Olympus Round
Litochoro – Vrontou Agi Apostoli – Kokkinopilos – Kalyvia – Sparmos Monastiri – Paleo Skamnia – Karya – Ano Leptokarya – Litochoro
| Distance: 124 km | Elevation: +3300/-3300 m | Difficulty: 5/10
Long way around all Olympus massif. Can be divided into parts, in this case it was 3 parts – 3 day, with overnight in the forest 8 km before Kokkinopilos and in old monastyr in Paleo Skamnia.
A lap along the entire Mount Olympus. The route is long but technically easy. The vast majority of it leads along comfortable dirt roads. It runs mostly at an altitude of 300 to 700 m above sea level, but several times exceeding 1000 m. In February, there was only snow on the 20 km section before Kokkinopilos, the rest of the route was without snow. In February 2022, the temperature during the day was 15 degrees Celsius.
The Komoot application cannot be completely believed, it shows that many episodes were completely off-road and in fact, in most of these episodes the road or path does exist and there are no navigational problems. The main problem is supply logistics. Shops and taverns on the route are only in the villages of Kalyvia and Karya, and taverns additionally in Kokkinopilos.
It is possible to choose a different route from Karya to Litochoro. The well-known and marked path from Karya to Litochoro leads through the Ano Pigadi Hut – this is the Olympus Mythical Trail running competition path and the route is permanently painted with red dots on a white background, so it’s very easy to find. However, it rises to over 1,300 m above sea level, so in February there is a lot of snow there. To avoid this, the following variant runs along an asphalt road from Karya to Ano Leptokarya for 20 km, but it is very beautiful and scenic, with minimal car traffic.
Even though the route connects many well-known local roads in a tourist sense, it is almost completely unknown as a whole. A fast runner can easily overcome it in two days, and a fast and durable runner even in one day (and night).
