Meteora Monasteries: visit sequence suggestions?
 

We will be spending 2 nights in Kastraki to visit the monasteries. We will be arriving Tuesday afternoon so I know we need to see Rousanou that day (Tuesday) as it will be closed on Wednesday. Other than that (and finicky opening hours), is there a 'best' sequence to visit the monasteries? I think we would like to walk part of it, maybe from Kastraki to Agios Stefanos in the morning. Thoughts/experiencies on this?

The day we arrived we also did Roussanou. It had beautiful paintings and felt very serene there. The next day we managed to see all the remaining ones with enough time at each. We are seniors (back in 2011 we were in our mid-late 60s) so we took things slow and easy. I don't like to rush from place to place so this schedule may or may not work for you. I know it did for us. We left our hotel in Kalambaka around 9-9:30 am and drove our rental car from monastery to monastery. Order of our visits: Agios Nikolas Anapafsas, Agios Stephanos, Agia Triada, Varlaam, and Great Meteora last. We were done by 5 pm or so. A long day but there was time to sit at several of the monasteries and take in the views while relaxing. Be mindful of the dress code. Signs were posted no entry for men wearing shorts and short sleeved shirts and for women wearing pants, shorts, and short sleeve shirts. I wore a long skirt and a blouse/top with short sleeves and was ok. No one said anything to me about my short sleeve top which covered my shoulders. My husband wore long light weight pants and a light weight long sleeve shirt over a tee shirt. We were there late June 2011. It is a truly amazing place to experience!

Around the monasteries, there are no restaurants or cafes (there are some moving kiosks), so it is always a good idea to take some snacks and a bottle of water. Don’t forget the appropriate clothing and your camera :-)

For this period this timetable should be correct:

Monasteries Summer (April 1st to October 31st) Timetable


St. Stephen's Nunnery

Visiting Hours: 9:30 to 13:30 and 15:30 to 17:30.

The monastery stays closed on Mondays.


Great Meteoron Monastery

Visiting Hours: 09:00 to 17:00.

The monastery stays closed on Tuesdays.


Roussanou Monastery

Visiting Hours: 09:00 to 17:45.

The monastery stays closed on Wednesdays.


Holy Trinity Monastery

Visiting Hours: 09:00 to 17:00.

The monastery stays closed on Thursdays.


Varlaam Monastery

Visiting Hours: 09:00 to 16:00.

The monastery stays closed on Fridays.


St. Nikolaos Anapafsas Monastery

Visiting Hours: 09:00 to 15:30.

The monastery stays closed on Fridays.


Be aware that every monastery charge 5 euro for entrance.

Thanks!

Has anyone hiked the entire route?

St Stephen's/Agios Stephanos Staffed by nuns with very nice gift shop. When we were there there was something similar to a food truck in the parking area where you could purchase drinks and some basic food.

As I stated we drove. If you wanted you could probably hike from place to place but I bet it would be quite a distance and take time away from visiting the monasteries themselves.

This website has a lot of good info if you want to walk.
http://www.balkanology.com/greece/article_meteora.html

Thanks again!

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