We visited the Monastery of Daphni in a tour back in 2017, which felt like we only touched the site at the time, so it was good to go back in October 2025 and revisit this site, but also to visit the other 2 sites included within this inscription. My review will highlight from a visitor perspective noting the previous reviews on the history and OUV of the sites in question.

We had a hire car to visit all these sites, so did not have to rely on public transport. The only site that charged an entrance fee was the Monastery of Hosios Loukas and this was a very reasonable and infact quite cheap compared to other sites across Greece, being 5 Euro only.

Monastery of Hosios Loukas.

We were staying in a little coastal town, Antikyra, and visited on a weekday morning. It is about a 30 min drive on good, sealed roads. The Monastery has a huge carpark which looks like it can accommodate numerous large coaches as well. It is certainly set up for large tourism. The Monastery area is very much larger than the other 2 inscribed sites and has a number of exhibitions and a small museum attached. Numerous information boards provide a good visitor experience. Photography was allowed throughout. It is located high on a hill and not within a community (village) and commands a great view. There are a couple of small artesian shops and cafes just outside the monastery on a courtyard prior to entering the Monastery complex. I spent about 2 hours in this Monastery, and it is very easy to do so as you explore its buildings, museum and history. The crypt below the church was very interesting.

Monastery of Daphni

We visited this monastery driving from Antikyra into Athens on our way to catch a ferry to Chios. As indicated by other reviews, it is literally located along a main road into Athens (Piraeus Port). Again, visited on a weekday, we visited at about 11.00am. I initially thought this monastery was closed as it is literarily surrounded by a large security fence and a closed locked gate. There is a buzzer you press, and it is remotely opened by a guard / curator sitting about 30 metres beyond the gate who beckons you inside. It certainly was not what I recalled from my earlier visit in 2017. Inside you a given a brief overview of the site. It is much smaller than Hosios Loukas, which has more of the 'monastery' to explore. Daphni, in the main has the church only, with a couple of rooms in a building set up for an exhibition (no exhibition was there during my visit) and the remainder to see are ruins of what was once there. Again, though good information signs about the site and the frescos in the main church was beautiful. A smaller site, an hour is all you really need to visit this location.

Monastery of Nea Moni of Chios

We hired a car for a day on Chios and visited this Monastery, again on a weekday. It is located high up in the hills and has a commanding view down the valley towards the city of Chios, being the capital on Chios Island. A brand-new sealed road has just been put in and the drive itself was quite breathtaking from a scenic perspective. This location again was large, similar to Hosios Loukas to explore but even beyond that area you could see the numerous ruins around the monastery itself for what would have been a very large monastic community in the area. It looks like a very large archaeological area that is yet to be explored fully. There were a number of information boards on this site, but not extensive, more so just identifying particular locations or items / areas of interest. Again, wonderful frescos throughout and no restrictions on photography. A very small carpark in the area that I would think would fill up quickly in the tourist season. During our visit there was some restoration work underway, which was good to see. Interesting, and not part of the OUV reason for its inscription, was an 'exhibition' of numerous humans remains that highlight the massacre of a significant proportion of the community seeking refuge in the Monastery during the Greek Wars in April 1822 were slaughtered. We spend a good 2 and half hours at this monastery and it is worth the time.

Obviously, the easiest Monastery to visit is Daphni, as being just out of Athens, it would be easy to visit by hire car or public transport, but if you really wanted to 'tick' this site off, take the effort to visit the other remaining monasteries. The other 2 monasteries provide, in my view, a far more better visitor experience and each of the monastery areas are larger with lots more to explore and see. Travelling to them and their geographical locations provide some of the beauty in visiting them. All the frescos at all 3 sites are amazing.