One of the biggest mistakes people make when visiting Greece is spending a day in Athens then heading straight to the islands, completely skipping over the monasteries of Meteora! Visiting the monasteries of Meteora is absolutely worth your time. Not only are the historic monasteries clinging to the edges of the cliffs stunning, but Meteora had the fewest tourist of anywhere we went in our whole month in Greece!

To visit the monasteries of Meteora, you’ll want to spend 1-2 nights in the town of Kalambaka. One to two nights should be enough to see as many of the monasteries as you want. If you’re looking to have a few chill days, Meteora would be a great place to enjoy some of the more laid back Greek lifestyle!

I had some trouble finding a good guide on everything you need to know to visit the monasteries of Meteora, so hopefully this will help your visit!

General Info for Travel to Greece

Language – Greek. While you likely won’t need to know any Greek before you go. But, I always recommend learning a few phrases because it really does mean a lot when you just show that you tried. At this point I can say “thank you” in over a dozen languages, and Greek is easily the HARDEST. Here’s a few I’d recommend learning, at the very least practice saying thank you!

• Thank You: efharisto
  • A trick is to think about saying “ef-Harry’s-toe”
• Hello: yeia sou (yah soo)
• Good Morning: kalimera (kah-lee-meh-rah)
• Please/You’re Weclome: parakalo (para-kah-loh)
• Yes: nai (neh)
• No: oxi (oh-khee)

Currency – Greece is a member of the European Union, so they’re on the Euro. At the time of writing this post, 1 USD was was equal to 1.01 euro, but you can check the current conversion rates here.

Things to Pack: check out my Amazon Storefront for some of my must-haves for a trip to Greece!

GREECE TRAVEL PRO-TIP

When you’re reading a getting recommendations, reading a blog, or just googling things, don’t be surprised when things are spelled differently. Since Greek isn’t in the Latin alphabet, there’s not really a “right” or “wrong” way to translate it to a Latin alphabet, aka there’s multiple ways to spell the same word. For example, the town Chalki in Naxos can also be spelled Chalkio, Halki, Xalki. A pro Greece travel tip is if you look up something and it’s not exactly what you expected, you’re probably just seeing a difference spelling!

GET CONNECTED

Because a travel blog post wouldn’t be complete without letting ya know how to stay connected back home: I always recommend getting a local SIM card when going to any international destination. It’s the best way to get connected to the local cell networks, for the lowest price. For example, if we were to use our US network to connect internationally, it would be $10 PER DAY each! Based on my research for which SIM cards to get to travel Greece, we decided to go with Vodafone. We paid 35 euros for 30 days of data in Greece.

PS: if you travel to Greece as a couple, family, or with friends, unless you really need to all be connected, I’d recommend just getting one SIM card to save money. For us, I get one and then Austin just uses his phone on wifi since we’re quite literally ALWAYS together.

What are the Monasteries of Meteora?

Meteora in Greek translates to “suspended in the air” or “in the heavens above”. The monasteries of Meteora came about 100’s of years ago in the 11th century when monks built them to be closer to god atop of massive rock pillars. At one point there were 24 monasteries in Meteora, but only 6 remain active now, all of which are open to the public!

How to Get to Kalambaka

The easiest way to get to Kalambaka is to take the direct train from Athens. They run multiple times a day and tickets should cost around 50 euros a person for a round trip ticket. The train ride can be pretty scenic at times, so I’d get a forward facing window seat! It will take approximately 4 hours. You can buy tickets on the Hellenic Train website. If coming from Athens, you’ll want to buy tickets from the Athens station to Kalambaka station. Buy round trip tickets (it’s a little cheaper than buying two one ways), and take the direct train from Athens that leaves around 8am. If you take a later train, you’ll probably have to switch trains at another station or hop on bus for the last hour (we did this on the way back to Athens from Kalambaka).

In theory you could probably do a day trip to see the monasteries of Meteora, but it would be pretty tight with the 4 hour train ride each way! I’d recommend spending at least 1 night if you can.

Where to Stay to Visit the Monasteries of Meteora

We stayed at Hotel Kaikis and it was perfect for what we needed! Cute balconies looking at some of the unique cliff formations. Good wifi, clean, and super helpful staff (i.e. how we found Spitiki!! The best spanakopita I had in all of Greece). We arrived pretty early in the morning on the train from Athens and they held our bags while we went to the monasteries and even put them in our room for us once the room was ready before we got back.

Even if you don’t stay at Hotel Kaikis, I’d stay near there on the main road, Trikalon. This is where most of the restaurants and shops in the area are.

A few other options:

• Toti Boutique Rooms – budget option with tons of reviews
• Meteora Boutique Villa – super cute villa with great outdoor space & a hot tub
• Zozaz Rooms – a budget option with great reviews in the nearby town of Kastraki, the towns are so close together we actually walked from one to the other
• Guesthouse Vavitsas – in Kastraki with awesome reviews
• Tsikeli Hotel Meteora – cute boutique hotel in Kastraki with hot tubs in the rooms (adults only)

Tips for Visiting the Monasteries of Meteora

The monasteries run off donations, and most of the entrance fees are 3 euros a person (cash only). Note: women will need to cover their knees, shoulders, and cleavage, and men are required to cover their knees (men covering their knees was rarely enforced). It was REALLY hot when we were there, so I hiked in shorts and just brought a long skirt with me to throw on over my shorts in the monasteries.

