My daughter and I are planning a trip to Greece in November of this year. We would like to visit Meteora after our first three days in Athens. I would like to know if there is a bus that I can take to get there and where the best place would be to base ourselves- Kalampaka? Is mid-November quite cold and rainy or will hiking tours still be available? If necessary I will rent a car to drive there but I prefer to use public transportation if possible. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Posted by
Philadelphia, PA, USA
3397 posts
Hello Pets! there are many options for Meteora, but IMHO since it's November, shortest days of the year, realistically this will be a trip involving an overnight. In that case, there are many places offering a 2-day tour by rail. You et yourself to the larissa train station, there's a 5-hour train trip (more comfortable than bus, because good seats & you can get up, walk around etc). Typically then u are met at Kalambaka and taken to a hotel... next day a guided tour of 3-4 monasteries, then back on the train.
Which one to use?? I just now googled "overnight tour to Meteora" and there were at least 6 choices, of tours v like descrpt. I'd say, look at all of them, and then ask Trip Advisor 'best meteora overnight tour". Learn something from people's missteps, i.e, not printing out vouchers etc. And yes Nov. is quite variable, could be rainy. Good luck!
Posted by
OP
27 posts
Thanks for the information. I should have stated that we are planning to spend about three days in that area to be able to do some exploring. I had heard of the train and was not sure if that or a bus would be the better option. We are definitely going to look into some hiking tours but would also like to do some exploring on our own as then we are not locked into a particular time schedule.
Posted by
Bavaria
2480 posts
While there is just one direct train per day to Kalambaka there are several bus connections operated by the KTEL Trikala (details on their website). And unlike the train the buses are quite reliable. I'd look for accomodation not in Kalambaka itself but in the village of Kastraki (halfways between Kalambaka and the Meteora; bus connection from Kalambaka), which has a large selection of hotels of all price levels.
Posted by
OP
27 posts
I read about Kastrak and it seems like it would be a good base. Do you know if it is relatively easy to get to the monasteries from there or would you need a car? I am a little unclear as to how the monasteries are reached-is there a path between them? Is it possible to see two to three in a day by foot? The research I have done so far does not seem very clear on the specific details.
Posted by
Bavaria
2480 posts
There are only a few buses up to the monasteries, so I would take a taxi up, which is not expensive for the approx. five kilometers (arrange that with your hotel). Let yourself bring to the furthest monastry and also the highest in altitude, the Megalo Meteoro (which is also the most worth seeing). From there I would walk back the 5 kms to Kastraki (always slightly downhill) and visit the following monasteries: from Megalo Meteoro to the Monastery of Vaarlam, then down to the monastery of Roussanou and further down to the Hagios Nikolaos Anapavsas Monastery. From there it is just 1 km walk back to Kastraki.
The monasteries alternately take a rest day (your hotel knows the actual details), so you might have either to start at Vaarlam or leave out Vaarlam, but you can visit at least three monasteries on this tour which are worth seeing from the viewpoint of history of arts. Arrange with your hotel that they send you a taxi upon request case you get tired on the way.
I have not mentioned two other monasteries: (1) Hagia Triada is difficult to access (steep ascent and descent, sturdy shoes required) - the view is good, but the state of preservation of the church is miserable; (2) Hagios Stephanos, a nunnery, has mostly modern paintings and almost no historical frescoes. If you want to visit these two too, the walk extends for five more km (plus 40 min access and return to and from Hagia Triada from the road).
If you are a seasoned mountain hiker, there is also a footpath from Kastraki up; I used to take it when I was young, but in the heat it was not a pleasure even then. Enjoy your visit.
BTW, I can recommend three hotels in Kastraki where I have stayed several times: (a) Hotel Kastraki (medium range), (b) Doupiani House (a bit upscale), (c) Zosas Rooms (simple and cheap). But as said above, there are numerous others.
Posted by
OP
27 posts
This is really helpful information. Thank you to everyone who replied. This gives me the details I needed to finish planning the first week of my trip. I will make a separate post with the questions I have regarding my second week as we would like to see one or two islands. We are traveling in total for a little over two and a half weeks.