Discover Thessaly: Meteora, Lake Plastiras and culture

Thessaly offers travellers very different perspectives: striking rock landscapes, water and vegetation, outdoor activities, food and culture. When choosing a holiday rental, it helps to first consider which of these experiences you want to shape your holiday; the region offers clearly distinct reasons to visit.

Meteora: rocks and hiking trails

In the Meteora-Pyli UNESCO Global Geopark in Thessaly, the sandstone pillars of Meteora reach heights of up to 300 metres. Well-marked hiking trails in Meteora lead to monasteries, hermitages and ancient paved paths. This adds specific destinations along the way to the striking rock formations. Depending on whether you are more interested in the monasteries, the hermitages or the old paved paths, your perspective on the same landscape will differ.

The Theopetra Cave has reopened to the public after several years of restoration work, subject to strict conservation and safety requirements. Check the current access conditions before planning a visit.

Lake, plant life and winter sports

Lake Plastiras brings together water, dense vegetation, picturesque villages and the surrounding wild mountains in a landscape shaped by people. This combination connects the water and mountain scenery with the villages and vegetation, rather than treating the lake as just one element of the landscape.

Near Neohori, a 10-hectare botanical garden presents the flora of Greece. Unlike the expansive landscape around the lake, this experience focuses on plant life. If you are choosing nature-related activities, you can therefore distinguish between a broad landscape experience and an introduction to Greek flora.

The Pelion ski centre has five slopes ranging from easy to difficult, a cross-country skiing trail and a snow park. The easy-to-difficult range describes the slopes; the cross-country trail and snow park add other forms of winter sport. Compared with the hiking trails in Meteora, a different kind of activity takes centre stage here. If you want to include winter sports, you can take the seasonal and activity focus into account when choosing a holiday rental.

Volos and Larissa: food and culture

In Volos, tsipouradika serve tsipouro, usually alongside seafood and vegetable dishes. The drink and food usually go together, providing a distinctive culinary touch to your stay.

The Volos City Museum offers historical walks based on personal memories. It also has audio walks and educational programmes that encourage visitors to take part. As programmes may change over time, check in advance which activities are taking place on your visit date.

The Diachronic Museum of Larissa presents almost 10,000 years of Thessalian life and culture across 1,500 square metres. Compared with the walks in Volos, which are based on personal memories, it spans a broad period of time. These are different approaches to history: the perspective of personal memories in Volos and an overview of almost 10,000 years of life and culture in Thessaly in Larissa.

Getting there and choosing a holiday rental

KTEL intercity buses connect Thessaly with Athens and Thessaloniki via Volos; in Volos, travellers can transfer to regional buses to the villages of Pelion. Check the current timetables for your travel date. If you want to continue by bus to the Pelion villages, take the transfer in Volos into account when choosing your base and holiday rental.

Discover more destinations

Discover more destinations: Argalasti, Magnesia, Pteleos, Magnesia, Karditsa, Trikala, Larissa, Sporades, South Aegean.

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