Hotels in Sparta

There's one very special place to stay here, the Xenonas Pyrgos Mystras, a seven-unit boutique hotel , which is the antithesis of most large, impersonal Greek hotels. Most hotels here offer substantial reductions in the off season. Mistra is a tiny village, but because of the Byzantine site, it has a number of cafes and restaurants.

Go Organic on a Spartan Farm -- If you want to stay on an organic farm less than an hour's drive south of Sparta in the hamlet of Gouves and perhaps learn the tango or vegan cooking, check out Eumelia (www.eumelia.com), which has five rental houses, a staff of three, and never more than 25 guests taking a wide variety of seminars and workshops. Eumelia aims for "100% self-sufficiency" and all its buildings are built with great attention to environmental issues (but they still have TV and Internet access). Prices are reasonable: 120€ per night for two people in a two-bedroom cottage in 2011.