Epidaurus from Athens: the Drive, the Ancient Theatre and Palaia Epidavros

Leaving Athens before the city has properly woken up, you trade traffic lights for a road that bends toward the Saronic Gulf and the Argolid Peninsula. At the end of it stands a stone theatre where a spoken word still carries to the highest row, and a seaside hamlet sits close by.

How do you get to Epidaurus from Athens?

Driving from Athens to Epidaurus takes about 2 hours, and the car is the way to reach it that the route supports. Epidaurus lies on the Argolid Peninsula, in the regional unit of Argolis, in the Peloponnese. You leave the capital behind and arrive in a landscape of olive groves, low hills and small coastal settlements around the Saronic Gulf.

What decides the day is less the road than where you want to end up. The name Epidaurus covers several places.

There is the town of Epidaurus on the coast, the seaside hamlet of Palaia Epidavros (the village on the site of the ancient city, now also called Archaia Epidaurus), and the sanctuary of Asclepius with its famous theatre, about five miles from the town. The sanctuary is the reason people come, so it is the place to aim for first.

A second thing to settle is how much you want to add. The theatre alone is a strong reason to make the trip. If you also want to stand at the water in Palaia Epidavros and understand why ancient Greeks traveled here in search of a cure, the day takes on a different shape, with the sanctuary as the center and the shore as its counterpart.

The place itself rewards the effort. The Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus is part of the Sanctuary of Asklepios, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988. It is still used for drama today, and every summer the Athens Epidaurus Festival stages performances in it. Seeing the theatre empty and seeing it lit for a performance are two quite different experiences.

A last point is the setting. The sanctuary was a ritual center for Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, and the people who came believed that a body could only be cured if the mind was well. Keep that in your head on the drive and the stones at the end of it make more sense.

Ways to get to Epidaurus from Athens

By car from Athens

The drive from Athens is the way to Epidaurus that the route gives you, and it takes about 2 hours each way. You set out from the capital and head for the Argolid Peninsula, where the sanctuary and the coastal settlements lie. A car lets you decide where to stop on the way, and it lets you link the sanctuary with the seaside rather than treating them as separate trips.

The destination you type into the navigation matters. Choose the Sanctuary of Asclepius, the site with the theatre, rather than the town of Epidaurus on the coast, since the two are about five miles apart. The asclepeion is set near the modern town of Lygourio, while the ancient city stood on the coast at the village now called Archaia Epidaurus. Knowing this keeps you from arriving at the water when you wanted the stones.

Fill the tank before you leave Athens and keep a few minutes for the final stretch, where the road narrows as it approaches the sanctuary.

Reaching the sites once you are there

Once you are on the peninsula, three names matter. Epidaurus is the town on the coast. Palaia Epidavros is the seaside hamlet built on the site of the ancient city, close to the theatre in the sense that the whole area is one small stretch of the peninsula. The sanctuary of Asclepius is the large archaeological area that holds the theatre.

The sanctuary lies about five miles from the town of Epidaurus. That makes it a place you go to on purpose rather than one you drift past on a harbor stroll. Arriving by car you can see the sanctuary first, then follow the road back down toward the water for a different side of the same story.

At the sanctuary, the theatre is the site that draws the eye. It was built in the late fourth century BC, and seating was extended later. The acoustics are what people talk about afterward, a match struck at center-stage can be easily heard from the stands. Pay attention to how the stone bowl gathers sound, because it is the thing to remember after you have gone.

Options compared

The drive from Athens is the longest part of the day. Everything after that, from the sanctuary to the town and the hamlet, belongs to a small area of the Argolid.

The theatre and the sanctuary give the trip its weight. The seaside hamlet gives it a gentler second half, a place to sit near the water after the stone and the history. Which of the three you spend longest at depends on what you came for, whether the drama, the story of ancient healing or the shore.

If you plan to be here in summer, the Athens Epidaurus Festival adds another reason to go. Plays staged in a theatre of this kind, in the open air and with the hills behind, have an atmosphere that is hard to match elsewhere in Greece. Whether you come for a performance or to see the empty tiers, the destination is the same.

Making a day of it

A day at Epidaurus starts with the theatre. Making a day of it, so the scale surprises you the moment the stands come into view. You take in the curve of the tiers, the circular stage below and the olive-green hills beyond.

After the theatre, look at the rest of the sanctuary, because it explains why the theatre stands here at all. The asclepeion was a ritual center devoted to Asclepius, to which ancient Greeks would journey in search of a cure for their diseases.

The medicine practiced here took a holistic view, holding that the body could only be cured if the mind was healthy. Walking the grounds with that idea in mind turns a collection of ruins into a place with a purpose.

Palaia Epidavros by the water

Palaia Epidavros is a seaside hamlet built on the site of the ancient city of Epidaurus, near the theatre. The ancient city stood on the coast, and this is the village now called Archaia Epidaurus. After the sanctuary, it is the natural place to look at the Saronic Gulf and to pause for something to eat.

The meal is the easy part to picture, since a seaside Greek village means a taverna, a plate of grilled fish or meze and a view of boats. Order a few small dishes to share, such as fried zucchini, tzatziki or a Greek salad with feta, and let lunch be slow. The sea here is part of the same landscape as the sanctuary, and the contrast between the dry hillside and the shoreline is part of what the day offers.

What to bring and how to pace the day

Bring a camera, sun protection and shoes you can walk in over stone, since the sanctuary is an archaeological site with uneven ground. Water and a hat belong in the bag for the open stands of the theatre, which have little shade. If you come in the summer festival season and plan to see a performance, the theatre takes on an entirely different mood.

Order the day so that the theatre comes first and the water comes last. The sanctuary asks for attention and a little imagination, while the hamlet asks for nothing but a table. Ending by the Saronic Gulf gives the day a calm close, and the road back to Athens is the same one you took in the morning.

Good to know before you go

The theatre is still a working stage, so what you find on the day may be an empty bowl of stone or a set being prepared for the summer festival. Either way the place keeps its character. Greece uses the euro, and a seaside meal in Palaia Epidavros is a good moment to use it. As in any small village, ordinary good habits with your belongings are enough.

Keep the three names straight in your head before you set out: the town of Epidaurus on the coast, Palaia Epidavros by the water and the Sanctuary of Asclepius with the theatre. The sanctuary is the one with the stone tiers and the acoustics that people remember long after they have driven back.