Theatre of Epidaurus
Epidavros, Greece
The Theatre of Epidaurus is the best-preserved theatre of ancient Greece, built in the late 4th century BC inside the…
40 tickets & tours
Country
Best-preserved ancient ruins in Greece
10 of the best-preserved ancient sites in Greece, picked by hand: places where streets, walls, roofs or paintings survive well enough to read without a reconstruction. Each page says what to see and which ticket or tour to book.
| # | Site | Country | Why it makes the list |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Theatre of Epidaurus | Greece | All the stone tiers survive for about 13,000 spectators, the best-preserved theatre of ancient Greece, with acoustics that still carry a whisper. |
| 2 | Ancient Agora of Athens | Greece | The Temple of Hephaestus still stands complete with columns and pediments, the best-preserved Doric temple in Greece. |
| 3 | Roman Agora of Athens | Greece | The Tower of the Winds, an octagonal marble clock tower with its carved wind gods, survives almost complete. |
| 4 | Akrotiri | Greece | Bronze Age houses stand two and three storeys high along their streets and squares, sealed by volcanic ash and now under a roof. |
| 5 | Aigai (Vergina) Royal Tombs | Greece | The royal tombs survive inside their burial mound, including the one attributed to Philip II, found unlooted, with its painted facade. |
| 6 | Delos | Greece | An entire island city of streets, temples and houses, many with mosaic floors still in place, has never been built over. |
| 7 | Ancient Messene | Greece | Theatre, agora, sanctuary and a stadium with its seating lie inside nine kilometres of walls, one of the most complete cities in Greece. |
| 8 | Ancient Stadium of Nemea | Greece | The stone starting line, judges' seats and the vaulted entrance tunnel, still scratched with athletes' graffiti, survive almost intact. |
| 9 | Acropolis of Athens | Greece | Parthenon, Propylaea, Temple of Athena Nike and Erechtheion all still stand, though the caryatids on the porch are copies. |
| 10 | Knossos | Greece | The Minoan palace's courts, staircases and painted rooms are easy to read, but much of what stands was rebuilt in concrete by Arthur Evans. |
Ancient Agora of Athens
Athens, Greece
The Ancient Agora of Athens was the civic heart of the classical city, the square below the Acropolis where citizens…
5 tickets & tours
Roman Agora of Athens
Athens, Greece
The Roman Agora of Athens is the marketplace built with money from Julius Caesar and Augustus in the last decades BC, a…
No online ticket
Akrotiri
Santorini, Greece
Akrotiri is the Bronze Age town on the south coast of Santorini that the great Theran eruption buried in volcanic ash…
18 tickets & tours
Aigai (Vergina) Royal Tombs
Vergina, Greece
Aigai, at the village of Vergina in northern Greece, was the first capital of the kings of Macedon and the place where…
10 tickets & tours
Delos
Delos, Greece
Delos is the small island off Mykonos that the Greeks held sacred as the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, and its…
35 tickets & tours
Ancient Messene
Messene, Greece
Ancient Messene is a Greek city founded in 369 BC by the Theban general Epaminondas below Mount Ithome, 25 km north of…
4 tickets & tours
Ancient Stadium of Nemea
Nemea, Greece
The Ancient Stadium of Nemea is the race track where the Nemean Games, one of the four great athletic festivals of…
3 tickets & tours
Acropolis of Athens
Athens, Greece
The Acropolis of Athens is the limestone hill above the city crowned by the Parthenon, the marble temple of Athena…
114 tickets & tours
Knossos
Heraklion, Greece
Knossos is the largest Minoan palace on Crete, 5 km south of Heraklion, built from about 1900 BC on a hill that had…
111 tickets & tours