Visit: march the 14 and 15th,2025

Meteora is a first-class whs which plays in the top of the league.I visited all 7 monasteries ( 6 inside and one only from outside )

But first things first: on the 14th of march I took an ktel bus from Thessaloniki early in the morning to Kalampaka via Trikala where I arrived around 13.15. 

I went straight to the tourist information office to get a map of the area. However, I accidentally walked into a travel agency, Meteora Travel. Well, I got a map from them and an offer for a so-called sunset tour at 3 p.m. and a hiking tour at 8 a.m. for the following day. Each tour for 35€, combined 60€.

Then I walked a couple of meters to the tourist information office, where I took a photo of the monastery's opening hours. Finally, I walked to Kastraki, where my accommodation was located. A good decision, as Kastraki is much more picturesque, pleasant, and closer to the trails than the larger and very touristy Kalampaka.

I hadn't had the intention to book a tour. Besides, the price just seemed too high to me. I mentioned this to the hotel owner. He immediately called another agency that only charged €25 for the so-called sunset tour. Apparently all sunset tours start at 3 p.m.

I'm not a fan of organized tours at all. Nevertheless, I accepted the offer. Shortly before 3:00 p.m., a minibus picked me up from my accommodation in Kastraki. There were only four of us, plus one guide. The so-called sunset tours all seem to have the same itinerary. First, you're taken to the ancient Byzantine church in Kalampaka. Then you continue to various viewpoints where you can take a few photos.Then we went to the St. Stephen's Monastery where we had around 30 minutes at our disposal. Finally, we went to the sunset viewpoint. All in all, the tour lasted 3.5 hours.

The next day, I began my long trek to see as many remaining monasteries as possible. The young female greek guide had mentioned the day before that Varlaam Monastery was her favorite. Unfortunately, it's closed on fridays...according to the tourist information.

To cut a long story short...the tourist information office's opening hours were incorrect...to my pleasant surprise, the Varlaam Monastery was open. I set off at 8:30 in the morning. I then visited the St. Nicholas Anapausas Monastery, which opens its doors at 9:00. I was the only visitor until about 9:30.

Then I took the trail to the Ypapantis Monastery(closed,but I walked up the stairs till the closed main entrance ,great view from there) This section was certainly one of the highlights of my stay in Meteora. I took a long break on the plateau of Papathymios Vlahavas, from where you have a fantastic view of the Ypapantis Monastery and the monastery of St. Dimitrios above it, which was destroyed by the Turks.I continued along the trail, another highlight, to the Great Meteoron Monastery, the largest of all the monasteries. Easily accessible by bus, mass tourism of the worst kind. I didn't like it at all. More like Disneyland than an Orthodox monastery. My trail led me further past the Varlaam Monastery, which, to my surprise, was open. Also flooded with tourists, but fewer than in  the Meteoron Monastery.Afterward, I visited the Rousenou Monastery shortly before the end of its visiting hours at 3:30 p.m. Afterward, I hurried and walked along the main road to reach the Holy Trinity Monastery, which closes its doors at 4:30 p.m. The Trinity Monastery was quite pleasant with few tourists...in contrast to many other monasteries.. with predominantly Greek visitors.From there I took the trail to Kalampaka and from there on to Kastraki. On the way there I visited the abandoned monastery of St. Anthony. My pedometer showed me 26.57 km at the end of the day. My favorite monastery was the monastery of St. Nicholas Anapausas. I was alone there. Most monasteries suffer from terrible mass tourism of an unimaginable  magnitude. Generally speaking, I liked the remote trails better than the monasteries themselves.Nevertheless, Meteora is a world-class world heritage site of the first order.Two nights there are the absolute minimum IMO.

A final word I strongly advise against visiting Meteora during high season.It must be pure hell and a true nightmare.