This Summer, We Trade Island Beaches for Alpine Waterfalls

Konitsa is one of the main settlements of Epirus, more precisely a small town, and it has the considerable advantage of standing right beside the Aoos River. It spreads across a beautiful wooded slope at an altitude of 600 meters, looking out over the river valley. Its uphill lanes are lined with stone mansions, while its square, shaded by large plane trees, is a meeting point for locals and visitors over coffee, tsipouro, meze, and conversation.

Imagine waking up in absolute quiet and walking down to the river with your coffee, to enjoy its remarkable natural surroundings, swim, or even go kayaking. Then you climb back up to the village for kontosouvli and Epirot pies, and later in the afternoon return to the square for coffee or a drink.

More active travelers can enjoy a short hike through the forest, such as the walk to the little church of Agia Varvara, which offers wonderful views over Konitsa and the Aoos Valley. The cell where Saint Paisios lived as an ascetic is also in the area and can be visited. You can also take on a longer and more demanding hike to Stomiou Monastery.

If you enjoy drives, you can head to the Kleidonia Bridge on the Voidomatis River, with its enormous plane trees, and relax in the shade. You can also visit the village of Molyvdoskepastos, with its 14th-century monastery of the same name, and stop for a swim in the river along the way, at the Mesogefyra point. It is worth going as far as Ganadio, a small stone village at an altitude of 890 meters that is genuinely charming, as well as Pyrsoyianni, which produced some of the best-known stone craftsmen in the region.

Lake Plastira is a wonderful choice for a mountain holiday. It combines beautiful alpine scenery, fir-covered slopes, and the presence of water, with places where you can swim. There are many villages to choose from for your stay, all set in lush natural surroundings: some perched on the slopes of the Agrafa mountains, others very close to the lake.

One of the most developed villages, with several accommodation options, is Neochori. It is a classic mountain village and can serve as your base for exploring the surrounding area. You can go up to the Agrafa refuge and walk to the summit of Tembla, looking out over a “blanket” of mountain peaks and fir trees, or cross the 220-meter-long dam of the Tavropos River.

You can also visit the nearby villages: pretty Neraida; Karitsa, with the monastery of Panagia Pelekiti, built into the rock with a singular view of the lake; Filakti, at an altitude of 1,000 meters; and Belokomiti. You can also hike among the fir trees, sunbathe beside the lake at Pezoula Beach or opposite it at Lambero Beach, go canoeing on the lake, cycle along the small roads around it, splash in the Karitsiotis stream that flows into the lake, walk to the Anthochori waterfall, and enjoy many more experiences in nature.

On the foothills of Mount Olympus, at an altitude of 700 meters and just eight kilometers from the beach of Platamonas, Palaios Panteleimonas is an ideal place for a mountain holiday that can also be easily combined with swims in the sea. The village is beautifully picturesque. More accurately, it is a designated traditional settlement, slightly cooler than the lowlands stretching below it, with a view of the Aegean. It is surrounded by greenery, and the fact that it lies on the slopes of Olympus gives it an added charge of atmosphere.

Your days here can include an unhurried coffee in the square, conversations with the locals, walks through the village and along its paths, such as the route from the village to the stone chapel of Prophet Elias and Kati Spring, and, of course, if you wish, sunbathing on the coast of Platamonas. You can also visit Platamon Castle, a Middle Byzantine fortress with an impressive tower. If you enjoy archaeological outings, you can drive for half an hour and walk through Dion, the sacred city par excellence of the ancient Macedonians. The archaeological site covers 1,500 stremmata and includes a fortified city with private houses, baths, a theater, workshops, places of worship, and more.

Two villages that share the same beauty. Stone-built houses with slate roofs, stone-paved lanes, flowers breaking up the gray, and rich nature all around. These fairytale settlements are worth considering if you have not yet managed to visit them and if island holidays now feel too predictable and overcrowded. Your walks here are accompanied by the impressive Towers of Astraka, the quiet, and the wonderful natural setting. The villages may not have the sea nearby, as Palaios Panteleimonas does, but they do have the Kolymbithres, the small natural basins carved by the Rogovo stream inside the gorge. They are a must-see. There is also the Voidomatis River, shortly before the settlements, where at the Aristi Bridge you can spread your towel under towering plane trees and enjoy its coolness, which, admittedly, is considerable even in summer.

Bear in mind that many other Zagori villages lie around you, all of them beautiful and ideal for drives from one to the next, especially now, when the weather is good, without snow or rain, and with fewer people than in winter. Do you want hikes as well? There are plenty, both short and long, including the one that leads to the Astraka refuge and the Dragon Lake of Tymfi, a unique experience well worth having. If you have the equipment, you can even camp.

Evrytania is another enchanting region that we usually visit in winter: to ski down the slopes of Velouchi, have a snowball fight, or simply drink coffee at the chalet. It is also worth discovering in the summer months, when there are clearly fewer people and the weather favors drives and hikes. A very good choice for a stay is Megalo Chorio, which offers seclusion as well as the option of livelier outings, since it is about 13 kilometers from Karpenisi. It sits on a slope of Mount Kaliakouda, at an altitude of roughly 700 meters, surrounded by fir trees, with the Karpenisiotis River flowing nearby.

Here, walks through the cobbled alleys, lined with handsome stone houses, are almost obligatory at any time of day. The afternoon walk, however, should definitely end with coffee and galaktoboureko in the plane-tree-shaded square. You can, of course, combine a deeply relaxed holiday with excursions in the wider area: to the Kaliakouda refuge for extraordinary views, to fairytale-like Palio Mikro Chorio with its little lake, to picturesque Koryschades and Nostimo, and to the Holy Monastery of Proussos, from where you can begin hikes through magical nature toward Mavri Spilia and the waterfall.

The Karpenisiotis may not be ideal for swimming, but it certainly lends itself to playing with water. And it is more than worth organizing a visit to the impressive Panta Vrechei gorge.