Climb Mount Olympus
Pieria, Greece
Details
Distance
5 miles
Elevation Gain
5000 ft
Route Type
Out-and-Back
Description
Added by Shalee Blackmer
Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece and the perfect summit-to-sea challenge.
Getting to the trailhead of Mount Olympus includes a 17km drive up the winding mountains north of the Greek town of Litochoro.
Once at the trailhead, begin the steady ascent up the Prionia trail. There are three official routes up Mount Olympus, but Prionia is the most traveled and easiest route to the top. Most of those climbing Mount Olympus complete the hike over two days, with an overnight stop at Refuge A that sits on a cliff top about halfway up the mountain.
The refuge provides hikers with a place to sleep and food. Those stopping by can either pay for a bunk in a dorm or pitch their tent outside. It is important to remember cash, as Refuge A doesn't accept any form of card.
Mount Olympus has multiple summits, and the most common is known as Skala. Skala is roughly 400 feet below the true summit known as Mytikas. Many hikers do not attempt Mytikas as it is a Class B rock scramble. However, for those with decent hiking experience, the final ascent of Mytikas is a relatively easy scramble to the top.
The top of Mytikas is decorated with the Greek flag and a climbers log book. Those who summit early enough in the day can challenge themselves to the summit-to-sea challenge by going from the summit of Mytikas (9,573ft) to Aegean Sea at sea level in a single day.
The trail to the top is well-marked and relatively easy. The difficulty of this hike comes in with the extreme elevation gain and mileage. No special equipment is needed, but good hiking boots and a walking stick are recommended by many hikers.
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Reviews
The experience of climbing to mount Olympus is simply amazing. The climbing has become though pretty popular as of late and therefore depending on the specific trail/route you choose you may encounter a lot of people. Also because of the popularity of the ascent, people tend to forget that it bears both difficulty and requires attention. So please have this in kind
5.0
My husband and I recently completed a one day hike of Mt Olympus. Similar to the previous review, we started in Prionia and hiked down to Litochoro. It was easy and very beautiful. If you are interested in reading about our experience I have written about it, including tips, here: https://docsinthewild.com/mt-olympus-prionia-to-litochoro-e4-trail/
5.0
We started in Litochoro for lunch and drive to Prionia by own car (If you want there are taxis or other transportations there). We started going up at 17pm and the estimated time to go to Refuge A was 3hours, so we had to speed up not to get caught in the night. 2 hours after we were at the refuge. Maria, the owner and her family as well as all staff treated us very well. 6am on the other day is time to get a cup of tea and see the awesome sunrise and prepare to go to Scala. From scala to myticas the path is more tricky and it can go a litle bit vertical in some places. Some people do it with equipment with some excursions but there are a lot of adventures doing it without. Although it was very cloudy it was awesome. You meet a lot of cool people during the way. We did it around October and had very lucky in the weather. Even being low season, the Refuge was full. At the end of the day we decided to go back to prionia and sleep at a village near the beach
5.0
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