Greece · Epirus & Pindus · Premium route guide
Epirus & Pindus, 5 days from Thessaloniki
Five days, 1,007 km and the best mountain roads on the Greek mainland. Metsovo and the Katara Pass, the stone villages of Zagori, the wild hairpins of Tzoumerka and a finish through Elati. The full route on the map, a GPX you can drop into your GPS, and the motorcycle-friendly stays riders have already vetted along the way.
- Distance
- 1,007.2 km
- Peak elevation
- 1,367 m
- Elevation gain
- 11,190 m
- Best months
- Apr–Oct
The route
This is the classic mainland tour for anyone who thinks Greece is only islands. From Thessaloniki you cross the Katara Pass into Epirus, spend two days inside the Zagori stone villages and the Vikos Gorge, then dive into Tzoumerka, the wildest riding region in the country, before closing the loop over Elati. Every single day is mountain riding.
Suggested by StayToRide member Giannis Tkd, the route pairs naturally with our standalone Zagori & Vikos Gorge route if you only have a weekend. This one gives Zagori the time it deserves and adds the Tzoumerka loop that most riders never discover.
Works with Garmin, TomTom, BMW Navigator, Calimoto, Kurviger, komoot, MyRouteApp. Import as a track to ride the exact line. Road data from OpenStreetMap (ODbL); elevation from SRTM.
Track vs. route, how to load this into your GPS
What you are downloading is a GPX track, a dense, road-snapped breadcrumb of the exact line, with elevation on every point. It is not a GPX route (a short list of turn waypoints your device re-plans between). Tracks preserve our road choice; routes let the device pick its own way and can send you down a boring motorway shortcut.
How to use it on your navigator:
- BMW Navigator / Garmin Zumo / zumo XT: import as a track, then Convert to Route (or Trip Planner, new trip from track) if you want turn by turn prompts. Keep Recalculation off so it stays on our line.
- TomTom Rider: import the GPX in MyDrive, it loads as a track / itinerary. Enable Follow the exact route so it does not re-plan.
- Calimoto: open the GPX and choose Import as tour, Calimoto follows the track line.
- Kurviger / komoot / MyRouteApp: open the GPX and pick Import as track to keep the road choice. Only choose Import as route if you want the app to re-plan for your bike profile.
- Google Maps / Apple Maps: these do not read GPX. Use the map on this page for turn cues, or import the file into a GPX capable app first.
Rule of thumb: if your device asks "track or route?", pick track to ride our exact line, pick route only if you want the device to re-plan.
Elevation profile
From ~-5 m at the base to 1,367 m at the top, 11,190 m of total climbing across the route.
Day 1, Thessaloniki to Metsovo via Grevena. You leave the city on fast roads and let the mountains come to you. From Grevena the road starts bending and by the time you cross the Katara Pass (the highest paved pass in Greece at 1,705 m) you are properly in Epirus. Metsovo, stone-built and cool even in August, is the overnight base.
Day 2, Metsovo to Aristi and Papingo via Konitsa. The Konitsa bridge and then the road up through Aristi into the heart of Zagori. Papingo sits under the Towers of Astraka, the most dramatic rock wall in Greece. Day 3 is the drop to Ioannina, a lakeside city for a slower afternoon and an early night.
Day 4 is the one you will talk about afterwards: Ioannina to Pramanta, Syrrako and Kalarrytes. The Tzoumerka roads are narrow, steep, broken in places and utterly empty, hairpins stacked on hairpins under the Strogoula cliff. Day 5 climbs out through Elati, crosses back east and drops to the plains for the run home.
The road, honestly
The Katara Pass section is excellent, wide, well surfaced and empty outside ski season. Zagori's roads are good but slow, lots of blind corners and goats with right of way. Tzoumerka is the highlight and the hazard in one: the Syrrako-Kalarrytes loop is rough, with gravel patches and the occasional landslip scar. Take it slowly and it is the best day of the trip.
There are no motorways to speak of after day 1, no tolls inside the loop, and distances are short. You will still arrive tired every evening, because these roads demand attention.
When to go and what the weather does
April to October, with May-June and September the sweet spots. The Katara Pass can hold snow well into spring and Tzoumerka gets serious thunderstorms on summer afternoons, so ride early and be off the high sections by 15:00. October in Zagori, with the beech forests turning, is worth the colder mornings.
Fuel, food and sleep
Fuel is easy: Grevena, Metsovo, Ioannina and Pramanta all have stations, and no leg exceeds 150 km without one. Metsovo and Ioannina have the widest choice of stays, Zagori has the best ones, stone guesthouses with courtyards where a bike sleeps safer than in most hotels. Eat the pies in Zagori and the kontosouvli in Tzoumerka.
What to see along the way
- Metsovo - Stone-built mountain town at 1,160 m and the natural base for night one.
- Papingo - Village under the Towers of Astraka, with rock pools for a hot-day swim.
- Vikos Gorge viewpoint - One of the deepest gorges in the world relative to its width. Walk out from Monodendri or Beloi.
- Syrrako & Kalarrytes - Twin stone villages facing each other across the Kalarrytikos gorge, reachable only by the Tzoumerka hairpins.
- Ioannina - Lakeside city with an island, a castle and the liveliest evening scene on the route.
Rent a bike
Rent a motorcycle or scooter for Epirus & Pindus, 5 days from Thessaloniki
Flying in? Pick up a bike near the start of the route. We've pre-filled the pick-up city with Ioannina - change it if you're basing elsewhere.
Rentals powered by BikesBooking. StayToRide may earn a small commission - no extra cost to you.
Verified stays within 30 km
Automatically selected by proximity to the traced route, no editorial cherry-picking. Sorted by how close they are to the road.
No verified stays within 30 km yet.
Been through here? Add a stay, this list fills in one rider at a time.
Ridden this road and stayed somewhere great?
This whole directory grows one rider recommendation at a time. Add a stay and it will appear on this guide automatically if it is within 30 km of the route.
Suggest a stay