Private Tour: Corinth Canal, Mycenae & Acrocorinth from Athens

The day begins at the Corinth Canal, completed in 1893 and carved through nearly 4 kilometres of solid rock to a depth of over 8 metres. Nearby, the Ancient Diolkos — a paved stone trackway used in antiquity to haul boats overland across the isthmus — offers a glimpse of how Greek engineers solved the same problem over two thousand years earlier.

Mycenae was the dominant power of the late Bronze Age, its wealth immortalised in Homer's epics. The visit covers the Lion Gate, the Cyclopean Walls, Grave Circles A and B, the Royal Palace, the Treasury of Atreus, and the Tomb of Clytemnestra. The on-site Archaeological Museum houses gold burial masks, jewellery, weapons, and painted frescoes recovered from the citadel and its surrounding tombs.

Acrocorinth rises steeply above the plain, its three circuit walls and inner keep still largely intact. The descent leads into Ancient Corinth, where the Temple of Apollo, the Agora, the Bema from which Saint Paul addressed the Corinthians, and the Lechaion Road are all within walking distance. Lunch is served at a local taverna with a terrace view of the archaeological site.

The final stop is the Heraion of Perachora, a remote sanctuary dedicated to Hera on a rocky peninsula above the Corinthian Gulf. The ruins of the temple and Saint John's small church sit beside the Blue Lake cove, where guests can swim in calm, clear water. The Malagavi Lighthouse stands at the tip of the headland, offering panoramic views back across the gulf toward Corinth.