(22,658 inhab.)  Here is a word to the wise, if you are ever taking the bus from Pirgos to Athens and plan to get off in Corinth, know what you're doing!  They just dropped us off on the side of the main highway ("Corinth here!" said the driver), a couple kilometers from the main part of town!  Again, here is when asking children questions paid off (it's much more likely that they'll know English).  The town wasn't that bad, but the accommodations we wound up with (the Hotel Belle-Vue, "central if a little shabby" according to the Rough Guide) were the worst I saw in all of Greece.  I really was worried that every step I took could have ended up with my leg hanging down into the next room, shouting, "a little help here."  It is a tip-off that you better go elsewhere when the hotel clerk answers all your questions with "yesno."

Ancient Corinthwas worth the trouble though.  It's a short ride up the hill from the modern city so you'll have to go to the right station and take a bus up to the site (through some very narrow streets).  The archaeological site of Ancient Corinth is amazing (the entire site is photographed and explained here) and the archaeological museum of Ancient Corinth has some great sculpture and mosaics.  The layout of the Roman city is not too confusing (here is the Corinthian Bouleterion).  Take your time though.   Be sure and see the Peirene Spring (Pausanias 2.3.3) and the theater on the other side of the road.  I wish I had gone up to the Acrocorinthtoo.  The ancient fortress atop the mountain supposedly has a cafe, the Acrocorinthos, which has some rooms to let.  But you had better call ahead since there are not very many available.   From the top of Acrocorinth, and on a clear day, you can see all the way to Aegina and the Athenian Acropolis as well as the entire Gulf of Corinth to the west.  Strabo visited this site and described it almost two millenia ago, but you can still read what he wrote (8.6.21) about the view and the city below.   There is also a scholarly electronic journal about Corinth and the surrounding area that is available online, the Korinthiaka.  You can find a plan to reconstruct the Roman city of Corinth, online of course, at the Corinth Computer Project located at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kenchreai:  Kenchreai, the eastern port of Corinth which is a little south of Isthmia, is also an important archaeological site (Pausanias 2.2.3) whose excavations are available online thanks to Kathryn Conners, though in a more abbreviated format than some of the other sites.  It was important during the classical period due to the walls that ran from Corinth to the Saronic Gulf here and in Roman times it served as an important port for the area.

Sikyon is also nearby and it has a nice but small theater (Pausanias 2.7.5).  One final stop is the Ancient Sanctuary of Hera at Perachora.

Once the heights of Acrocorinth have passed from view, the bus rides along the side of a valley (crossing the same set of  train tracks numerous times), eventually passing the ancient village of Tenea, and then the major site of Nemea, famous for its sanctuary of Zeus.   Though I didn't get a chance to stop, I wish that I had time to go to the archaeological site of Nemea, its stadium and its museum (Pausanias 2.15.2).  The Nemea Valley Archaeological Project has information available online thanks to the people at Bryn Mawr and the American School of Classical Studies.