Odyssey itinerary

The Odyssey is the most famous journey in Western literature: ten years of adventures to get home to Ithaca, to his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. Many places in the poem are imaginary, or at least impossible to place with certainty on a map, but some belong to the real geography of Greece, and for centuries scholars, travellers and ordinary readers have gone looking for them. This nine-day itinerary follows the plot of the poem through the Peloponnese and the Ionian Islands: the Sparta of Menelaus and Helen, the Palace of Nestor at Pylos, where Telemachus goes for news of his father, Ithaca with the Cave of the Nymphs and the Arethusa spring, Kefalonia, which some believe was Odysseus's true homeland, and Corfu, the island of the Phaeacians and Princess Nausicaa.

You don't need to believe every detail is true. The pleasure of this trip is reading Homer's verses in the landscapes where they were imagined: turquoise bays, olive-clad hills, natural harbours, white cliffs. It is an itinerary to take slowly, by car and ferry, and suits those who want to mix culture and the sea.

The story in brief

After the fall of Troy, Odysseus, whom the Romans called Ulysses, takes ten years to return to Ithaca. He meets the Cicones, the Lotus-eaters, the Cyclops Polyphemus, the sorceress Circe, goes down to the land of the dead, escapes the Sirens and Scylla and Charybdis, and is held for seven years by the nymph Calypso. Meanwhile in Ithaca the suitors occupy the palace and seek Penelope's hand, and young Telemachus sets out for Pylos and Sparta in search of news of his father. Odysseus is finally shipwrecked on the island of the Phaeacians, where Princess Nausicaa welcomes him, and the Phaeacians carry him home, where, disguised as a beggar, he reveals himself and takes his revenge. For the details see our pages on Odysseus and Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Day 1: from Athens to Sparta

From Athens to Sparta is about three hours by motorway through Arcadia. In Book Four of the Odyssey, Telemachus arrives at the palace of Menelaus, where he finds the beautiful Helen, back from Troy, who tells of Odysseus's cunning. Just east of the modern town, on a hill above the River Eurotas, the Menelaion is the shrine where the Spartans honoured Menelaus and Helen, near the remains of a Mycenaean-age mansion. It is a quiet place, with views over the valley and the Taygetus mountains. In town visit the archaeological museum and the Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil. For the history see our page on Sparta and Athens.

Where to stay: in Sparta or Mystras, for one night.

Day 2: Mystras and the road to Pylos

In the morning visit Mystras, a few kilometres away, the abandoned Byzantine city on the slopes of Taygetus, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with frescoed churches, monasteries and the palace of the despots. It has nothing to do with Homer, but it is one of the most beautiful places in Greece. In the afternoon cross the Taygetus on the mountain road towards Kalamata and reach Pylos on the west coast (about two and a half hours).

Where to stay: in Pylos, for two nights.

Day 3: the Palace of Nestor

The Palace of Nestor, about 17 km north of Pylos, is the best-preserved Mycenaean palace in Greece, discovered in 1939 by the American archaeologist Carl Blegen. More than a thousand tablets written in Linear B, the oldest Greek script, were found here, and they helped decipher the language of the Mycenaeans. Walkways lead over the throne room, with its great circular hearth, the storerooms of oil jars and the bathroom with its terracotta bathtub still in place: just as in the poem, where Nestor's daughter bathes Telemachus. The museum in the nearby village of Chora displays frescoes and finds, and not far away, in 2015, the rich tomb of the Griffin Warrior was discovered.

In the afternoon go down to Voidokilia beach, a perfect omega-shaped bay with white sand and very shallow water. Above the beach climb to Nestor's Cave, where, according to myth, the young Hermes hid the cattle he had stolen from Apollo. In the evening have dinner on Pylos harbour, overlooking the bay of Navarino, where in 1827 a naval battle decided Greek independence.

Day 4: to Kefalonia

Head up the west coast of the Peloponnese to the port of Kyllini (about two and a half hours), from where the ferry takes an hour and a half to Poros, on the east coast of Kefalonia. Near Poros is the Tzanata tholos tomb, a large Mycenaean tomb that suggests an important Homeric-age centre on this very island.

Where to stay: on Kefalonia, in Argostoli or Sami, for one night.

Day 5: Kefalonia

Kefalonia is the largest of the Ionian Islands, with fir-covered mountains and spectacular beaches. According to a theory put forward in 2005 in the book Odysseus Unbound, the Paliki peninsula in the west, once separated from the rest of the island, would be the true Homeric Ithaca, because it fits Homer's description of a "low" island "facing the sunset" better. The question is open, and it is fascinating to debate it in front of the landscape.

