Corinth stands where the Peloponnese joins the mainland, on a narrow strip of land between two seas. Whoever held it controlled the traffic between the Aegean and the Adriatic, and that is why the ancient city became one of the richest in Greece.
The town you arrive in today is only about 170 years old. Old Corinth was levelled by an earthquake in 1858 and the survivors moved down to the coast. A second earthquake destroyed the new town in 1928, and it was rebuilt again on a grid.
The archaeological site is seven kilometres inland, in the Peloponnese countryside below the rock of Acrocorinth.
History & Culture
The ancient city
Corinth had two harbours — Lechaion on the Corinthian Gulf and Kenchreai on the Saronic — and a paved trackway across the Isthmus on which ships were hauled from one sea to the other. That is where its wealth came from. Its potters supplied the Mediterranean, its architects gave their name to the Corinthian order, and its colonists founded Corcyra and Syracuse.
In 146 BC the Roman general Lucius Mummius destroyed the city completely after defeating the Achaean League. It stayed empty for a century.
In 44 BC Julius Caesar refounded it as a Roman colony, and it became the capital of the province of Achaea. This matters for what you see: almost every building on the site is Roman. Shops, small temples, public fountains, baths and administrative buildings are laid out around a large open forum.
The one great exception is the Temple of Apollo, built around 550 BC. Seven of its Doric columns are still standing, cut from single blocks of stone, and they survived both the destruction and the rebuilding.
Water was always central here. The Peirene and Glauke fountains are both on the site.
Saint Paul
Paul came to Corinth in AD 51–52. He lodged with Aquila and Priscilla and worked with them making tents, and he preached in the city for many months. His two letters to the Corinthians are among the earliest Christian documents.
In the centre of the forum stands the Bema, the raised platform from which Roman officials addressed the public. Paul was brought before the proconsul Gallio here. It is still a place of pilgrimage, and for many visitors it is the reason they come.
Acrocorinth
The rock rises to 574 metres directly above the site, and the fortress on it is the largest in the Peloponnese.
A cobbled road climbs to three successive gates, one behind the other, with a ditch in front of the first. Inside are three walled enclosures, and inside those the remains of every period the place has lived through: Byzantine, Frankish, Venetian and Ottoman churches and mosques, an underground cistern with brick arches, and the Upper Peirene spring in two vaulted chambers cut into the rock. A temple of Aphrodite stood at the summit.
Most of the walls are medieval. From the top you can see the Corinthian Gulf, the Saronic, the plain of Argos, and on a very clear day the Acropolis of Athens.
The name that travelled
The English word currant comes from Corinth — dried grapes shipped out through the Corinthian Gulf were sold abroad as "raisins of Corinth". In the second half of the nineteenth century they made up around eighty per cent of everything Greece exported.
The fruit itself is grown mostly further west and north, not here. Only the name is Corinthian.
Beaches
Corinth is a working town on the water rather than a seaside resort, and its beaches are for the people who live there.
Kalamia is the town beach, a short walk from the centre. It is pebble, with fine sand on the seabed and tamarisk trees along the back, and it is lined with cafés and places to eat. It is busy in the evenings all summer.
Kantare, a little further west before the ancient harbour at Lechaion, is sandy and shallow and better with small children.
Larger organised beaches run west along the Corinthian Gulf, but they belong to other towns and each is a drive away.
Where to Stay
Prices shown per night for a sample 3-night stay. Rates and availability vary by season — select your dates for live pricing.
Practical information
Getting there
Corinth is about 80 km west of Athens by motorway, roughly an hour by car. The easiest way without a car is the suburban railway: trains run once an hour on the Piraeus–Kiato line, calling at Athens and at Corinth, and the journey is around an hour and a quarter. KTEL buses also run from Athens several times a day. The station and the bus terminal are both in the modern town.
Getting around
The archaeological site is 7 km from the modern town, and Acrocorinth is a further climb of about 4 km up a steep, winding road above it. A car is the practical way to do both in one visit. There are local buses to Ancient Corinth village, but not up to the fortress, and taxis from the town are the alternative. The modern town itself is small and walkable.
Tickets and hours
The archaeological site and the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth are covered by one ticket, and the museum is inside the site. Acrocorinth is a separate visit with its own arrangements. Opening hours change with the season and both close earlier in winter, so check current times and prices before you go — the two are far enough apart that a wasted trip costs you the afternoon.
Good to know
Acrocorinth has no shade and a lot of climbing on uneven cobbles and rock. Go early or late in summer, wear shoes with grip, and take water. Allow at least an hour and a half up there.
At the site below, remember that what you are looking at is a Roman city, not a Greek one — the labels make more sense that way. The site is open ground with very little shelter.
The modern town is a good base for the wider area: Mycenae, Epidaurus, Nemea and the Heraion at Perachora are all within an hour.
Corinth— been there?Tell others what you saw.
A photo and two lines are enough.
