Peloponnese self-drive

There’s no need to brush up on your Greek letters to tackle a self-drive holiday in the Peloponnese; signs in even the tiniest of villages will display the Latin alphabet equivalent of Greek place names making it easy to navigate.

However, don’t be tempted to pack too many stops into each day. Journeys inevitably take longer than you expect as the scenery, beaches, ancient sites and the run wine, honey and olive-oil producers that dot this region will tempt you into irresistible stops along the way.

The main roads through the Peloponnese are well maintained, smooth and easy to navigate, and for the most part they are fairly quiet outside the main towns. The motorway runs from Athens through Corinth to Tripoli and onto Kalamata, and the inland main roads linking Kalamata, Sparta and Nafplion, for example, are all in good shape.

More rural roads – both inland up into the mountains in Arcadia and down into the far reaches of the Mani Peninsula – are sealed, but can in places be dusty, windy and narrow. However, as these generally see little traffic, particularly out of the height of the summer, they shouldn’t pose any problems to careful drivers who are happy to take their time while exploring.