Ancient Olympia

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
6
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
9
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
6
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
5
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
9
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
8
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
72 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
132nd/454
Top 30%
continent
Europe
country
Greece
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$40 ($25-$50 in 2025 prices)
Time of year visited
November
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Ancient ruins Museums Wonder of the World
All Tags
Forests UNESCO world heritage site
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐

Summary

Ancient Olympia, much like Delphi, hits you with the weight of history the moment you step inside.  Its astonishing to think that the ancient games ran for  1169 years – think of what happened in those years 776BC to 393AD!; that the Ancient World stopped for those days to allow free travel to attend; its legacy now with the modern version and how events like the discuss and running track events sit firmly in our world-psyche; and that it represented the the valley of the gods, home to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – the statue of Zeus.  A truly globally significant site.

The ruins themselves are also just generally pretty atmospheric and beautifully set in the quiet valley to walk around, with enough standing columns, temples and foundations to fire the imagination.  Add in a cute nearby town for lunch or a wander, and you’ve got a genuinely fascinating day that connects ancient history with the world we live in now.  3.5hours from Athens, but totally Worth it.

Ancient Olympia

Table of Contents

Ancient Olympia Highlights

Ancient Olympia. #1 The general vibe. I know its an odd one to highlight, but there are enough standing columns, temples and foundations to really fire the imagination. It was fantastic just wandering around. It must have been immense back in its height

#1 The general vibe. I know its an odd one to highlight, but there are enough standing columns, temples and foundations to really fire the imagination. It was fantastic just wandering around. It must have been immense back in its height

Ancient Olympia. #2 Standing on the original Olympic track. You can actually walk - or sprint as some were doing - down the ancient Stadion where the athletes competed. Unreal to stand on something so familiar yet so ancient.

#2 Standing on the original Olympic track. You can actually walk - or sprint as some were doing - down the ancient Stadion where the athletes competed. Unreal to stand on something so familiar yet so ancient.

Ancient Olympia. #3 The Temple of Zeus - the temple that housed the gigantic seated Zeus and one of the original Wonders of the World . . .

#3 The Temple of Zeus - the temple that housed the gigantic seated Zeus and one of the original Wonders of the World . . .

statue-of-Zeus-Olympia-aspect-ratio-900-675

. . . and what it would have looked like!

Ancient Olympia. #4 The peacefulness of the setting. Olympia is green and surprisingly beautiful, with a quiet valley of olive trees and rivers.

#4 The peacefulness of the setting. Olympia is green and surprisingly beautiful, with a quiet valley of olive trees and rivers.

Ancient Olympia Travel Tips

 

Ancient Olympia doesn’t really need a huge number of tips – its a fairly straightforward wander around, so I’ll keep this light:

1. Time needed – couple of hours should be more than enough for the site, plus say 30mins for the museum.  Obviously though, if a history nut, you could spend days here.

2. Definitely visit the museum – ideally beforehand.  Its done pretty well and is designed to give you context rather than overwhelm you with 8,000 broken pottery pieces.

3. What was it like in early November?  Perfect, not too busy and the weather was nice with bright blue sky days and temperature great for walking around in.

4. The town of Olympia itself – surprisingly chilled and charming spot that you can walk to the Ancient Olympia site from.  Definitely worth a lunch stop.

5. To see how it fits into a one or two week Greece itinerary – see the 2 week Greece Itinerary post full of the route, things to prioritise and general tips for the trip.

 

Some mini History Facts I found interesting about Ancient Olympia

  • The Stade – the footrace of roughly 200m, or one length of the stadium – was the premier event.  The victor had that overall Olympic gathering named after them.
  • The Stade (185m to be exact) was also a unit of length that was used throughout the Greek world.  It was the equivalent of our kms and miles. today.
  • The Spartans tended to dominate the physical events, due to their brutal training and never say die attitude.
  • Participants entered as individuals, but they were funded and a huge source of pride to the individual city state.
  • They ran continuously from 776BC to 393AD (1169 years) . . . which is astonishing.  The Ancient Greeks started it, allowed it to flourish and the Romans continued.
  • The Greeks got a bit anal as to who could participate and it sparked some disagreements as to who could.  For example, the Macedonians weren’t considered Greek.  But Philip II (precursor to Alexander the Great) was so powerful that he was allowed to participate and his horses won two events.
  • The truce to attend the games – bear in mind that Ancient Greece was rarely unified and more often at war with each other (let alone the Persians).  Think of them more of a collection of city states that shared a common language, religion and culture.  So its incredible to think that every 4 years they put their differences aside to allow full participation.
  • The Romans looked at it slightly differently – the empire was too vast for all hostilities to stop.  But they did ensure safe passage for all to attend.
  • Zeus was said to have defeated his father Kronos here.
  • Pretty magical that the shotput event returned in here in 2004.  No entrance fees, no additional stands, just old school.

Experiences Nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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