Arcadia, home to two large but easily accessible mountain ranges, Mount Mainalo (1,981m) and Mount Parnonas (1,934 metres), is in close proximity to Athens and is a hikers paradise. Of course, it is no coincidence that the term Arcadia in art was used to describe an utopia land, full of verdant, green mountains, flowing waters, enchanting valleys, and fairy-tale spots.
Mount Mainalo has dozens of trails crossing its fir-covered slopes, including the Menalon Trail; a 75-kilometre network of paths that, through its eight sections, connects nine mountain villages. The network is the result of a lot of hard work by local volunteers, who have revived old trails connecting the villages that were last used as late as the 1950s.
The Menalon Trail was launched in 2015 and offers routes of varying difficulty and duration. To cover the entire trail, you will need five days of around six hours walking per day, but each of its eight different sections starts and ends in a village, providing the option of choosing one or two specific sections at a time.
The first section connects Stemnitsa with Dimitsana, passing through the Lousios river gorge, by the historic monasteries of Prodromos and the old and new monastery of Philosophos. It is 12.5 km long and will take about 5 hours to complete.
The second section of the Menalon Trail is a short, 4.2km route from Dimitsana to Zygovisti, while the third section leads from Zygovisti to the village of Elati, on a 14.9km trail through the fir trees.
The trail continues through the villages of Vytina, Nymphasia, Magouliana, Valtesiniko and ends in Lagadia with excellent marking along the route. In addition, detailed descriptions and maps can be found on the website menalontrail.eu.
The Parnon Trail, a network of paths of about 250 km in length that will cross the mountain and the villages of the Kinouria region, is in its final stage of completion. Astros, Leonidio, Kosmas, Kastanitsa and other villages will be linked by hiking trails through the slopes of Parnonas. Many parts of the long trail are already ready, such as the 12 km long route from the village of Platanos to the villages of Sitena and Kastanitsa.
The 12km-long route leading from the Holy Monastery of Malevi to the Parnonas refuge, is more challenging as it is steeper. Finally, another nice route among lush greenery with excellent views of the
Tripoli plateau and the main mountain of Parnonas is the one leading from the Tselepou Winery to the village of Ano Doliana. It’s 7 km long and easy enough even for beginners.
Many routes also start from Leonidio, from the village Kosmas and from the Mainalo ski resort. Of course, you can also choose to walk on parts of the European Path E4 which crosses the Peloponnese. In Arcadia, it starts north, from Achaea to the village of Dara, and after 18.5 km it passes through Vytina and continues to the village of Kardaras and on to Tripoli. From Tripoli, it crosses the plain of Tegea up to Ano Doliana and from there, to Agios Petros, passing through Laconia at the village of Karyes.
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