This network of paths offers the visitor the chance to experience a scenic walk through the woods, by the river, on the top of mountains, in a gorge in a... read more constantly changing environment. The hiker must be well prepared for rapid weather changes and never hike by a river or in a gorger during rainy days. A guide is highly recommended for beginners.

  We did two hikes:

Steminitsa-dimitsana: great hike with both mountain views and lush forest. We visited two monasteries on the way which were really worthwhile. About halfway there’s a... read more bridge with a river which is a good place for a dip. It took us about 5 hours. We passed some people on the first half of the trip and none thereafter.

Vytina, small loop, direction of Elati and back: most beautiful part nature wise, authentic Greek tranquil landscape with olive trees, old bridges and rivers.

I really recommend using the app “AllTrails” - this shows all the possible pathways and tracks your location live. The trail itself is really well marked, except for a small bit around the water museum (close to Dimitsana). I’m adding the local information on the route in the photos.

  We walked from Stemnitsa town & saw two old monasteries along the way. However we had a bit of trouble getting a trail map. Before we left Australia, we bought... read more a map via Menalon Trail site, but no matter how I tried, I just couldn’t download the map they sent on the email. We just loved the look of Stemnista town as we drove through & rang Mpelleiko Guest House that afternoon & got a room there. Luckily the owner Nena was very knowledgeable about the trail & lent us a map & explained the good trail to walk. Anyway the first Monastery was called Prodromos in the cliff!!! Two monks greeted us with Greek coffee, water & some sweets. Saw some interesting frescos in a small chapel. The view from the verandah was so beautiful, but if I saw myself from the bottom of the cliff, I would be so scared to death!
Then we saw the other monastery was called old Philosophou(not in use) & also the new one. At the new one, a very friendly monk greeted us with some cold water & sweets & showed us the inside of the church full of beautiful frescos. Must shut the door of the church after you walk in or else, so many cats will follow you inside. Then we went down to Lousios River to swim, but the water was so cold & my husband did swim for 5 mins & I could only walk in for 1 mins & left. All this took 8 hours & that was one of the best memories of Greek holiday. Also we could easily drive to each monastery, we are so glad that we walked to find some interesting plants & great sceneries. We would like to do all 75 km of 8 sections one day.

  A wonderful walk - highly recommended. We staying in Dimitsana and took a taxi to Stemnitsa, and walked back along the trail. The section is 12.5km and a combined ascent... read more of 700m (although it felt more). The walk is about 5 hours plus stops. Setting off it the morning we were above the clouds which gradually cleared during the day. Basically the walk takes through the gorge starting at 1000m and dropping to 500m and then back to 1000m. The trail is extremely well way-marked, as are many Greek paths, pretty hard to get lost, and we did not take a map. We were lucky with the weather, there was torrential rain just after we return and I imagine it could get very hot in the summer months.

  I did the whole trail from 14-08-2020 till 21-08-2020. It's a great hike! A large part leads you through fir forests. The villages are small and beautiful. You need definitly... read more a walking stick. Mind that there is only an ATM in Stemnitsa, Damitsana, Vytina and Lagkadia. At many accomodations you can only pay with cash. In summer the bus leaves from Lagkadia to Tripoli at 15.00 h. The Menalon trail map helps you to understand the courses of the trail.

  Easy access...landed Athens.. train direct to Korinthos.. great value car hire with Vasilopoulos car hire including pick up and drop from station.. 90 min easy drive to Stemnitsa for... read more overnight guest house then walk in 5 stages ..not 8. Trail times are very ambitious especially with backpack and gradients. Mountain and forest areas are stunning with numerous historic sites reroute. Villages are very hospitable with Stemnitsa ( Gartagani Guesthouse) and Nimfasia (Acropolis Guesthouse) our most memorable. We arranged a lift back to our car with guest house host in Valtesinisko (V/studios) at our arrival in Lagkadia which is a very charming village ( taxis are expensive and few).
Drive on to Vouraikos Gorge track train walk...another must.
An easy very rewarding waking week all round.
Great buys in jewellery ( Stemnitsa) and honey (Lagkadia)

  I recently visited and walked part 5 of Menalon Trail, starting from Vytina to Nymfasia..but we also walked all the way to Kernitsa monastery...I am an experience and professional guide... read more myself from Evia island..My visit was part of the the 1st Panhellenic Meeting on Hiking Networks and the 3rd European Conference of Representatives of Certified LQT (Leading Quality Trails) paths. In my opinion this trail network does serve the purpose it was initially created for..to revive small mountain villages through outdoor and hiking activities, also promoting the landscape, culture and gastronomy. The trails are reasonably well maintained, and the marking are sufficient to keep you going..i wish the team good luck with their trail projects, as their future goal is to connect all ancient sites of Peloponnese, such as Mycenes and Ancient Olympia with the same walking path, which i find really fascinating..

  We hiked the Menalon Trail in March from Stemnitsa to Vytina over four nights. We could have maybe made it three, but we wanted a day in the middle to... read more rest (which we did in Dimitsana in the Amanites Guesthouse, which I highly recommend). It was a beautiful trail but in March be warned - it can get quite warm in places but also quite foggy, rainy, and cold! We started off in the beating sun, but eventually on the Dimitsana - Elati route we ran into snow several feet deep! The first leg, going along the gorge and the monasteries was beautiful. We saw turtles and donkeys as well along the way. Nearing Dimitsana, we ran into some flooded areas of the trail and had to climb around and get our feet quite wet for a bit of it due to recent spring rain. There were some marked detours but we did lose the trail at one point and regained it later on. Dimitsana itself was a lovely quiet town, a great place to rest off the first day and we were lucky to see it snow-covered in the morning. The museum in town was unfortunately closed because of the holidays, but as we walked past it, it looked interesting. After resting, we did two legs in one day from Dimitsana to Zygovisti and then on to Elati. Because of recent snowfall, this third leg started out okay but quickly became a challenge as we had to walk up and down steep snow-covered icy trails which we hadn't quite been prepared for. Luckily some proper hikers were ahead of us, so we followed their footsteps and were fine. They had hired the services of a Menalon Trail guide, which you can do by email or calling the number for the trail (I recommend this if there's any sign of inclement weather). In Elati we stayed at Vanna's House (the contact you can also get from emailing Menalon trail), who provided a beautiful dinner and breakfast in their lovely self-built farmhouse. From there we did the last leg at a leisurely pace to Vytina. Vytina is a bigger town which probably gets more tourists, but we didn't feel as welcome there as in the earlier few towns along the trail - but it's a gorgeous town nonetheless.

The whole trail is pretty clearly signposted, however due to aforementioned inclement weather (rain and snow), it might be not so easy to find during early spring. The only time we walked near other people was during the first leg, as there are people going between the monasteries. In the snow covered areas, we saw hints of other travellers, but for the most part the whole trail felt like it was just for us!

To get to the trail, we took a bus from Athens to Tripoli (€16.50 each) and had been planning on taking a local bus from Tripoli to Stemnista, but we found there was a holiday on that day, so we had to pay for a taxi (€40). On the way back to Athens, we took a bus from Vytina back to Tripoli which carried on to Athens. I found there wasn't so much clear information on getting to/from Menalon trail that you can find online... But it's not really a big problem because, unless there's holidays, you can probably make it to and from Athens OK.