Here are the 6 monasteries of Meteora open to the public to visit, including which day of the week in the summer they’re closed (you can find the winter hours here):

• Holy Monastery of St. Stefanos (Closed Mondays)
• Holy Monastery of Great Meteora (Closed Tuesdays)
• Holy Monastery of Rousanou (Closed Wednesdays)
• Holy Monastery of Holy Trinity (Closed Thursdays)
• Holy Monastery of Varlaam (Closed Fridays)
• Holy Monastery of St. Nicholas Anapafsas (open everyday)

In my opinion, it’s not really necessary to visit all 6 of them unless you just really want to. We visited 4 in total which was plenty for us!

How to Visit the Monasteries of Meteora

There are a few different ways to visit the monasteries, ranging from the hardest & cheapest way, to the easiest & most expensive way.

Option 1: hiking the whole way. This is the free way to get to the monasteries and back, but will include a LOT of walking & hiking uphill/downhill. Depending on the weather, it can also be stifling hot (as it was when we were there in July). On our first day, we chose the cheaper option because we are who we are. We thought the hike would be a cheap fun way to explore. While it was cheap, the 1.5 hour hike up in the blazing sun was NOT fun. It was absurdly hot, I complained about how much I was sweating, and the hike didn’t provide any real scenic views that you wouldn’t have gotten once you were at the monasteries anyways.

Option 2: on our second day in Meteora, day 1 kicked some sense into us, and we chose the middle option between price & costs, and took a taxi for 10 euros up to Great Meteora, then walked to the other monasteries from there and hiked back down to town afterwards. If you want to take a taxi up, they’re basically all a 10 euro flat rate (cash). You can almost always a taxi or two sitting around the main roundabout in front of the Tourist Information Center Kalambaka.

Option 3: if we’d had it in our budget this would’ve been the most fun way to explore! There are scooter rentalsyou can get for around 30 euros for the day. If you can spent a little extra to rent a scooter I’d highly recommend it! Otherwise the taxi is a fine option too.

If you do want to do a hike in Meteora, I’d recommend hiking to a viewpoint for sunset. That way you can get a nice view for sunset and it won’t be as hot while hiking! There’s a spot known as Sunset Rockthat’s popular for sunset views.

Foods to Eat in Meteora

Before we went to Greece I didn’t really think I actually liked Greek food. And oh my, how wrong I was. I just hadn’t had the right type of Greek food, or I’d just had the Americanized version of it (i.e. – did you know Greek salad doesn’t actually have any lettuce in it?!?!?!). Hands down one of the best things to do in Greece is EAT:

• Greek salads – but like, a REAL Greek salad. It should be large chunks of tomatoes, red onions, peppers, cucumbers, olives (I pick them out because I actually hate olives), and an ungodly large chunk of feta cheese. That’s it! The dressing is a simple oregano, salt, pepper, olive oil, and vinegar splash on top. We became so addicted to these we still make at least 1 Greek salad at home every week.
• Spanakopita – these flakey spinach cheese pies were approximately 50% of my diet in Greece. I had one every morning, always in search of one that tasted as good at the first one I had while visiting Meteora on our first day in Greece (spoiler alert, none lived up, but you best believe I tried them all in the name of research)
• Bougatsa – to me, it’s like spanakopita but swap out the spinach and cheese for sweet custard and powdered sugar. These became my “treat” to myself on the mornings I needed a little pick-me-up.
• Freddo Espresso/Freddo Cappuccino – the only place I’ve ever had a true cold espresso is Greece and they do it SO WELL. I order mine as a double with light sugar and enjoy every sip of the frothy goodness
• Traditional Greek coffee – this will be very controversial to any Greeks reading this: but this is just Turkish coffee. Typically served in an espresso cup with the ultra fine grounds left at the bottom of the cup. In the rest of the world it’s called Turkish coffee, in greece it’s called Greek coffee. This largely is because Turkey and Greece shared a LOT of the same food culture because at one point they were all ruled by the Ottomans. There’s a deep and complicated history between Turkey and Greece. Basically don’t call Turkish coffee “Turkish coffee” in Greece, and don’t call Greek yogurt “Greek yogurt” in Turkey unless you want a lecture.

Where to Eat in Kalambaka

• Spitiki – the BEST spanakopita (spinach pie) we had in all of Greece! Make sure to try the bougatsa (custard pie) too! I wish I could add this to every Greece travel blog out there!
• Spitiki Again
• Spitiki, Again
• Mekras Bakerhouse – a tiny hole in the wall bakery with awesome fresh baked goods! Get some for snacks for exploring the monasteries or to take for the train ride back to Athens!
• Restaurant Meteora – Greek restaurant with a cute patio with great reviews
• Feel the Rocks – nicer lunch spot with good views
• Chicken Time – quick authentic gyros
• Fast Food Diava

Have you been to visit the Monasteries of Meteora? Comment and let me know what you thought!

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