Oxya is a demo theme for AstroBaaS. The rooms, free nights, walks and journal come from a live CMS. The house, the village’s guesthouse and everyone in it are invented.All demos

Autumn in Koukouli. The beech forest turns copper from the top of the mountain down, and we light the first fire.

Oxyarooms in Koukouli, ZagoriAsk for a room
The Vikos gorge between layered cliffs, a river of white stones and walkers on the bank

Walks Hard

The Vikos gorge

Through the deepest gorge in Greece, from Monodendri to the springs of the Voidomatis.

Walking time
7 hours
Distance
13 km
Climbing
400 m
Difficulty
Hard
When
May to October, in dry weather

The map

MonodendriFloor of the gorgeVoidomatis springsVikos villageN02 km
One way. We arrange the lift back. Drawn from Katerina’s notes; take the paper map from the drying room as well.
1060 m1060 m at the start13 km

Where it startsMonodendri, twenty minutes away. We drive you there at eight and book the taxi back from Vikos village.

The gorge is twelve kilometres long and in places more than a thousand metres deep, with walls of the same layered limestone you see from your window. The path runs along the bottom, mostly through woods, beside a dry river bed that fills in spring.

From Monodendri the path drops steeply for an hour to the floor of the gorge. Then it is a long, beautiful walk downstream, in the shade of planes and maples, with the cliffs rising on both sides. After five hours you reach the springs of the Voidomatis, which comes out of the rock ice-cold and turquoise, and climb for an hour to the village of Vikos.

It is a long day and a serious one. Start early, tell us you are going, and do not attempt it after heavy rain or in snow.

What to take

Two litres of water each, lunch (we pack it), proper boots, a first-aid kit, and a charged phone.

Tell us the evening before and we will pack lunch, check the forecast with you and, if it is one way, arrange the lift.