The ultimate walking holiday… in Greece

Walking holidays need to be carefully chosen to ensure the right level of exertion and the perfect combination of excellent food, accommodation, opportunities to relax, and most importantly, inspirational landscapes. An honest assessment of your own physical capabilities, and those of your group, coupled with detailed research and trail notes from a well-trusted and reliable operator are all desirable ingredients.

The other element to grapple with is whether you are looking for a guided or self-guided holiday. Both have their attractions. The former is excellent for meeting like-minded people with a shared love of walking, while the latter is best for a romantic adventure as a couple or with a group of friends. Choosing a destination that is relatively unknown can also add to the appeal.

Somewhere that ticks all the boxes is the Vikos Gorge in the Pindus Mountains of north-western Greece. Even though most people have never heard of it, it is one of the world’s deepest gorges and its sheer, 200 million-year-old limestone walls are nearly 4,500ft high at its deepest point. You’ll find some of the most impressive landscapes in Europe, while the route is punctuated by picturesque villages and delightful guest houses.

After a flight to Corfu and a ferry ride over the Ionian Sea to Igoumenitsa on the Greek mainland, a bus transfers walkers to the village of Kapesovo. Your base for the next three nights is a family-run guest house in this traditional stone village. From here you will set out each morning to explore the surrounding countryside.

These expeditions include a walk into another nearby gorge and up a zigzag series of more than 1,000 stone steps before following an 18th-century cobbled track built for caravans of mules carrying supplies to the region’s remote mountain villages. Along the way, you will descend into wooded valleys and cross some of the region’s

trademark arched bridges as well as visiting the Beloi Viewpoint, looking out over Vikos Gorge itself.

The walk along the bottom of the gorge follows a dried-up riverbed to the enchanting town of Papingo, where your accommodation has stunning views towards Mikro Papingo, with the backdrop of your final destination, Timfi mountain. The 3,000ft climb to the Astraka Refuge and the Dragon Lake is the toughest day, but ends with the reward of panoramic views back over the whole of the Zagori region. The best time to visit is in June and July, when the temperature is excellent for walking and the foliage fresh.

Into the abyss: Vikos Gorge is one of the deepest in the world