Mycenae, Epidaurus, Olympia and the Peloponnese sites by base

The short answer

The ancient sites of the Peloponnese covered here are not one cluster, and they do not share a base. XTOUR plans three of them from Nafplio: the Bronze Age citadels of Mycenae and Tiryns, and the sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus. Olympia and Mystras are different trips. Neither has a base among XTOUR's destinations, and neither is reached as a Nafplio site in XTOUR's planning.

XTOUR has no routing provider, so it gives no travel times, from Athens or between the sites. What it can say is what each place is and which official sources describe it.

Nafplio as a base

Visit Greece places Nafplio in Argolida and calls it the first capital of Greece, with its Venetian character, the Palamidi fortress and the sea fortress of Bourtzi; it names Epidaurus "beside it".[1] Hellenic Heritage lists the Ephorate of Antiquities of Argolis as the contact for Mycenae, Tiryns and Epidaurus.[5][4][2]

Nafplio is the only one of XTOUR's destinations in Argolida, so XTOUR uses it as the planning base for the two citadels and for Epidaurus; the three sites are not towns. That is a choice of base, not a statement that the sites are in Nafplio, and not a claim about how long it takes to reach any of them.

Mycenae

Hellenic Heritage calls Mycenae the most prominent palatial centre of the Late Bronze Age in Greece, at its height between 1350 and 1200 BC, when its palaces, Cyclopean walls, Lions' Gate and tholos tombs started being built.[2] Visit Greece says Mycenae and Tiryns are on the UNESCO World Heritage List together.[3]

Hellenic Heritage calls the Tholos Tomb of Atreus, also known as the Treasury of Atreus or the Tomb of Agamemnon, the most splendid funerary monument of Mycenaean culture, and notes that it most probably belonged to neither of those mythical rulers.[2]

According to Hellenic Heritage's page, the ticket gives access to the Tholos Tomb of Atreus, the archaeological site and the site's museum. The same page says the Archaeological Museum of Mycenae is inside the site, while the golden mask of Agamemnon and the other finds from Grave Circle A are in Athens, at the National Archaeological Museum.[2] So a full picture of Mycenae is split between two places, one of them in Athens, where the National Archaeological Museum guide takes over.

Tiryns

Tiryns is the other site on the same UNESCO listing, according to Visit Greece, which describes it as one of the most significant monuments of the Mycenaean civilisation, whose hill fortification protects the palace complex and, in myth, was the work of the Cyclopes.[3] Hellenic Heritage says the town was uncovered in 1884 through Heinrich Schliemann's excavations and names the Western Bastion, the Megaron and the lower acropolis among what visitors can see.[4] XTOUR treats it as a separate site from Mycenae, with its own visit.

Epidaurus

The Epidaurus covered here is the Sanctuary of Asclepius, not a town. Hellenic Heritage says a healing cult was practised there from the Mycenaean period, that a sanctuary of Apollo Maleatas followed around 800 BC and that the cult of Asclepius was established in the sixth century BC. Both Hellenic Heritage and Visit Greece date most of its monuments to the fourth and third centuries BC.[6][5] Visit Greece gives 1988 as the year the sanctuary was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.[6]

Hellenic Heritage says Epidaurus is closely associated in collective memory with its theatre, but that the theatre is just one part of the sanctuary; it credits the theatre to Polykleitos and says it seated about 13,000 spectators.[5] XTOUR treats the sanctuary as the place and the theatre as part of it.

Olympia

Olympia is on the western side of the Peloponnese, according to Visit Greece,[1] and Hellenic Heritage places it at the southern foot of Mount Kronios, between the Alpheios river and its tributary the Kladeos. It was a sanctuary of Zeus, centred on the sacred grove of the Altis, with its Temple of Zeus built between 470 and 456 BC. Hellenic Heritage says the Games are traditionally dated to 776 BC and were abolished by the emperor Theodosius I in AD 393.[7]

Many of the finds are in the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, whose sculpture collection, according to Hellenic Heritage, includes the pedimental sculptures of the Temple of Zeus, the Nike of Paionios and the Hermes of Praxiteles.[8] Hellenic Heritage's Olympia ticket listing names the site, the Museum of Olympia and the Museum of the Olympic Games.[7] Olympia is not in Argolida, and none of XTOUR's destinations serves as a base for it, so XTOUR proposes none.

Mystras

Mystras is a different period altogether: a castle town that passed to the Byzantines in 1262 and that, Hellenic Heritage says, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1989.[9] None of XTOUR's destinations serves as its base, and Mystras: visiting the Byzantine castle town covers its history, its monuments and its ticket.

Ancient Corinth

XTOUR has not read an official description of Ancient Corinth, so it says nothing about the site here.

What XTOUR does not tell you

XTOUR does not publish travel times, routes or same-day combinations between Nafplio, Athens and these sites, because it has no routing data. It does not publish prices, opening hours, closing days or accessibility for any of them; Hellenic Heritage's page for each site publishes its hours and ticket prices. Hellenic Heritage's pages list a separate ticket for each site, and XTOUR has not read an official page offering a joint ticket across these sites, so it does not say one exists.

For the civilisations behind Mycenae and Knossos, see the explainer on the Minoans and Mycenaeans; for the country as a whole, the Greece travel guide.