The best things to do in Nafplio are the climb to the Palamidi, a morning at Mycenae, an evening at the theatre of Epidaurus, the Arvanitia walk around the Akronafplia headland and a boat out to the Bourtzi. Give it three days: one for the town, two for the Argolid sites, and a car or the KTEL bus for those.
Nafplio was the first capital of independent Greece, and the old town still looks the part: Venetian bastions, Ottoman mosques and neoclassical mansions packed onto a headland under the Palamidi. It is also the best base in the Argolid, half an hour from Mycenae and Epidaurus.
The Venetians built the fortress on a 216 metre ridge in the early 1700s and lost it to the Ottomans in 1715. The stair is sold as 999 steps; measured counts land nearer 900. Climb it early, and take a taxi to the upper gate if your legs object.
The citadel of Agamemnon's legend, half an hour north by road, with the Lion Gate, the grave circle and the beehive Treasury of Atreus. Mycenae and Tiryns share one UNESCO listing. Go at opening, before the tour coaches from Athens arrive.
The best preserved theatre of the ancient world sits in the sanctuary of Asklepios, a UNESCO site since 1988, about 30 kilometres east. Visit by day for the acoustics, but the reason to come is a Friday or Saturday play in the summer festival.
A flat path runs around the base of the Akronafplia headland from the harbour to Arvanitia beach, just above the water. It takes half an hour, costs nothing and is the town's evening stroll. Carry on along the shore path to Karathona.
The marble-paved square is the old town's living room, framed by the 1713 Venetian arsenal and an old mosque, with the Vouleftiko, where Greece's parliament met in 1825, off its southwest corner. Take a coffee here in the evening.
The Venetians put a fort on the islet in the harbour in 1473 to guard the port, and it has since been a prison, the executioner's home and a hotel. Boats leave from the north end of Akti Miaouli. Check before buying whether this season's trip lands or only circles.
The museum fills the three-storey Venetian arsenal on Syntagma Square. Its prize is the Dendra panoply, a bronze suit of Mycenaean armour from around 1450 BC, found in a tomb at Dendra in 1960. See it before Mycenae and the citadel makes more sense.
Four kilometres up the Argos road, Tiryns is Mycenae's twin in the UNESCO listing and a fraction as busy. The walls run over 700 metres around the hill, some still 13 metres high, built from blocks the Greeks said only giants could lift.
A private museum founded in 1974 that won the European Museum of the Year award in 1981. Its permanent exhibition on urban Nafplio from 1822 to 1922 shows what the first capital wore, sewed and lived among.
The long sandy bay three kilometres east is the beach Nafplio actually uses, golden sand with a Blue Flag. Walk there on the coast path from Arvanitia in under an hour, or drive round past the Palamidi.
Where Kapodistrias, Greece's first head of state, was shot in 1831. The bullet mark is framed by the door.
Family-run since 1997 in the old town lanes, and the safest bet for a traditional taverna dinner.
A small dining room on a quiet street on the south side of the old town, under the Akronafplia walls.
Creative Greek cooking outside the old town; the stuffed squid with quinoa is the dish. Book ahead.
The fish tavern locals rate highest, at Bouboulinas 77: mussels saganaki, grilled sardines, squid.
Seafront seafood near the Bourtzi boat pier. Order the grilled octopus or the stuffed squid.
Founded in 1998 by Aris Evangelinos at Staikopoulou 25: the museum upstairs, a workshop below.
The ground floor of the museum sells new worry beads and antique strands from 1880 to 1950.
The stadium and temple of Zeus at the site of the Nemean Games, then Agiorgitiko at the wineries.
A small ancient theatre by the sea at Palaia Epidavros, used for festival nights in summer.
Criers open the season in the lanes; a parade ends it at the Square of the Three Admirals before Clean Monday.
25 March is marked with parades in the first capital, as in every Greek town, with schools and bands.
Purple banners for Holy Week, then fireworks in the main square at the midnight resurrection.
Greek drama in the ancient theatre on Friday and Saturday nights, from late June to late August.
A week of classical concerts at the Palamidi, the Vouleftiko and Syntagma Square. 2026 ran 11 to 18 July.
Theatre and music on the Akronafplia headland in late August.
28 October remembers Greece's refusal of the 1940 ultimatum with a parade and wreaths.
The 1822 capture of the Palamidi, marked on the last weekend of November with a service at the fortress.
KTEL Argolidas coaches run from the Kifisos terminal in Athens in about two hours, through Corinth and Argos, to the bus stop on Syngrou.
No direct bus. The X93 express links the airport to Kifisos for the KTEL; allow two and a half to three hours in all, or take a private transfer.
Take the motorway west to Corinth, cross the canal, then south past Argos: under two hours with tolls. A car makes Mycenae and Epidaurus easy.
The old town is car-free in practice and walkable end to end. Local KTEL buses run to Argos, Tiryns and Tolo from the stop on Syngrou.
Handmade pasta of the Argolid, served with grated local graviera or Argos feta.
Lamb with potatoes, slow-cooked in an earthen pot in a wood oven.
Old ewe or goat baked for hours in a clay-sealed stone oven.
Sour cracked wheat and milk, made in Nafplio workshops and eaten as a soup.
Orange pie, from the groves that cover the Argolid plain.
Whole candied orange peel in syrup, served with coffee or water.
The harbour tavernas' dish, filled with cheese or herbed rice and grilled.
Mussels in a hot pan with tomato and feta, ordered at the fish tavernas.
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