The modern village of Iolkos, a few kilometres north of the city centre, sits on the site of ancient Iolcus — the city of the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. Excavations have revealed Bronze Age and Mycenaean remains: building foundations, pottery, and traces of the kind of palace-centred settlement that matches the Homeric world in which the myth is set. The site itself is low-key — exposed foundations, fragmentary walls, information boards — and the setting on the Thessalian plain is not particularly dramatic.
What makes it worth visiting is the context it provides. To stand on the ground from which the Argo supposedly set sail, and then to go to the Volos archaeological museum and see the actual Mycenaean finds from the site, gives the myth a tangible grounding that you do not usually get with Greek legend. The museum's collection from Iolcus and the surrounding area is substantial, and the two sites — the excavation and the museum — work well together. Iolkos is easily combined with Sesklo and Dimini, the Neolithic settlements a similar distance from the city in the other direction.