How to climb Mount Olympus

How to get on top of Mount Olympus?

Get to Prionia, hike the E4 path to Refuge A, sleep there, then continue to Skala and take the short scramble along Kakoskala to Mytikas. If you have never scrambled on exposed rock, do the last part with a licensed guide.

• Get to Litochoro: the base town at 293 m, about 90 km from Thessaloniki, with a regional train station on the coast about 6 km from town.
• Up to Prionia: about 18 km of narrow, winding paved road to the trailhead at about 1,100 m, with a spring, toilets, a café and parking, including overnight.
• Hike to Refuge A: 6 km and about 1,000 m of height gain through beech and pine forest on a well-marked path.
• Early start for the top: Skala at about 2,870 m on foot, then Kakoskala to Mytikas with a helmet on.
• Back down: the same way to Refuge A and Prionia.

The route is summed up on the homepage route overview, and what each step feels like is in the difficulty guide.

What are the best routes to climb Mount Olympus?

The E4 from Prionia via Refuge A is the classic and the best choice for a first ascent. The Gortsia path via Petrostrouga to the Plateau of the Muses is longer and quieter, and starting on foot from Litochoro adds most of a day.

Near the top the routes meet, and you choose how to finish. Kakoskala, from Skala along the ridge, is the usual line to Mytikas. The Louki gully, reached from Refuge A via Zonaria, is steeper, with polished steps and stones knocked down by people above; many parties go up Louki and come down Kakoskala. Both finishes are scrambles, and a helmet is strongly recommended on both.

From the Plateau of the Muses, with the Christos Kakkalos refuge (2,648 m) and the Giosos Apostolidis refuge (2,697 m) close by, Mytikas is roughly another hour and a quarter. The walk up from Litochoro follows the Enipeas gorge, which has storm damage since September 2023, so ask in Litochoro or at Refuge A about current conditions; the gorge guide has the details. Figures below come from Refuge A's official route pages and, for Gortsia, the regional tourism site.

How many hours does it take to climb Mount Olympus?

About 7 hours of walking one way from Prionia to Mytikas by the official figures: around 3 hours to Refuge A and about 3 more from the refuge to the summit. The round trip is roughly 11 to 12 hours on the move.

Those are walking times for fit hikers, without long breaks. Descending is quicker on the forest path but not on the scramble, where you come down slowly and carefully. On the classic two-day plan, day one is a relaxed 2.5 to 3 hours up to Refuge A. Day two is the long one: to the summit and all the way back down to Prionia.

Allow time for waiting on Kakoskala on busy summer mornings, and plan to be off the top by early afternoon, when storms tend to build. Month-by-month conditions are in the best time guide.

Can you hike Mount Olympus, Greece in one day?

Yes, if you are a strong, experienced hiker: it is one long day of about 11 to 12 hours and about 1,830 m of ascent. Most people take two days, and the one-day guided trip shortens the day with a 4x4 transfer high onto the mountain.

A one-day ascent means leaving Prionia at first light, passing Refuge A after about 3 hours, and reaching Skala while you still have the focus the scramble needs. The risk is that tiredness and afternoon weather catch you on the hardest part of the route. Two days spreads the effort, puts you on Kakoskala in the calm of early morning, and gives you a night at Refuge A under the peaks.

The one-day guided summit gets around the long walk in: a 4x4 takes you from Kalyvia, near Litochoro, to the Christakis mountain hut high on the mountain, and the guide leads you across Skolio to Skala and up to Mytikas, about 9 hours all told.

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Where do you sleep when you climb Mount Olympus?

At Refuge A, Spilios Agapitos, at about 2,100 m on the E4 from Prionia. It opens from mid-May to late October, has 110 beds and fills up in summer, so book directly with the refuge well ahead.

• Refuge A (Spilios Agapitos): owned by the Hellenic Federation of Mountaineering and Climbing and run by the Zolotas family; book through mountolympus.gr, which also gives daily conditions. Lights out at 22:00, indoor shoes only.
• Christos Kakkalos refuge: 2,648 m, on the edge of the Plateau of the Muses, small, with 17 places.
• Giosos Apostolidis refuge: 2,697 m, run by SEO Thessaloniki, about 80 places, near the top of the Gortsia route.
• Petrostrouga: a smaller refuge at about 1,950 m on the Gortsia path.
• No wild camping: park rules allow walking on marked trails only, with no camping and no fires.

Can you drive up to Mount Olympus?

Only as far as Prionia, at about 1,100 m, or Gortsia on the same road. Above that there is no road and no cable car, so you walk.

The 18 km road from Litochoro to Prionia is paved but narrow and winding; allow 20 to 30 minutes. Prionia has parking, including overnight, a spring, toilets and a café-restaurant. Gortsia, the start of the path to Petrostrouga, is at the Diastavrosi junction on the way up. A cable car has been proposed in a local study, but nothing has been built. The 4x4 on the one-day guided trip uses a track to a mountain hut as part of that tour; it is not a public road.

Without a car, the guided summit trips include the transfer to the start. Getting to Litochoro from Thessaloniki or Athens is in the day trip guide.

How much does it cost to climb Mount Olympus?

There is no entry permit or park ticket for hikers at the moment. What you pay for is getting to Prionia, your refuge bed and meals, and a guide if you want one.

A 2021 draft for a daily park ticket was shelved, and nothing has replaced it. Rules may change after the 2026 UNESCO listing, so check before you go. Refuge beds and meals are paid at the refuge, including on the two-day guided trip. A guided summit costs more than going on your own, and a one-day trip with a 4x4 transfer is a different package from two days on foot; the guided hikes comparison sets them side by side.

Has anyone climbed Olympus?

Yes. The first recorded ascent of Mytikas was on 2 August 1913, by the Swiss Frédéric Boissonnas and Daniel Baud-Bovy with Christos Kakkalos, a wild-goat hunter from Litochoro. Today hikers reach the top every summer, with guides and on their own.

Kakkalos led the two Swiss visitors up, and the refuge on the Plateau of the Muses carries his name. The mountain had long been known as the home of the Twelve Olympian gods, and in 1938 it became Greece's first national park. In July 2026 the wider Olympus area was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list, for both its nature and its culture.

Next to Mytikas stands Stefani, at about 2,910 m, the curved rock wall known as the Throne of Zeus. Mytikas is the highest point; the throne is Stefani.

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