I hope to return to Greece next year. It will probably be via a small group tour with my own extensions before and after. After will be a favorite place on Santorini.
Before = I definitely want to visit Meteora. I would love to hear from others as to how they traveled there, accessed the monasteries (or not) and any other general suggestions.
Thanks!

Are you going anywhere else in the north? Where will you be coming from?

We took the bus to get there and stayed a couple of nights. There is a local bus which does circuits of the monasteries (you can buy single tickets or a day ticket). It starts at the bus station. It is also possible to walk to the monasteries but some are more challenging to get to than others. We walked up to Agia Triada on our arrival day. The next day we used a combination of bus and feet to visit other monasteries and then walked back to Kalambaka. The walk back was not really signposted and was not a stroll but it was nice. We were told that weekends are typically busier and some places had quite long queues ( we visited in May this year). Personally I don’t think it’s necessary to visit them all. I’d also check for opening days and hours as they vary.

Hiking in the area can sometimes be a bit steep. You can walk on the roads if there is no connecting path but care is needed with cars and buses.

There are probably tours but I don’t know about them. If you are thinking of a day tour from Athens, personally I wouldn’t, as the journey time is too long.

We drove ourselves with a stop in Delphi overnight. I agree that I wouldn't do a long day from Athens. I would spend a night in Meteroa. We were on our own so we drove around and visited 2 monasteries. Most of them look to be difficult hikes to get to them. There are 2 monasteries that are easily accessible -- one, St Stephan you literally park right at it and there is no steep inclines as there are in most of them. The scenery is gorgeous. You can also hire drivers. ElizabethS did that.

I have a TR that describes our time there. 29 Days in Glorious Greece

The approach to Meteora

No advice but looking for other people’s experiences as I’m hoping to go there next year, too.

FYI - anyone who is planning to go there right now will probably be disappointed as recent floods due to powerful rainstorms have made many roads impassable and trains aren’t running.

Thanks so much for the responses so far. I hope more will share.

No, I would not do this as a day trip out of Athens.

On my previous trip, I used private drivers recommended by challiman. I had a driver pick me up at the airport and we did a half day trip to Corinth before taking me to the hotel for afternoon check-in. It was the perfect way to use an arrival day with an early morning arrival.

Later on that trip, I used the same company (PK Travels) and their long-time private driver, Constantine, to go to Delphi. He was fabulous and hilarious. He was a highlight of the entire trip and only does long drive days for his long time friends who own the company. I would be happy to do the same for Meteora, but it would definitely be a 2 day/ overnight trip from Athens.

I'm leaning in that direction but wondering what others have done. There are no constraints as for as the length of the trip, time of year, etc. I'll plan around suggestions. Thanks so much!

We used the local bus and found the schedule varied by the season and we waited hours (in September) and finally gave up. Our hotel front desk took pity on us and gave us a ride. Also, the schedule of the monasteries varies from day to day so they are not all open at the same time. You need two days to see all of them. The young nuns doing crowd control with walkie-talkies was unusual. I bet they didn't expect that when they entered the convent but they made it work and the busloads of tourists followed the directions.

If approaching from the road there are no difficult hikes to any of the monasteries which are open to the public but there are usually stairs of course to gain access so they may be an issue for those with mobility issues.

There is a small fee (3eu) at each monastery and modest dress is expected. No trousers or short skirts for women and no shorts for men. Bare shoulders should also be avoided.

We were told that Megalo Meteoron is the most popular monastery so it may pay to visit there first if it is of special interest. The queue when we were there was sufficiently long that we opted out on that one.

The thing that struck me was how fearful the original monks must have been to have gone to such lengths to build where they did. They sought protection and isolation. It’s pretty ironic that they are now inundated with thousands of visitors but they do have something pretty extraordinary to share.

I have been to Meteora numerous times since my first visit there on my honeymoon in 1978. My husband’s family lives not far from the monasteries and also has a connection to Trikala so it is usually on the agenda when we visit. I am always struck by massive rock formations and have never seen anything like it. We have never stayed overnight here but this year, en route to my husband’s summer house in the mountains in Mesochora, we decided to spend the night in Kalambaka. We had a car so we were able to access the monasteries ourselves.

Kalabaka is a very nice little town at the foot of the cliffs. We stayed in a small hotel one block off of the main street. Nothing very extraordinary about the hotel but the breakfast was nice. We ate the night we stayed at Restaurant Meteora. Based on over 4,000 reviews online we were not disappointed. My husband had the lamb in wine sauce with stewed eggplant and he raved about the dinner.

We arrived on a Sunday and after checking in, we drove up to the Holy Monastery of St. Stephen. It is readily accessible with no stairs to climb. I had wanted to also visit Varlaam the next day but due to the amount of stairs and my current mobility problem, it wasn’t possible. In the past, I had been to the Great Meteoron several times and I believe one other. Instead, we drove to some of the outlooks and took pictures. We had driven up from the town of Kalambaka and I didn’t realize there was another road down, coming out in Kastraki. I would definitlely recommend doing both drives as the road to Kastraki revealed different cliffs, with visible caves and ruins seen from the road.

Tourists are more familiar with Athens and the islands and don’t realize there are other wonderful things to see in other areas in Greece. I recommend anyone traveling to Greece and can make it to the Thessaly region to visit this amazing place. Did you know that the Monastery of the Holy Trinity was featured in the James Bond Movie
”For Your Eyes Only”?!!!!!

Also, for those that haven’t heard the news, the region of Thessaly, which is comprised of Trikala, Larissa, and my husbands hometown of Farsala,, as well as the city of Volos, on the coast, was involved this past week in horrific rain and catastrophic flooding. Luckily, friends and family there are safe and we are lucky that this didn’t happen while we were there in mid August.





Approaching Kalambaka



Driving up

St. Stephens





Looking over Kalambaka









Coming down the other side

I just noticed that Dreamon mentioned the dress code. I wanted to add that if you have on shorts or pants (women), the monastery we went to provided wraps free of charge to put over your clothing.

Gorgeous photos! GREAT info! Thank you!
Amazing that your husband's family lives nearby!