Hiking in Meteora with Kids

Athens and the Greek Islands may steal the spotlight in Greek tourism, but Meteora is so stunning it deserves a seat at the same table. When we planned our 2-week family vacation to Greece, we not only wanted to visit Athens and the islands, but we wanted to spend a few days hiking in Meteora with our kids – and we are so glad we did!

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Meteora is one of the most magical places in all of Greece – and that is truly saying something! Over two days of hiking with our kids, we wandered through lush forests, stood beneath towering cliffs, visited ancient monasteries built into rock faces, and soaked in views that looked straight out of a fantasy novel.

We covered a lot of ground during our two days of family-friendly hiking in Meteora. We visited nearly every major monastery in the area, making tons of amazing discoveries along the way.

In this post, I’ll share where we hiked, in hopes it will inspire you to take your kids hiking in Meteora too!

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Day 1 of Family Hiking in Meteora, Greece

We had arrived in Meteora the previous afternoon and were stunned by the natural beauty of the area. After a yummy buffet breakfast at our family-friendly Kastraki hotel, we were itching to hit the Meteora hiking trails!

We were slowly gaining altitude as we walked through the forest, so it didn’t really seem like we were walking uphill. The great part about taking this route is that we arrived at the clifftop monasteries without much effort at all!

Ypapanti – The Cliffside Monastery

Our first fun encounter with a monastery came as we were at the furthest point from our hotel and we were starting to make our way back towards the first of the major Meteora monasteries. As we hiked through the forest, we noticed a dramatic monastery built halfway up the cliff wall!

This was the Ypapanti Monastery, which dates back as far as 1367! Although it has been restored recently, it’s not one of the 6 monasteries in Meteora that are open to the public, so we could only admire it from the ground. A pretty exciting start!

Holy Monastery of the Great Meteoron

From there, we continued on to the trail leading up to the Holy Monastery of the Great Meteoron, stopping at a beautiful viewpoint from a rocky outcrop along the way for a snack. The Great Meteoron Monastery is the oldest and largest in Meteora.

Given our kids would likely find them boring, we didn’t plan to visit all the monasteries while hiking in Meteora with kids. The Holy Monastery of the Great Meteoron is the biggest, and most important monastery, so we decided it would be the one monastery we visited with our kids today.

We got increasingly excited as we approached the Great Meteoron Monastery – the stone walls, dizzying cliffs, and that feeling of being high above our town below. After taking lots of photos, we started to make our way to the entrance, when we realized that it was closed for the day. Each Meteora Monastery closes one day each week, so it was just our bad luck!

Varlaam Monastery

Not to be defeated, we continued along to the next major monastery in Meteora – the Varlaam Monastery, which was just a short walk away. As with the Great Meteoron, the Varlaam Monastery is stunning!

We stopped at a few different viewpoints along the way to take some pictures of this amazing monastery. At our final viewpoint, we got a good view of the massive lineup to get into the Varlaam Monastery. I guess with the Great Meteoron Monastery being closed, it puts a lot of pressure on the Varlaam Monastery, as it is also renowned as one of the top Meteora monasteries to visit.

In the end, we decided to pass. We were having an amazing, peaceful day on the hiking trails, and suddenly being in a big parking lot, with hordes of people with big lineups, seemed to be killing our vibe. We’re not big monastery people anyways, so we were happy to keep hiking.

Monk’s Prison

It was at the Varlaam Monastery that we left the Meteora Large Tour hiking trail. Instead, we followed some hiking trails we could see on our downloaded AllTrails map which snuck behind and below the Varlaam Monastery (first to the north, then to the west). We wanted to make a beeline for the Monk’s Prison.

Again, the forest was so lush and so beautiful. There are wildflowers growing everywhere and the views of the surrounding rock formations and monasteries towering overhead are simply amazing.

The “Monk’s Prison” is actually a set of vertical caves carved into the cliff. It’s where monks used to go for extreme isolation (or discipline!), and it felt completely off the tourist path. We spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how the monks got to the caves way up top – we think we figured it out… let’s see if you can too!

