Elafonisos is a good base for day trips in the southern Peloponnese. Monemvasia, Kythira, Mystras, the Mani and the caves of the area are between one and a few hours away.
Below you will find what is worth seeing in each place and how to get there.
Day trips
Monemvasia
The castle town on its rock, an hour from the island: Byzantine lanes, churches and the Upper Town above the sea.
50 km · about 1 hour by car
Neapoli, Vatika and the petrified forest
The nearby town with its long beach and a museum of finds from Pavlopetri, the green villages of Vatika and a petrified forest by the sea.
12 km · 15 minutes to Neapoli
Kastania cave
One of the most impressive caves in Greece, full of stalactites and stalagmites, just outside Neapoli.
25 km · about 40 minutes by car
Plytra and Archangelos
Two seaside villages across the bay, with the ruins of the ancient town of Asopos under the sea.
40 km · about 45 minutes by car
Kythira and Antikythira
Aphrodite’s island, opposite Elafonisos: villages, gorges, waterfalls and beaches, and further south lonely Antikythira.
15 minutes to Neapoli, then the ferry
Gerakas and Kyparissi
A fjord with a lagoon and a village hidden below Mount Parnon, on the east coast of Laconia.
100 km · about 2 hours to Kyparissi
Sparta
The acropolis and ancient theatre of Sparta, the statue of Leonidas and the Archaeological Museum, two hours from the island.
110 km · about 2 hours by car
Mystras
The Byzantine castle town above Sparta, with churches, palaces and one of the best-preserved Byzantine sites.
115 km · about 2 hours by car
The Laconian Mani and the Diros caves
Stone villages, tower houses and a cave you explore by boat: the wild beauty of the Mani.
125 km · about 2.5 hours to the caves