A pair of quiet bays on the road to Epidaurus — fishing villages, vineyard tavernas, the warm shallow water of the inner Argolic Gulf.
Kandia and Iria are two small fishing villages on the eastern coast of the Argolic peninsula, on the back road from Nafplio to Epidaurus. They are not famous, not picturesque in the postcard sense, and that is the point.
Iria is the larger of the two — a long beach of sand and fine pebble, a small fishing harbour, two beach tavernas (one at each end) and a string of family pensions. Kandia is smaller — a curving cove with a fishing harbour, three village tavernas, and a single small hotel. Behind both villages, artichoke fields run from the Kandia beach to Iria — the valley’s main crop, with its own festival in Iria every May. The road north loops back to Nafplio (25 min) or continues on to Epidaurus (40 min). Most travellers find Kandia and Iria by accident on the way to Epidaurus and stop for a swim and a long lunch; some come back for two-night stays in the small pensions to escape Tolo’s August crowds. Best months: late May, June, September. Almost shut in winter.
A Kandia/Iria afternoon on an Epidaurus day.
From Epidaurus theatre, forty minutes south-west to the fishing harbour beside the lagoon — grilled fish at To Limani, right on the water. Slow lunch, two hours.
Fifteen minutes south-east along the coast — set up under a tamarisk, swim, read, repeat.
Ten minutes back north-west to the smaller village for a coffee on the quay as the boats come in.
Twenty-five minutes west for dinner and the volta.
Within forty minutes.
Forty minutes north-east — the great theatre. Detail on the Epidaurus page.
Twenty-five minutes west — the natural base. Detail on the Nafplio page.
Twenty minutes west — the busier sandy-beach village. Detail on the Tolo page.
Ten minutes west — the fishing harbour beside the lagoon, with its fish tavernas on the water; the lunch stop in the day above.
Fifteen minutes west, inland — a real Greek village with two excellent local tavernas.
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