The Athens Riviera by Private Car: A Day Trip Worth Planning
Cape Sounion, a coastal lunch and the temple at sunset — the easiest half-day escape from Athens, done without a tour bus.
The road south is the point
From central Athens, the coastal road runs to Cape Sounion in about seventy minutes without traffic. Almost every guest who takes this drive says the same thing: they did not expect the coastline to be this good, and they wished they had left earlier.
A shape for the day
Leave the city around 10:00, stop at Glyfada or Vouliagmeni for coffee, and continue along the coast. Vouliagmeni's lake is a strange, warm, mineral thing worth half an hour. Lunch in Sounio village or back at any of the fish tavernas on the water.
Then the temple. The Temple of Poseidon sits on the headland with nothing between it and the sea, and in the late afternoon the marble turns the colour of honey.
Why a car with a driver beats the alternatives
The KTEL bus to Sounio is cheap and slow, and it stops where it stops. A rental car means navigating a coastal road with unfamiliar junctions and finding parking at a site that fills up. A chauffeured hire means the car waits while you swim, eat and walk, and takes you home when you are ready rather than when the timetable says.
On the way back
Ask to return via the inland road through Vari if the coast is busy on a Sunday evening. It is less pretty and considerably faster.
Pair it with the airport
Guests flying out late often finish the day at Sounio and go straight to the airport — it is on the same axis, and the drive from the temple to departures is around 45 minutes. Send us the flight time and we build the day backwards from it.
Prefer to have it arranged for you?
Send us your flight, dates and luggage; we confirm the car and the price before you land.
