Heraion of Perachora

The Heraion occupies one of the most beautiful positions of any Greek sanctuary: a small cove at the end of a long peninsula, with the Corinthian Gulf on both sides and the mountains of Roumeli across the water. Sanctuaries stood here from the ninth century BC, and the remains include a temple of Hera Akraia by the shore, an L-shaped stoa, a large cistern cut into rock, and a rare double-apsed structure identified as a hestiatorion, a dining hall for sacred feasts. A short walk uphill leads to a white lighthouse of 1897 and views down the length of the gulf. Below, the cove has flat rocks and clear deep water where visitors swim between looking at ruins, and a taverna operates by the little harbour in season. Nothing is fenced; the site is simply there.

What you actually see

• The temple of Hera - foundations beside the water at the cove's head.
• The lighthouse - a nineteenth-century tower at the peninsula's tip.
• The rock-cut cistern - a large ancient water store above the sanctuary.
• The swimming cove - deep clear water directly beside the ruins.

When to go

Late spring and early autumn combine warm sea with comfortable walking. Summer weekends bring crowds from Loutraki and Athens; weekdays are quiet. Sunset here is the local ritual.

Honest expectations

The road out along the peninsula is narrow and slow, and there is no public transport. Facilities are minimal, one seasonal taverna and no shade among the ruins. The archaeology is low foundations; the setting is the reason to come.

Nearby

Lake Vouliagmeni of Perachora lies on the road in; Loutraki and the Corinth Canal are further east.