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Itineraries in Aegina
Itineraries in Aegina
Aegina is a triangle about 11 km on a side (83 sq km). The north and west coasts are fairly flat, well-populated, and easily accessible; the southeast is more rugged and wild, with smaller mountain and port villages.
One of the best ruins, overlooking the bay, is a five-minute walk from the port at Aegina. Turn to the left and start walking; admission to the museum at the entry point to the ruins is less than five Euros and will yield a fantastic experience. You can wear a swimsuit and bring lunch with you into the area, and actually sit on top of the crumbling marble and look out over the island and the water--almost all the way to Piraeus. (And if you're reading The Great Gatsby on top of the temple, most tourists assume you work there and ask you to take their picture. It was a nice afternoon.)
Also, ask about the temple of Aphaia--it's gorgeous and huge, and can be reached by taxi or motorbike. It's surrounded by pines on a hilltop overlooking Aghia Marina on the east side of the island. The admission there is only three or four Euros and on a clear day you can see for miles from its vantage point. There is a nice little cafe and shop across the street from the temple with a decent bathroom, as well.
Perdika ("Partridge") is a fishing village at the south end of the island's west coast, a half-hour bus or fifteen-minute taxi ride. Strolling around the town's peninsula gives you lovely views of sea, adjacent islands (including the spectacular, uninhabited Moni), and the volcanic Methana peninsula. A second long point of land, south across the narrow harbor from Perdhika, is deserted except for goats and donkeys (and officially off-limits according to Hellenic Navy signs), but out at the end of it is the world's only seaside, 360-degree camera obscura: wait five minutes for your eyes to adjust, and the whole landscape slowly appears on the round wall, upside down.
Agios Nektarios, a large, elaborate, modern Orthodox church and monastery, lies about halfway between Aegina Town and Agia Marina. Across the road and uphill is the entrance path to Paleochora (Old Town). This is where the island's population retreated from pirates for several hundred years; though it has been deserted since the early 19th century, many of the dozens of churches still standing are maintained by island families. A walk up to the double church on the peak makes a quiet and beautiful hour.
The tallest peak on Aegina, usually called Oros ("mountain"), is 532m. A motorbike will take you about halfway up, and the footpath, fairly well marked by cairns, takes another 30 or 45 minutes. At the top is (of course) a church, and from there you can see 360 degrees of the Saronic Gulf: Sounio, Athens, the Corinth Canal (almost), Methana, Poros.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Aegina
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Aegina - updated May 2024
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Aegina Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.