Ancient Corinth Tour: The Road to the Peloponnese, the Oracle's City & the Apostle Paul

The Ancient Corinth tour is one of the richest day trips you can take from Athens — a journey that moves through Byzantine masterpieces, ancient mythology, and one of the most strategically important cities of the ancient world, following a road walked by merchants, pilgrims, and apostles for over two thousand years.

The Drive — The Sacred Way, Daphni & the Road Theseus Walked

The tour heads southwest from Athens along the ancient Sacred Way — the same road that pilgrims walked from Athens to Eleusis for centuries to participate in the famous Eleusinian Mysteries, the most sacred religious rites in the ancient Greek world. Along this road, the first stop is the Monastery of Daphni, 11 kilometers from the center of Athens, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the finest surviving examples of middle Byzantine architecture anywhere in Europe.

Built in the 11th century on the site of an ancient temple of Apollo, the monastery's Katholikon is decorated with gold-ground mosaics that are considered masterpieces of Byzantine art — the Christ Pantocrator in the central dome, flanked by 16 prophets, is one of the most powerful images in Byzantine iconography. The monastery was sacked by Frankish crusaders in 1205, used as a Cistercian abbey, later seized by Ottomans, and damaged in the 1999 earthquake — yet its mosaics have survived nearly a thousand years of turbulent history.

Continuing west past Eleusis and the small city of Megara, the road enters the mountains of the Isthmus — the same rugged terrain where, according to mythology, the young Theseus made his name by hunting down the bandits and murderers who preyed on travelers between Athens and Corinth. Sciron, Procrustes, and Sinis the Pine-Bender — each was dispatched using their own method of killing. By clearing this road, Theseus opened safe passage for merchants and travelers across the Isthmus for the first time, earning the devotion of the people long before he ever set foot in Crete.

The Corinth Canal & the Ancient Port of Kenchreai

The first stop in the Peloponnese is the Corinth Canal — 6 kilometers of sheer rock walls, completed in 1893, connecting the Aegean with the Ionian Sea. What looks like a modern engineering achievement was actually the realization of an ancient dream: the Corinthians had been moving ships across this narrow strip of land since the 7th century BC using the Diolkos, a stone-paved road on which ships were dragged overland on wheeled cradles between two harbors — Lechaion on the Corinthian Gulf and Kenchreai on the Saronic Gulf. This system gave Corinth dominance over Mediterranean trade for centuries.

The tour continues to the ancient port of Kenchreai on the Saronic coast — one of the most historically charged stopping points of the day. It was from this harbor that the Apostle Paul set sail for Ephesus in 53 AD, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. The road from Kenchreai to Ancient Corinth is the same road Paul walked. You will follow it.

Akrokorinthos — The Fortress Above the City

Rising above the ancient city, Akrokorinthos is one of the most dramatically positioned citadels in Greece — a natural rock fortress that has been continuously occupied and fought over from antiquity through the 18th century, passing through Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Frankish, Venetian, and Ottoman hands. The Temple of Aphrodite once stood at its summit, as Corinth's patron goddess — the city was famed across the ancient world for its devotion to her. The views from the walls across two seas, two gulfs, and the mountains of the Peloponnese make the climb immediately worthwhile.

Ancient Corinth — The Archaeological Site & Museum

At the archaeological site, the Temple of Apollo dominates the view — built in the 6th century BC, seven of its original Doric columns are still standing, making it one of the oldest surviving temples in Greece. Walking the ancient agora below it, you pass Glauke's Well, tied to the myth of Jason and Medea, Roman temples and baths, two theatres, and the Bema — the raised stone platform where the Apostle Paul stood trial before the Roman proconsul Gallio in 52 AD, as described precisely in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 18. Paul had spent 18 months preaching in Corinth — longer than almost anywhere else in his travels — and the city's cosmopolitan, commercial character made it one of the most important early centers of Christianity.

Inside the museum, the collection spans Mycenaean pottery, artifacts from the sanctuary of Asclepios, friezes from the theatre depicting the Twelve Labors of Hercules, a Sphinx, and busts of Roman emperors who governed the city after its refounding by Julius Caesar in 44 BC. One exhibit stops almost every visitor: the bust of Apollo, whose features are widely believed to have inspired the design of the Statue of Liberty in New York.

After the site, lunch is available in the village of Ancient Corinth before the return drive to Athens.

Book your Ancient Corinth tour today — and follow a road that connects mythology, Byzantine art, ancient trade, and the footsteps of the Apostle Paul in a single extraordinary day.

ily lives and beliefs of those who walked these streets centuries ago.