Greece · Thessaly · Premium route guide
Mount Olympus & Meteora (Litochoro → Elassona → Meteora → Trikala loop)
Two of Greece's biggest icons on one weekend — Mount Olympus and the Meteora monasteries — linked in a 397 km loop through Thessaly. Litochoro at the foot of Olympus, over the Petra pass to Elassona, west through Deskati to Meteora, then back via Trikala and Larissa. Full route on the map, a GPX for your GPS, and the motorcycle-friendly stays other riders have vetted around Litochoro and Kalambaka.
- Distance
- 397.4 km
- Peak elevation
- 1,305 m
- Elevation gain
- 6,377 m
- Best months
- Apr–Oct
The route
Loop starts and ends in Litochoro at the foot of Olympus (2,918 m). Ride south to Dion, over to Petra and the Kokkinopilos pass on Olympus's west shoulder, then across the plateau to Elassona. West through Deskati to Kastraki and the Meteora monastery road above Kalambaka. Return via Trikala, Farkadona and Larissa back to Litochoro. Pins are motorcycle-friendly stays other riders have vetted.
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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're downloading is a GPX track — a dense, road-snapped breadcrumb of the exact line, with elevation on every point. It's 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 / zūmo 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 doesn't 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 don't 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 ~0 m at the base to 1305 m at the top — 6,377 m of total climbing across the route.
This is a proper two-day loop with a real overnight in Kalambaka to see Meteora properly at sunrise. A single-day ride is possible (397 km on Greek mountain roads is a full day but doable) — but you'll be at Meteora at midday when it's hot, crowded and hazy. The right shape is: leave Litochoro after breakfast, ride the west-Olympus and Elassona section in the morning, lunch in Deskati, arrive Kalambaka mid-afternoon, monasteries the next morning at 08:00 before the coaches, ride back via Trikala.
The best single moment is the monastery road above Kalambaka. Six kilometres of switchbacks climbing from the town onto the plateau where six of the original 24 monasteries still stand on top of vertical sandstone pillars. The road threads between them; every corner has another silhouette against the sky. Do it in the early morning or the last hour before sunset when the light turns the sandstone gold.
The road, honestly
Thessaly tarmac is generally good. The main routes on this loop (E75 corridor around Larissa, EO into Kalambaka, EO Elassona → Deskati) are properly maintained European-standard roads. The mountain sections (Petra → Kokkinopilos on the west side of Olympus, and the Deskati → Kastraki descent) are narrower and rougher in places but nothing dangerous. The monastery road itself is the technical highlight — narrow, well-surfaced, and it needs your full attention because you'll want to look at the views the whole time.
Traffic is the honest cost of Meteora. It's one of Greece's top three tourist sites and gets 2.5 million visitors a year — most of them arriving by coach between 10:00 and 15:00. Overnight in Kalambaka, be on the monastery road by 08:00, and you'll have most corners to yourself. Leave the actual monastery visits (Great Meteoron, Varlaam, Roussanou) for later in the morning when they open. By 11:00 the road is a slow-moving parade.
Where to base yourself
Litochoro is the natural start/end — proper mountain village at the foot of Olympus, 15 minutes from the E75, plenty of rider-friendly guesthouses, and the trailhead for the Enipeas gorge if you want a rest-day walk. Best coffee shops in the region are on the main square.
Kalambaka (or Kastraki, its quieter neighbour) is the essential overnight for the Meteora half — sunrise and sunset on the monastery pillars are the reason to be here, and you can only see both if you sleep in town. Kastraki is more atmospheric, quieter, and 5 minutes closer to the monastery road; Kalambaka has more choice at every price.
Trikala works as a mid-loop overnight if you want to slow the ride down — a proper Thessalian town with the country's best-preserved Ottoman quarter and excellent food.
Weather, season and what to pack
Thessaly is a hot summer. July and August can hit 40°C on the plain around Larissa; the mountain sections stay 8–10°C cooler but even so, ride the exposed roads early and the shaded ones after lunch. April to June and September to October are the sweet spot — warm days, cool evenings, empty monastery roads.
The high sections on Olympus (Petra pass, Kokkinopilos) sit at 1,100–1,300 m and can get afternoon thunderstorms in July–August. Watch the sky over the massif from Elassona at lunch — if it's building, ride the plateau route (via Servia) rather than the mountain spur.
Fuel: plentiful in Litochoro, Elassona, Kalambaka and Trikala. Nothing between Petra and Elassona on the west-Olympus spur, and nothing between Elassona and Deskati on the higher route. Cell coverage is good along the whole loop.
What to do off the bike
The six active Meteora monasteries are the obvious visit — Great Meteoron (largest, most-visited), Varlaam (the second-largest, quieter), Roussanou (the photogenic clifftop nunnery), Holy Trinity (the Bond one), Agios Stefanos and Agios Nikolaos. Each is €3 entry, each takes 30–45 minutes, and each has a different closed day of the week — check before you go. Modest dress required.
The Enipeas Gorge walk from Litochoro is a rest-day option — 45 minutes each way to the Prionia trailhead through Olympus's lower gorge. Full Olympus summit climb is a two-day hike and needs proper gear.
Trikala's old bazaar and the fortified Byzantine bridge in Kastraki are worth a slow evening if you're overnighting there.
What to see along the way
- Litochoro — Mountain village at the foot of Olympus. Guesthouses, tavernas, the Enipeas gorge trailhead. Natural start/end of the loop.
- Dion — Ancient Macedonian sanctuary at the foot of Olympus. Small archaeological site, worth a 45-minute stop.
- Kokkinopilos — Highest village on the loop at 1,150 m on Olympus's west shoulder. Coffee stop with the best view back across Thessaly.
- Elassona — Small Thessalian town with a Byzantine monastery on the ridge above. Halfway lunch stop.
- Kastraki — Village at the base of the Meteora pillars, quieter than Kalambaka. Atmospheric overnight and 5 minutes to the monastery road.
- Meteora monasteries — Six active clifftop monasteries on sandstone pillars. Visit early morning to avoid coach tours. €3 entry each, closed days vary.
- Kalambaka — Town below Meteora with the most accommodation choice. Sunset views of the pillars from the northern edge of town.
- Trikala — Thessalian city with a well-preserved Ottoman quarter and excellent food. Optional mid-loop overnight.
Rent a bike
Rent a motorcycle or scooter for Mount Olympus & Meteora (Litochoro → Elassona → Meteora → Trikala loop)
Flying in? Pick up a bike near the start of the route. We've pre-filled the pick-up city with Litochoro / Kalambaka — change it if you're basing elsewhere.
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