Ancient sites
Roman towns, Greek sanctuaries and prehistoric monuments, with the hours you need on site and whether a guide changes the visit.
From London
All day trips from London
Worth a full dayBath
A compact Georgian city built around Roman thermal baths, 1 hour 20 minutes west of London Paddington by direct train.
Only with a tourStonehenge
A 5,000-year-old stone circle on Salisbury Plain, about 85 minutes by train from London Waterloo plus a 35-minute bus from Salisbury station.
From Rome
All day trips from Rome
Worth half a dayOstia Antica
The excavated harbour town of ancient Rome, 25 km south-west of the centre and 26 minutes from Porta San Paolo on the Metromare line.
Only with a tourTivoli
A hill town 30 km east of Rome with two UNESCO sites: the fountain gardens of Villa d'Este and the ruins of Hadrian's Villa, a few kilometres apart.
Worth a full dayNaples
Italy's third-largest city, about 220 km south of Rome and 1 hour 15 minutes from Termini by high-speed train, with trains two or three times an hour.
Worth a full dayPompeii
A Roman town buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD, south of Naples and a little over 2 hours from Rome by train with one change.
From Barcelona
All day trips from Barcelona
From Dublin
All day trips from Dublin
From Lisbon
All day trips from Lisbon
From Madrid
All day trips from Madrid
Worth a full daySegovia
A Castilian city with a Roman aqueduct at one end and the Alcázar castle at the other, 27 minutes from Madrid Chamartín by high-speed train.
Worth half a dayAlcalá de Henares
A university town east of Madrid where Cervantes was born, with an arcaded main street and a college founded in 1499, 39 minutes from Atocha by Cercanías train.
Worth a full dayCórdoba
An Andalusian city built around the Mosque-Cathedral and its old Jewish quarter, far south of Madrid in Andalusia but only 1 hour 44 minutes away by AVE train.
From Athens
All day trips from Athens
Worth a full dayAegina
The closest Saronic island to Athens, with a 5th-century BC temple on a pine hill, 40 minutes to 1 h 10 by ferry from Piraeus.
Worth half a dayAncient Corinth
The excavated Greek and Roman city with its museum, 10 minutes by car from modern Corinth and about an hour from Athens by suburban train.
Only with a tourMycenae and Epidaurus
The citadel of Mycenae and the theatre of Epidaurus, two sites in the Argolid, 1 h 30 from Athens by road and 30 minutes either side of Nafplio.
Worth half a dayCape Sounion
A 5th-century BC temple of Poseidon on the southern tip of Attica, 2 hours from Athens by public bus or 65 minutes by car.
Worth a full dayDelphi
The ancient oracle site on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, with a museum next door, about 3 hours north-west of Athens by coach.
Better to sleep thereAncient Olympia
The sanctuary of Zeus and the original Olympic stadium in the western Peloponnese, with two museums, about 3.5 hours from Athens by car.
