The 6.3-km cut through the limestone isthmus that Nero began and the French engineers finished in 1893 — a 90-metre vertical wall on each side, dramatic to walk over, brief to visit.
The Corinth Canal is the most photographed engineering feat in Greece — a perfectly straight, perfectly vertical cut through the limestone of the Isthmus of Corinth, opened in 1893 after twenty centuries of attempts.
The idea is older than Christ. Periander of Corinth (7th c. BC) was the first to attempt it; Demetrius Poliorcetes (3rd c. BC) tried; the Roman emperor Nero began the work himself in AD 67, swinging the first pickaxe and putting 6,000 Jewish prisoners to the dig. He was assassinated before completion. The French engineering company that had finished the Suez Canal turned to Corinth and dug it from 1881 to 1893 — six and a half kilometres long, 25 metres wide at the bottom, with vertical walls 90 metres above the water. It is too narrow for modern cargo shipping (most cruise ships and freighters cannot fit) and is now used mainly for tourist boats, yachts, and the bungee jump from the road bridge. The classic visit is twenty minutes: park at the rest area on the old national road; walk onto the road bridge for the long view down the cut; watch a boat pass; have a coffee at the bridge café. The site is free, never closed. Combine with anything else in Corinthia — most travellers stop on the way between Athens and Ancient Corinth.
A canal stop on the drive south.
Free rest area on the old national road.
Five minutes to the centre, long view down the cut.
Time it — boats pass roughly every 30 minutes in summer.
Greek frappé and a koulouri.
Twelve minutes south-west.
Within fifteen minutes.
Twelve minutes south-west. Detail on the Ancient Corinth page.
Fifteen minutes south-west. Detail on the Acrocorinth page.
Ten minutes north — spa town. Detail on the Loutraki page.
Five minutes east — Poseidon sanctuary, small museum.
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