Experience the best of Loutraki

Loutraki lies at the foot of Mount Gerania on the Gulf of Corinth, some 80 kilometres west of Athens. Its thermal springs have drawn bathers since antiquity, and the town is a modern spa resort with a long pebble beach, a palm-lined promenade and hotels climbing the hillside.

The Corinth Canal, a straight six-kilometre cut through rock between steep limestone walls, opened in 1893 and lies a few kilometres to the south. Ancient Corinth, with the Temple of Apollo and the fortress rock of Acrocorinth, is to the south-west. The ancient sanctuary of Hera at Perachora, on the cape to the north-west, overlooks a small harbour, and Epidaurus and Mycenae are further south.

The currants dried around Corinth gave the English word its name, and the dark fruit still sweetens pastries across the Peloponnese. Tavernas along the front serve grilled fish and octopus, and the red wines of Nemea, made from the Agiorgitiko grape, are poured nearby. The sea stays calm and warm through summer and early autumn.