Mycenae, Epidaurus & Nafplio

This is the day trip for anyone who grew up on the Iliad. Across the Corinth Canal in the Argolid, three of the most famous places in Greek history and legend lie within an hour of each other, and a single guided tour can link them all. Mycenae was the greatest power of Bronze Age Greece, the city of King Agamemnon in Homer's epics, and it gave its name to an entire civilisation. You enter the hilltop citadel through the Lion Gate, often called the oldest monumental sculpture in Europe, its two lionesses carved above the lintel around 1250 BC, then climb past Grave Circle A, where Heinrich Schliemann found the gold death masks now in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, to the remains of the palace with views across the plain of Argos. Below the citadel, the so-called Treasury of Atreus, a vast beehive tomb with a soaring corbelled dome, is one of the most impressive buildings to survive from the ancient world. A site museum explains the Mycenaean world in detail. Epidaurus was the most famous healing sanctuary in Greece, dedicated to Asklepios, the god of medicine, where patients slept in the sanctuary hoping for a cure revealed in dreams. Its theatre, built in the fourth century BC, is the best preserved in Greece and famous for acoustics so precise that a coin dropped on the stage can be heard in the upper rows. Guides love to demonstrate it, and in summer the theatre still hosts ancient drama during the Athens and Epidaurus Festival. Nafplio, the first capital of independent Greece, is the day's sweet finish: a graceful harbour town of Venetian houses, bougainvillea and marble lanes, overlooked by the Palamidi fortress on its crag, with the tiny Bourtzi castle in the bay. Tours usually stop here for lunch and a walk along the waterfront.

How the day works: tours leave central Athens in the morning and return in the evening, roughly nine to ten hours in all. Many make a short photo stop at the Corinth Canal on the way, then visit Mycenae and Epidaurus with a guide and allow free time in Nafplio, but the order and the stops vary by operator. The Tiqets listing offers a full-day tour with a live guide and audio guide in groups of up to thirty, and a small-group version capped at fifteen. Check each tour's inclusions carefully, in particular whether the entrance fees to Mycenae and Epidaurus are covered, since these are paid separately at many state sites now that the old combined tickets have gone, and whether lunch is included.

Making the most of it: wear sturdy shoes, because Mycenae is a steep, rocky hilltop with little shade, and bring a hat and water in warm months. At Epidaurus, climb high in the theatre and ask your guide to demonstrate the acoustics; then take a few minutes in the sanctuary and its small museum, which are often skipped. In Nafplio, if time allows, walk up the old town's stepped lanes or along the promenade beneath the rock of Akronafplia. Ice cream and a coffee on Syntagma Square in Nafplio, the town's elegant marble main square, round off the day nicely.

Who should go and when: this is ideal for second-time visitors, history buffs and families with children who have read Greek myths. Spring and autumn are the most comfortable seasons; summer heat at Mycenae is intense, so earlier departures are better. If you want more time, consider staying a night in Nafplio, which makes an excellent base for exploring the Argolid at leisure, including ancient Tiryns and Argos nearby.