Epirus, stone villages above the Vikos Gorge.

What is Epirus?

The north-west of Greece, between the Pindus range and the Ionian Sea, next to the Albanian border. It is mountain Greece: forests, cold rivers, gorges and villages of grey stone. Its city is Ioannina, beside its lake, and its port is Igoumenitsa, from where ferries leave for Corfu and Italy.

What almost everyone comes looking for is Zagori: an area of 46 villages linked by arched bridges and cobbled paths, around the Vikos Gorge. Since 2023 it has been a World Heritage Cultural Landscape. Choose it if:

• You walk. The Vikos Gorge, from Monodendri to Vikos, is 12.5 km and 6 to 7 hours on a waymarked path, the O3. Lake Drakolimni, above Mikro Papingo, is a 16.5 km high-mountain route.
• You travel with children. The Kipi bridges, the Papingo rock pools, the Oxya viewpoint and gentle grade II rafting on the Voidomatis work from a young age.
• You like mountain roads. The climb from Aristi to Papingo, in hairpin bends, and the stone staircase at Vradeto, with about a thousand steps, are part of the trip. Zagori is a good destination by motorbike.

Allow three or four nights and sleep on both sides of the gorge: some in central Zagori (Monodendri, Kipi) and some in western Zagori (Papingo). That way you walk the gorge end to end without going back for the car.

How do you get there from Spain?

By flying to Athens or Thessaloniki and hiring a car. From Spain there are direct flights to Athens from Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga all year, and to Thessaloniki, with Aegean from Barcelona.

• From Athens: about 430 km to Ioannina, about 4 h 30, via the Patras motorway, the Rio–Antirrio bridge and the Ionia Odos (A5), with tolls.
• From Thessaloniki: about 310 km to Aristi via the Egnatia Odos (A2), also tolled.
• By air to somewhere closer: Ioannina airport, 4 km from the city, only has flights from Athens. Preveza receives international flights from April to October and is about 140 km away.

From Ioannina you leave by the Konitsa road; Monodendri, Kipi and central Zagori come first, and past Kalpaki is the turn-off for Aristi and Papingo. Fill the tank in Ioannina: don't count on a petrol station in the villages.

How do you combine it with the rest of Greece?

Epirus is the centre of a good road trip through the north. Along the Egnatia, to the east, Meteora is about 100 km and an hour and a half from Ioannina. To the west, the port of Igoumenitsa is about 130 km from Papingo, with up to 25 ferries a day to Corfu in summer and a crossing of an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half. With ten days you can do Meteora, Zagori and Corfu, east to west, flying into Thessaloniki and returning from Athens, or connecting from Corfu.

Do you need a car?

Almost always, yes. There are KTEL Ioannina buses to the best-known villages, such as Papingo and Monodendri, but they are few, don't run every day and don't stop at viewpoints or at the start of the routes. Their timetables are not on the website: ask at Ioannina station. The alternative is a taxi from Ioannina, or having your guide or hotel pick you up at the end of linear routes.

The roads are paved, narrow and mountainous. From December to February it can snow in the high villages: carry chains or ask at your accommodation before heading up.

When to go and what does it cost?

May, June, September and October. In July and August the gorge is hot at midday: start early. The Astraka refuge closes from November to April, and with it the Drakolimni route stops being sensible without winter experience; the park recommends the gorge from April to November. Rafting on the Voidomatis runs all year, with thicker wetsuits in winter.

Zagori is mid-priced: small hotels in stone houses, mountain food and almost nothing to pay for in nature. The paths and viewpoints are free; what adds up is the guide, the rafting, the taxi back and the car.