Mystras: Greece's Impressive Ruined City

July 28, 2025, 4:17 am | Read time: 3 minutes

The ruined city of Mystras on the Peloponnese is a stop on almost every cultural tour of Greece, but it can also be explored independently by car or public bus. TRAVELBOOK provides an overview.

The picturesque Byzantine ruins of Mystras, located near Sparta, are part of the UNESCO World Heritage, like the Acropolis in Athens, the archaeological site of Delphi, and the monasteries of Meteora.

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Mystras “leans” against the Taygetos Mountains. During a tour (either self-guided or with a guide) of the extensive area, you can explore the remnants of the ruined city. Particularly noteworthy are several churches with colorful murals, including St. Sophia and St. Demetrius (see large photo above).

Nuns still live in the Pantanassa Monastery. The churches in Mystras were built in the so-called Mystras style, which includes Western Latin and Byzantine architectural forms. This looks like this: A basilica was topped with a second story in the form of a cross-domed church. Over everything in Mystras towers the main church, as it stands on a mountain about 600 meters high. From there, you have a great view of the surrounding landscape of the Peloponnese.

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Churches with Frescoes

You look out over a green sea of citrus groves and olive orchards. The church of the former Peribleptos Monastery, partially built into a rock grotto, is also famous. The numerous still-preserved frescoes in some of the monasteries and churches of Mystras are impressive.

The history of Mystras began in 1249 when Frankish crusaders built a castle on a hill in front of the over 2,400-meter-high Taygetos Mountains. This then developed into the most important city in the Middle Ages on the Peloponnese. A visit to the Archaeological Museum, built in 1876 in the neoclassical style like the buildings of the Athenian Trilogy, is worth seeing. An attraction there is the ancient clay model of a war galley.

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Travel to Mystras

Traveling from Athens by car takes about 2.5 hours to Mystras. Or you can fly to Kalamata, from there it’s an hour by rental car.

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Text contribution: Dieter Weirauch

This article is a machine translation of the original German version of TRAVELBOOK and has been reviewed for accuracy and quality by a native speaker. For feedback, please contact us at info@travelbook.de.