Corinth has the advantage of feeling genuinely uncrowded in November and the slight inconvenience of requiring a taxi at each end of the train journey. Get those logistics right and what you find is a site with a longer human continuity than almost anywhere in Greece - inhabited and rebuilt across Mycenaean, archaic, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman periods - and almost no other visitors to share it with.
November temperatures run 12--18°C. The site is open daily in winter (typically 08:00--15:00; confirm at the Hellenic Ministry of Culture website before going). The Corinth Canal, if you choose to see it on the way, is dramatic in low-season quiet.
Getting There
By train (recommended): Hellenic Train operates suburban rail services from Athens Larissa Station (Larissa Street, on Metro Lines 2 and 3) to Korinthos approximately hourly throughout the day. The journey takes approximately 1 hour 5 minutes. Tickets at hellenictrain.gr or at the station: approximately €8.50 one-way, €13.60 return.
Korinthos station sits approximately 5km from Ancient Corinth. Taxis wait at the station; the ride to the archaeological site takes around 10 minutes and costs approximately €7--10. Agree the fare before getting in. Taxis are available at the site for the return.
By bus (alternative): KTEL Korinthias buses run from Kifissou Bus Terminal (Metro Line 3 to Elaionas). Journey approximately 1 hour--1 hour 20 minutes, approximately €9.30 one-way. The bus drops at the KTEL terminal in modern Corinth, from which taxis (approximately €10--15) run to Ancient Corinth.
A comfortable day trip leaves Athens at around 09:00, arrives at the site by 11:00, and catches a return train from Korinthos by 16:00 - back in Pangrati or Monastiraki in time for dinner.
The Site
Ancient Corinth was one of the wealthiest city-states in the ancient Greek world: a trading city sitting astride the land route between Athens and the Peloponnese, levying tolls on ships dragged across the Isthmus. Its excavation has been run continuously by the American School of Classical Studies since 1896, which means the site is well-managed, well-documented, and notably less crowded than its historical importance would suggest.
The visible ruins are primarily Roman, reflecting the city's refounding by Julius Caesar in 44 BC after the Greek city was razed by the Roman general Mummius in 146 BC. Seven Doric columns of the Temple of Apollo, dating from around 560 BC, survived that destruction and stand above the Roman Agora - among the oldest surviving standing structures in Greece.
Allow 1.5--2 hours for the site. The core visitor paths are largely flat, compacted earth and some Roman stone paving - manageable on post-marathon legs without difficulty.
The Bema of Saint Paul
This raised stone platform, in the centre of the Roman Agora, is where the New Testament describes the Apostle Paul being brought before the Roman proconsul Gallio around 51 AD. The site records this as the most precisely dated moment in New Testament history outside the Gospels, fixed by contemporary inscriptions naming Gallio's tenure. It sits unremarked at ground level, with no queues, no audio guides, and no gift shop in front of it. Worth knowing it is there before you walk past it.
The Museum
The Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth is directly adjacent to the site and included in the combined ticket. Small but well-curated: Corinthian pottery, Roman portrait sculpture, and the "Rape of Persephone" mosaic. Allow 45 minutes. Winter combined ticket approximately €8 (confirm current pricing at the entrance).
The Corinth Canal
If you take the bus from Athens rather than the train, the KTEL stops at the Isthmus, beside the Corinth Canal. The canal is 6.4km long, 8 metres wide at the waterline, and cut 79 metres down through solid rock - begun in 1882, opened in 1893. Modern ships are too wide to use it commercially, which gives it the peculiar quality of being one of the great engineering achievements of the 19th century that now functions primarily as a tourist spectacle.
Standing on the road bridge and looking straight down at the water is vertiginous in a way photographs do not convey. Five minutes, no walking required. If you are bussing it, stop here; from the canal, taxis to Ancient Corinth cost approximately €10--12.
A Note on Acrocorinth
The ancient citadel above the town - a limestone outcrop rising 575 metres, fortified from Archaic Greek through Ottoman periods - is worth seeing, but not two days after a marathon. The approach is a steep 4km road; the path from the car park to the upper walls is loose stone with 200 metres of climbing. The descent is hard on post-race quads.
Leave it for a future visit or a pre-race trip. It will wait.
Where to Eat
The village of Ancient Corinth, immediately beside the site, has a small number of tavernas along its main square. Marinos (near the museum entrance) is a reliable and informal option: standard Greek menu, generous portions, open through the early afternoon.
Returning to Athens
Trains run roughly hourly from Korinthos back to Athens Larissa Station throughout the day, with services until late evening. Allow 15--20 minutes to get from the site back to the station by taxi. Total travel time back to central Athens: approximately 1.5 hours including the taxi.