Is Patras Worth Visiting?

Most travelers pass straight through Patras on their way to a ferry, and that reputation is mostly earned. It's worth a night or two, not a trip built around it.

Patras is Greece's third largest city and its main crossing point west, with ferries running to Kefalonia, Ithaca, and onward to Italy. Above the old town, the medieval castle gives a full view over the Gulf of Patras and the Rio-Antirrio bridge, and the Cathedral of Saint Andrew, the largest Orthodox church in the country, holds the saint's skull as a relic and draws pilgrims as much as sightseers.

The city earns its reputation every February or March, when it hosts the largest carnival in Greece, weeks of parades, costume balls, and street parties that pull in visitors from across the country. Outside that window, a large student population keeps the cafes around Georgiou I Square busy well into the evening, and the neoclassical mansions lining the streets nearby are worth a slow walk on their own.

A short drive out, the Achaia Clauss winery has been producing Mavrodaphne, a sweet, dark dessert wine, since 1861, and tours through the old stone cellars are one of the better half day trips from the city. Ancient Olympia is close enough for a day trip by car, and the coastal town of Nafpaktos makes an easy detour for travelers heading further along the Gulf of Corinth.

Patras rewards travelers who are already passing through, catching a ferry, road tripping the Peloponnese, or timing a visit around carnival. It is not worth planning a trip around on its own, and anyone chasing a classic Greek seaside town should look elsewhere.