One of the oldest continuously-inhabited towns in Europe (settled c. 5000 BC) — a working agricultural city with a Mycenaean acropolis above and an ancient theatre and agora on the plain.
Argos sits on the inland edge of the Argolic plain, fifteen minutes north-west of Nafplio. It is a working agricultural and market town of 22,000 — and underneath it, almost completely uncovered, is one of the oldest continuously-occupied urban sites in Europe.
Settled by 5000 BC; flourished under the Mycenaeans; resisted Sparta in the classical period; held by Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, Franks, Venetians, Ottomans. What’s visible above ground is a Bronze-Age fortress on the Larissa hill above the modern town, a 20,000-seat ancient theatre and the agora on the plain, and an excellent archaeological museum. The town itself has the working life that polished tourist Nafplio doesn’t — Wednesday and Saturday markets, a real laiki, a noisy plateia, and Aigli on the main square, one of the better-value tavernas in Argolida. Most travellers don’t visit Argos; they drive past on the way to Mycenae or Nafplio. They are missing a useful counterweight to the polished old-town Nafplio experience. Half a day is enough — Larissa hill in the cool morning, museum, lunch on the plateia, drive on. The ancient theatre is small, cheap to enter and almost always empty.
An Argos morning on a Mycenae day.
Drive the back road up the hill before the heat builds. Park at the gate, walk the fortress walls. Empty.
The ancient theatre (3rd c. BC, refitted by the Romans) and the agora on the south-west edge of town — five minutes' walk. Combined ticket €10, open 08:30–15:30; usually empty.
The small but excellent museum on the plateia — local Mycenaean and classical finds; reopened in June 2026 after more than a decade of restoration. Forty-five minutes; air-conditioned.
Aigli — slow-roast lamb, gigantes, salad, bulk red. Two hours; the real working-town lunch.
Either north to Mycenae for the afternoon, or back to Nafplio for the late afternoon swim at Karathona.
Within twenty minutes.
Fifteen minutes south-east — the standard base. Detail on the Nafplio page.
Fifteen minutes south-east — Bronze-Age fortress. Detail on the Mycenae & Tiryns page.
Twenty minutes north — the great citadel. Detail on the Mycenae & Tiryns page.
Fifteen minutes east — the less-visited 7th-century BC temple sanctuary.
Fifteen minutes south — a small Bronze-Age site (the House of the Tiles, c. 2500 BC) by Myloi on the coast. Niche; for the curious.
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