Things to do in Pylos

Pylos sits on Navarino bay, one of the largest natural harbours in the Mediterranean: a near-enclosed basin protected by the long island of Sfaktiria across its mouth. That geography is why so much has happened here, and it is the thread running through everything on this page.

The battle of 1827. A combined British, French and Russian fleet destroyed the Ottoman and Egyptian fleet inside the bay. It was the last major battle fought entirely under sail, and it effectively secured Greek independence. The wrecks are still on the bottom. The town’s central square, Trion Navarchon, has a monument to the three admirals, and there is a small museum.

And the same bay in 425 BC. The Athenian action at Sfaktiria, described by Thucydides, happened in this water. Two decisive naval engagements more than two thousand years apart, in the same enclosed basin, is an unusual density of history for one stretch of sea, and standing on the front with the island across the mouth is the quickest way to understand why both happened here.

The Palace of Nestor, about 17 kilometres north. The best-preserved Mycenaean palace in Greece. Its walls survive to about a metre, so the plan reads clearly: the throne room with its central hearth, storerooms with jars in place, and a famous bathtub still sitting in its room. Most Mycenaean sites give you foundations you have to imagine a building onto. This one gives you rooms.

And what was found there. The Linear B tablets that let the script be deciphered came from this site. That is not a local detail: it is the reason we can read Mycenaean Greek at all. The whole site is under a modern shelter with raised walkways.

The two castles on the bay. Niokastro at the town is well preserved, with a hexagonal enceinte and a museum. Palaiokastro stands at the northern end above Voidokilia. Between them they cover the mouth of the bay, which tells you what everybody who has ever held this harbour was worried about.

The town itself. Small and arcaded, with a shaded square and a waterfront. It is a place to walk for an hour rather than a day, and it is the base for everything above.

What is within reach. Voidokilia and the Gialova lagoon are ten minutes north, and Methoni is twenty minutes south. That makes Pylos an unusually dense day: a Mycenaean palace, two castles, a battle site and a beach, all inside a short drive. Our Pylos guide has the practicalities and the beaches cover the bay and the coast.