A 22-kilometre rack-and-pinion railway from Diakopto on the Corinthian gulf, climbing 720 vertical metres up the Vouraikos gorge to Kalavryta — designed by French engineers and opened in 1896, still running daily, and one of the most beautiful train rides in Europe.
The Odontotos (“toothed”) railway is a functioning daily train between two real towns — Diakopto on the coast and Kalavryta in the mountains. It carries locals and visitors in the same carriages.
French engineers designed it, Italian craftsmen helped build it, and it opened in 1896 with a rack-and-pinion system — a toothed third rail in the middle of the track that the train’s gear engages on the steepest sections (gradients up to 17.5%). The line climbs 720 metres in 22 kilometres, threading through a string of tunnels and across iron bridges in a narrow limestone gorge. Diesel railcars took over from steam at the end of the 1950s; today’s three-car Swiss-built trains date from 2009, but the route and the 750 mm gauge are unchanged. There are two departures a day each direction, and the trip takes about 67 minutes.
How a round-trip day actually feels — including the long lunch, which is the point.
Coffee and tyropita at one of the tavernas by the harbour. The 09:52 train fills up from about 09:30.
Three-car Swiss-built railcars, in service since 2009. The first ten minutes are flat through olive groves; then the gorge starts.
Tunnels, iron bridges, the river right under the windows. The toothed track engages on the steepest sections between Niamata and Zachlorou — you can hear it.
The line ends at the original 1896 station. Walk five minutes to the square.
Forty-five minutes for the Municipal Museum of the Kalavrytan Holocaust (closed Mondays; €5), or the cathedral with its single clock face stopped at 14:34.
Elatos on the square, a grill house since 1946, or Varvitsiotis for grilled meats and its salad with armouzi, the local feta-and-yoghurt mix. Ninety minutes; the last train down leaves at 13:37 — don’t sit too long.
The same line in reverse light — completely different photographs from the morning.
A glass of cold white at the harbour and a swim before the drive back. The beach is about a 10-minute walk from the station.
What's near each end of the line.
The lower terminus — a small town on the Corinthian gulf with a beach and tavernas by the harbour, about ten minutes’ walk from the station. Lunch here while you wait for the train.
A request stop halfway up the gorge — two tavernas (Romantzo, Antonis & Poly), a handful of stone houses, and only a back road in from the Kalavryta side. The trailhead for the gorge walk.
A steep 3 km walk up from Zachlorou (allow an hour) — a cliff-face cave monastery, eight storeys, founded by tradition in 362 CE, at 924 m. Modest dress required.
The upper terminus — a 750-metre stone town with the museum of the 1943 massacre, the cathedral, and the square. Detail on the Kalavryta page.
Twenty minutes by car from the Kalavryta station to the Mega Spileo estate, fifty to Tetramythos at Ano Diakopto — small estates with vineyards from 450 to 1,050 m on the north slopes of Mount Helmos.
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.
