steps!).
Third – you have to walk around the old city and its pedestrians areas. You will feel like if you were on an island.
Forth – You have to walk and explore the Acronafplia castle/hill. There are million of places there that you can enjoy amazing city views.
We call Acronafplia the hill close to the old city. Below you can find the area marked with red color on the map:
You can reach at the top of the hill either by car or just walking from the old city towards the hill. (almost every pedestrian street of the old city ends close to Acronafplia).
Fifth – You have to walk around the Acronafplia hill – there is small path close to the sea that gives the chance to walk all around the hill.
The path starts from the port and ends next to the Arvanitia beach, which by the way is the only beach in the city of Nafplio.
Of course the city has its own museums (Archaeological Museum, the War Museum and the Peloponnese Folklore Foundation Museum).
Where to eat? Well, the city offers many many many different options. For those of you who want to enjoy a modern and special edition of the Greek cuisine, we recommend the “Omorfo Tavernaki“, for those who like seafood and fish, we recommend “Roulis Seafood Tavern” and for those of you who want to enjoy an amazing waffle with kinder boueno chocolate and ice cream (enjoying in the same time a great view to Bourtzi), we recommend “Rendez Vous“.
Where to stay? Well, the city offers many many options for you to stay. For those of you that you really want a “home away from home” experience for your vacation, staying at a great location (close to everything) and prefer a whole apartment where all of your family can have more than enough space, we can support you. We operate family apartments in Nafplio downtown under the brand Vida Hospitality (Vida Residential Apartments and Vida Guesthouse).
By the way, if you want to fully recharge and enjoy the simplicity of the the Greek lifestyle for more than a few days, you can take advantage of our long vacation offers (click here).
When to visit? Well, at this point I will answer to you by giving different scenarios.
If my cousin John from Australia asks me – I will recommend him from June to August – because I know that he prefers to visit the city when it is more crowded, the weather is more hot and he wants to enjoy the official summer.
If my friend Nick from UK asks me – I will recommend him March to May or September to October – because I know that he prefers to visit the city when of course it has “life” but he does not really enjoy it when it is crowded. He still can swim and enjoy the warm weather. (in many cases, it is summer)
If my ex-colleague Mary from USA asks me – I will recommend her December to January, because I know that she prefers to visit the city during Christmas and feel this “Greek Christmas” mood. She likes also the cold weather (around 10 to 12C).
If my uncle Peter from Canada asks me – I will recommend him anytime between January to March and October to December – because I know that he likes the city to be more quiet so he can enjoy walking around it all day and relax.
If my aunt Anna from Germany asks me – I will recommend her anytime her kids have a holiday. She loves to visit the city and participate with her kids in different activities, they enjoy arranging trips around to different places and whenever the kids have no school, they book their flight and their visit Nafplio.
I hope the above scenarios were useful for you!
By the way, if decide to visit Nafplio anytime from March to October, you can enjoy our beaches. Around the city there are many many beaches – the two most well known and the closest to the city are Arvanitia beach and Karathona beach.
Karathona (only 4 Km away from the city – click here for the location):
Arvanitia (800m away from the city’s centre – click here for the location):
What else? Nafplio for me is a perfect place to use it as your base while you explore different areas around. You can find many information here how to use Nafplio as your base for your vacation in Greece and also you can find some more information that we share with our guests regarding the city and the different options they have when they arrive here.
I hope this article was helpful for you. If you are planning a vacation to Greece and still you are not sure about the places you must visit, find some of our suggestions here.
For any kind of support with your vacation in Greece, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are always available for people who will visit our country and they need assistance. You can always reach us via phone at +30-6979005260 (and whatsapp at the same number) or send us an email at vida@vida-hospitality.com or simply text us on our website chat by clicking here. (we try always to keep a fast – direct – simple communication).
For support regarding your accommodation in Nafplio, we can always help you with our great apartments. Either explore our properties here or on Booking.com here and here.
Vasileios Totsikas is the Property Manager at Vida Hospitality – his English are not the best (I am sure you already got it from the above article), but his hospitality is great! Now, that I wrote the above sentence in the third person to look smarter than I am, I will continue in the first person – If I can be of any assistance regarding your vacation in Greece, feel always free to contact me via phone/message/whatsapp at +30-6979005260.
