Recommended Meteora monasteries to visit in a limited timeframe
 

My wife and I will be visiting Meteora next month for a full day (and possibly an extra morning - we have a 7:00 pm ferry from Piraeus the next day and feel that we should be easily able to make the boat if we leave Meteora at noon).

We are asking for any suggestions as to which monasteries to visit and the order of preference (without regard as to closure days and understanding that The Great Meteoron will be included).

Thanks so much for all responses!

Nevertooold

Anybody?

Ok I will try. You will have to decide which monasteries are open the days you plan to visit. That will determine your plan. You need to be staying close to Meteora so you can get an early start. When the tour buses arrive whatever plan you had is out the window. Get in early and then get out. At one monastery we counted 30 tour buses in the parking lot. After that we just enjoyed viewing them from the outside.
Here is part of my trip report.

Time your arrival in the early evening. They whole area will be peaceful with virtually no one around. Get your photos of the monasterys now. You will have uninterrupted vistas of each monastery. Determine which monasterys will be open the next day and then drive down to the village of Kastraki. Its right in the mountains with beautiful views. Our hotel actually had views of three of the monasterys from our balcony.
Next morning get back to the monasterys. You should be able to see one or perhaps two before the tour buses arrive. We counted 30 tour buses in the parking lot of one monastery. When the crowds become too much, drive back to Athens. We actually spent the second night in Kastraki because of how tiring the day was.

Olympia Delphi Meteora https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr...7645469717811/

Stanbr - as always, thanks so much for your advice.

We are arriving on Wednesday evening and will be at our first monastery by 9:00 am when it opens.On the day when we are there (Thursday), the only one closed will be Holy Trinity.

As we will see Grand Meteoron for certain and plan to be able to see, at most, 2 or 3 others (and maybe Holy Trinity the next morning), I am looking for advice as to what people feel are the next 2 or 3 in order of preference so that we can determine our plan of attack.

Nevertooold

I really can't provide any better advice. It all depends on how many other tourists are already there. You can see as many monasterys that are open as long as you are willing to put up with crowds. After one we were finished. The crush of people made it unpleasant.
We were happy that we had seen them all from a distance the night before. In many ways the location up on top of the mountains is the wonder of Meteora.