Peloponnese: Helpful Information
In my opinion there are several ways to really see the Peloponessos and experience all this region of Greece has to offer...
- You can rent a car, which
will give you more flexibility. If you are
planning to rent a car and drive from Athens
to Peloponessos check out
Swift
Rent-a-Car
. They will pick you up at the airport or your
hotel and drive you to the National road and
let you by-pass the notorious Athens traffic.
Great prices and very nice people. See their website at
www.greektravel.com/swift
- You can use a driver
like George
Kokkotos the
Famous Taxi Driver
who can do one day trips
from Athens or overnight journeys. This will
give you more of an understanding of the area
because he can translate and act as a
host/guide. The more people in your party
contributing to the fare the more of a bargain
he becomes since unlike a tour he charges by
the trip and not by the person. See
www.greecetravel.com/taxi
-
You can also use public
transport, which in the case of buses and bus
stations may get tedious, but in the case of
the wonderful little trains would be a joy
depending upon how crowded they are when you
go.
-
You can also just
pick one perfect place with clean sea, a nice
stretch of golden sand, some excellent
tavernas and some nightlife and just veg out
and do nothing but enjoy.
-
You can do the
various excursions offered at www.greecetravel.com/trekking
-
For Hotels in the
Peloponessos see
www.hotelsofgreece.com
- For a nice family run hotel in a quiet
seaside village that you won't find in any travel guides stay
with Yannis and Esther at The
Kyfanta. You will need a car.
- For tours, hotels and transportation in the Peleponisos contact Kostas and Aliki at Dolphin Hellas Travel in Athens or Athina at Fantasy Travel.
The
ferry MIRTIDIOTISSA" runs from
Kalamata to Kissamos,
Crete
every Wednesday at 16:00, and from
Gythio to Kissamos every Tuesday
at 16:00 and every Saturday at
14:00. The above routes are until
the 23 of May. Afterwards the
timetable will change. You can get
information from Dimitris
Xirouchakis who is the ferry agent
and also owns the
DELFINI,
DIMITRIS-CHRYSSANY
Apartments in Kissamos. His e-mail
is
dimitris@hotel-delfini.gr
Another excellent way to see the Peloponessos is
to start your trip from the Island of Poros. It's
close enough to be in Athens in an hour by
Hydrafoil and it is only a five minute boat ride
to the town of Galati on the Peloponessos where
you can rent a car and go without dealing with
Athens traffic.
For more info see
Poros: The Athens
Alternative
Helpful Sites:
Swift
Car Rentals
George's
Taxi Tours
Hotels
Athens
Guide
Travel Agents
Mainland
Guides
In Conclusion
It is really beyond the scope
of this web page to be a guide to the
Peloponessos. It is merely an introduction to the
area based on my experience and I encourage visitors to read up on it
even though you could conceivably wing-it armed
only with a printed out copy of this and those
pages I have provided links to. This is a continuing
work in progress and everytime I go to Greece I take a trip to the Peloponessos
and add something to this page so keep coming back.
For those who want more information other suggested reading is Patrick Leigh Fermer’s Mani and Flight of Ikarus by Kevin Andrews, both informative and very entertaining though they won't be of much help since they were written over sixty years ago.
Any questions or comments? You can e-mail me at greecetravel1@aol.com
Be sure to see my Photos of the Peloponnesos