Mount Olympus — Attraction in Dion - Olympos Municipality

An amazing part of Greece to visit. If you just want to sample what the area has to offer, stop at The Old Monastery of St Dionysius. You can walk along the river for an hour or so in both directions & see the Chapel in the rock, walk over wooden bridges & delight in some of the majestic waterfalls. The walk is not too strenuous if you are able bodied & takes in the highlights. Good way to spend your time in sporty way! Views are awesome! I advise you to take hiking staff like sticks with you - it really helps you to hike more safe and comfortable. You can leave your car in the parking zone (1000 meters high). Breath taking views. Beautiful roads, lovely view points. If you are a hiker, you should prepare for a treat. Recommended, even with a private car, for a few hours. Strat from the tourist visit center. A visit to M. Olympus is a must for every hiker! I have visited several times the national park and simply you cannot see it all in once. Several mountain huts up there with friendly people will make your hike easier. Best time to go there early june or late October-make sure to contact with huts for availability. Exciting nature view, air and feelings. It's remarkable that you are standing at a place that is there for thousands of years and changed World History. Lucky with awesome weather. All the reading and even the rangers say it can't be done in one day... Total BS amigos! I am not fast just move at a steady pace and did the whole thing in 8 hrs. If you want to stay at the refuge then it makes an easy 2 days but if you only have one day and have decent fitness you can succeed in one day. And if you are too tired when you get back to the refuge you can always spend the night. The last bit is challenging but manageable. Enjoy and don't...

Visiting from the USA. Rented a car from Athens. Stayed in Litochoro for three days (highly recommend, lovely places to stay along the ocean as well as in town via hotel or Airbnb). Wonderful restaurants and cafe in town. We drove to Prionia to start the hike. We summitted Skala (2866 meters) and completed it in one day in under 7 hours for a 10.8 mile day and over 6,000 foot elevation gain. However, we took few breaks and are avid hikers. Most stay at Refuge A (3 miles into the hike) and then summit the next morning (another 2 miles however much steeper and more difficult). You do have to make a reservation for the Refuge in advance. The Refuge does have bathrooms (squat over toilets) and had cold water from the ice melt for drinking water and cleaning up. Once you have reached Skala you can hike one more mile out to Mytikas (the tallest summit at 2918 meters). We had planned to do Mytikas but watched some people have very near death scrambles on unstable rock and elected to play it safe. I would recommend hiring a guide if you wish to rock climb across Mytikas as you will be roped in, in the event of a fall. However, we saw several individuals scrambling up to Mytikas without ropes or guides.

Highly...

We did a one-day hike up Mount Olympus and really enjoyed it. In the morning, we started from the Prionia parking lot and made our way up to Skala peak. The trail is really beautiful and the view from the top absolutely stunning. We passed the refuge A at 2100m altitude and enjoyed some delicious soup there.

In terms of planning I would not recommend doing ascent and descent on the same day (as we did). Even though I would describe myself as relatively fit (I run multiple times per week), I perceived the 20km round trip with 1,800m difference in altitude as somewhat challenging. Especially the top section near Skala is nasty. After finally reaching the top, you will still need a lot of energy for the descent. Most of the hikers we met spent a night at refuge A, which I would recommend if I were to do it again. They offer various food items and drinks. I believe for an overnight stay a reservation is required.

The trail itself is in good condition, however has some more challenging gravel and snow sections (at least in May). You should definitely bring sufficient water and food. We burned more than 5k calories that day and drank 4l each. And most importantly, bring proper...