Three hundred square kilometres of fir forest above the city — at 1,413 metres, the highest peak in Attica.
Mt. Parnitha is the wall on the north side of the Athens basin — a 300-square-kilometre national park of fir, pine, oak and cedar forest, with the highest summit in Attica (Karavola, 1,413 m) and a road that climbs to 1,000 m at the cable-car station.
The mountain is reached by car (forty-five minutes from central Athens via the Athens-Lamia highway exit) or by cable car (the téléphérique from the suburb of Acharnes climbs to the Mont Parnes Casino at 1,000 m in eight minutes — €5 return; runs daily). At 1,000 m the air is twenty degrees cooler than the city in summer, and snow holds on the summit until April. The walking is the point — twenty marked trails, a refuge (Bafi) with rooms and a kitchen at 1,160 m, and the Flambouri refuge a further hour up. The vultures of Attica live here — about thirty griffon vultures and a few Egyptian vultures, the only colony in Attica. The 2007 wildfire burned half the forest; recovery is slow but visible. Bring a light jacket year-round; the summit can be ten degrees below the city.
A Parnitha day.
Forty minutes north-west of central Athens via Kifisias Avenue and the highway.
Eight-minute climb to the casino at 1,000 m; coffee on the terrace; full forest view.
Forty minutes through the firs on a wide marked path; rest at the refuge.
Two hours of open-ridge walking; the whole basin and the Saronic from the top.
Mountain plates — wild greens, slow-cooked goat, country wine; €25 per head; the long meal of the day.
Down on the téléphérique by 17:00; back in central Athens by 18:00.
Within twenty minutes by car.
Twenty minutes' drive south — the former royal estate. Detail on the Tatoi page.
Forty minutes' drive south-east — the working Byzantine monastery.
The base station for the téléphérique up the mountain.
The small mountain village on the south-west side, with the country tavernas at Aspropyrgos.
Forty minutes' drive south-east — the ancient marble quarries.
Tell us a little about the trip you want — pace, who's coming, how you'd like to spend your mornings. We'll build the days.