Divide the day between Melissani Cave, an underground lake of brilliant blue water, lit by an opening in the roof and visited by boat, and Myrtos beach, one of the most beautiful in Europe, with white sand beneath a cliff. In the afternoon move to Sami, from where the ferry leaves for Ithaca.

Day 6: Ithaca, Odysseus's homeland

From Sami the ferry takes half an hour to Pisaetos, on Ithaca. The island is small, green and mountainous, with a capital, Vathy, nestled at the end of a deep bay that is one of the safest natural harbours in the Mediterranean. On the waterfront a statue of Odysseus gazes out to sea.

A few kilometres from Vathy climb up to the Cave of the Nymphs, called Marmarospilia, which tradition identifies with the cave where Odysseus, just landed, hid the Phaeacians' gifts with Athena's help. In the afternoon walk down the path to the Arethusa Spring and the Raven's Rock, where, in the poem, the swineherd Eumaeus kept his pigs and welcomed his master disguised as a beggar: the route, high above the sea, is one of the finest on the island.

Where to stay: in Vathy or an Ithaca village, for two nights.

Day 7: northern Ithaca

Drive to the north of the island, through the village of Anogi, with a frescoed church and huge oddly shaped boulders, to Stavros. Here, on the hill of Agios Athanasios, archaeologists from the University of Ioannina have excavated the site known as Homer's School, where some believe Odysseus's palace stood. A small museum displays finds from the cave in Polis Bay, including fragments of bronze tripods and a mask with an inscription dedicated to Odysseus. Spend the afternoon in the little harbours of Kioni and Frikes, among stone houses and seaside tavernas.

Day 8: Lefkada and Corfu

From Frikes harbour, in summer, a ferry runs to Lefkada (about an hour and a half): from there drive across the swing bridge to the mainland and on to the port of Igoumenitsa (about two hours), from where ferries reach Corfu in an hour and a half. It is a travel day, but along beautiful roads and seas. With time to spare, stop on Lefkada for the beaches of Porto Katsiki and Egremni, beneath the white cliffs of the west coast, which ends at the cape from which, legend says, the poet Sappho threw herself.

Where to stay: on Corfu, for one night, in the old town.

Day 9: Corfu, island of the Phaeacians

The ancients already identified Corfu with Scheria, the island of the Phaeacians, Odysseus's last stop before Ithaca. Tradition places the meeting between Odysseus and Princess Nausicaa on the beach at Ermones, at the mouth of a stream, and the hero's landing in the bay of Paleokastritsa, among green-clad cliffs and turquoise water. Off the town, the islet of Pontikonisi, with its monastery among cypresses, is said to be the Phaeacian ship turned to stone by Poseidon to punish them for helping Odysseus.

In the afternoon visit the Achilleion, the palace that Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Sisi, built at the end of the 19th century and dedicated to Achilles, with a great statue of the hero in the garden. End the trip walking through Corfu's UNESCO-listed old town, among Venetian fortresses and the arcades of the Liston. Fly home from Corfu.

How much it costs

To save money: leave the car at Kyllini and hire one on the islands only where needed; in low season accommodation costs much less, but some ferries don't run.

Practical information

• Ferries: links between the Ionian Islands change every year and many run only in summer; check timetables before booking and, in August, reserve car space in advance.
• Flights: alternatively, fly into Kefalonia or Corfu and do the itinerary in reverse.
• Beaches: Myrtos, Voidokilia and Porto Katsiki are reached by steps or steep paths; bring suitable shoes and water.
• Heat: in July and August visit the archaeological sites early in the morning.
• Documents: EU citizens only need a valid identity card. See ferries to Greece.

Variations

• The return from Troy: with more time, start from the site of Troy in Turkey and cross the Aegean.
• The land of the dead: in Epirus, near Parga, the Necromanteion of the Acheron was considered a gateway to Hades.
• More sea: add two days on Lefkada and the nearby island of Meganisi.

What to read before you go

The book to pack is of course the Odyssey, in a good translation, to read in instalments in the places where it is set. For the story of the search for Homeric places, Robert Bittlestone's Odysseus Unbound; and for a modern reading, the poems of Cavafy, with his famous Ithaka. See also our pages on the Ionian Islands and Homer.

Final tips

• Pace: it is a long journey; with twelve days you can add beach stops without rushing.
• Combinations: from the Peloponnese you can easily link up with the myth itinerary in the Argolid, with Mycenae, Agamemnon's city.
• A tip: on Ithaca read Book Thirteen of the Odyssey, where Odysseus wakes on the shore, sitting by Vathy bay at sunset: it is literature's most famous homecoming, and here it seems to have just happened.

See also our other itineraries in Greece.

Ithaca on the map

Nearby