Hiking in Greece


Be sure the check the main Hiking in Europe page for additional information and links.

Oreivatein (Greek Mountaineering Society) has an overview map of the major long-distance Greek hiking trails (E4, E6 and O) here. (Since they keep rearranging the site, that map might be moved elsewhere on their site.)

I hiked the E4 in the Peleponesus in April 2007 and the lowland version of the E4 in Crete in May 2007, as described here, and part of the mainland E4 and E6 in Oct 2019, as described here.

Summer and early autumn can be very hot in lowland Greece, while ice can linger in the passes of high mountains until well into summer, so spring and autumn are the best times to hike. Another disadvantage of summer is crowding, especially in beach resorts and big cities. Orthodox Easter is a major holiday in Greece and most people get two weeks vacation then, one before and one after Easter, so that hotels might be booked solid then, though otherwise spring is not a busy season in most of rural Greece. Note that Orthodox Easter often occurs at a different date from Western Easter. Another potential busy time is early autumn, when people in cities return to their ancestral villages for a festival. Finally, many hotels shut down for the winter. All things considered, it is best to always be prepared to camp. Regardless of season, hiking in the mountains of mainland Greece is not very popular, so you will probably encounter few other hikers.

I did not encounter any ticks on either of my hikes, however I suspect there are ticks present in Greece during parts of the year.

English is widely spoken in big cities and tourist areas of Greece, but not that widely spoken in small inland towns, so learning some basic Greek is highly advisable.

Because bears are not heavily hunted in Greece anymore, shepherds now protect their flocks with packs of huge dogs. Be careful not to put yourself between these dogs and any sheep or cattle they are protecting. Also, never run away, which will provoke predatory attack behavior in dogs. Stand your ground, pick up a heavy rock but do not throw it, do not challenge dogs in any way, wait for the shepherd to call the dogs off.

Waymarking is terrible in Greece, so GPS is necessary. For my 2019 hike, I used Locus GPS app for Android, as discussed on the GPS page, with the LoMap for Greece, available in Locus map library. Both E4 and E6 were shown on this map, however I would also recommend importing GPX files. Some GPX files are available at WaymarkedTrails.org, or you can use the GPX files discussed in John Pone's E4 trip reports.

The Mountains of Greece: A Walker's Guide by Tim Salmon (2006 edition), describes a variety of routes in Greece, emphasizing the mainland.