Back to Hotel Kastraki

From there, we continued along the lonely hiking trail back to the town of Kastraki. From the time we left the Varlaam Monastery, we only saw a handful of other people.

All told, by the time we reached our hotel, we had hiked an amazing 11 km / 6.8 miles around Meteora with our kids. Our legs were tired, but the kind of tired that feels really good –  the “we did something awesome today” kind of tired.

Day 2 of Hiking in Meteora with Kids

On our first day of hiking around Meteora with kids, we focused on the western half of the area around the Great Meteoron Monastery and the Varlaam Monastery. On our second, and final day of hiking in Meteora with kids, we focused on the remaining monasteries in the eastern half of the area.

We had intended to cut through the Monastery of St. Anthony to reach the AllTrails trailhead, but it was all locked up. Not to worry, we could still go around the rock formation, and we’re glad we did, as we soon came across a hermitage built into the cliff face.

Unlike many other hermitages in the area, this one was at ground level, so we went up and explored it. Many of the rooms were really dark and spooky, so we tried (unsuccessfully) to get the kids to go in!

Hiking Above Kalabaka

It took us nearly 3 km / 1.9 miles of really enjoyable walking to get to the official trailhead for the Meteora for Photographers trail. From here the hiking trail led us into a brand new region of the Meteora rock formations, which was exciting as we had gotten to know the western half of the area quite well.

The trail was largely through the upper reaches of Kalabaka, along a road where the houses were built just below the rock formations. Many of the properties have beautiful gardens and the views of the rest of the town below are pretty amazing.

Once we left Kalabaka, we walked through a boulder field (scary to think these massive rocks fell from above!) and some meadows with some pretty amazing flowering shrubs – many we hadn’t seen anywhere in the world before!

Holy Trinity Monastery

We left the Meteora for Photographers trail and began our steep ascent to the Holy Trinity Monastery. Unlike yesterday when we had a gradual climb to the level of the monasteries, this was a direct, uphill slog from bottom to top. The trail was a well-maintained stone trail, through a beautiful, lush forest, keeping the hot sun off you as you climb.

The Holy Trinity Monastery was the one we intended to visit today, but as was typical of our luck during our trip to Meteora with kids, this was the day of the week it was closed.

We climbed up the many steps to the entrance anyways as we wanted to enjoy the views. Near the top, we met one of the friendliest cats of our trip so far! (There are so many cats in Greece!)

Monastery of St. Stephen (Agios Stefanos)

From the Holy Trinity Monastery, we walked along the road to the adjacent monastery, the Monastery of St. Stephen. This is a much smaller monastery, but it was our last chance to actually visit one during our 2-day hiking trip to Meteora with kids.

Today, the Monastery of St. Stephen is a convent, run by nuns. After paying our admission, Celine and our daughter had to put on skirts (which they could borrow for free), and we all had to remove our hats.

The Monastery of St. Stephen was really small. Our first stop was a small chapel, with some truly beautiful artwork covering every inch of the walls and ceilings. There was also an interesting little museum with many artifacts from the monastery’s past.

Kalabaka Valley Viewpoint

After leaving the Monastery of St. Stephen, we made our way to the Kalabaka Valley Viewpoint via some hiking trails we could see on our downloaded AllTrails map. This is an excellent viewpoint, which I recommend you visit if you have the chance.

Due to its central location in the area, you can see 5 of the 6 active Meteora monasteries – ironically, the only one you can’t see is the Monastery of St. Stephen.

To find it on the AllTrails map, look at the backwards “C” shape of the trail. At the top (north) end of the “C”, where the trail starts to go directly west, the Kalabaka Valley Viewpoint is a few hundred meters east.)

Back to the Western Side of Meteora

After the Kalabaka Valley Viewpoint, we took a nearby hiking trail straight down the valley to meet back up with the Meteora for Photographers hiking trail. We said goodbye to the dramatic vistas of the Meteora valley and re-entered the forest.

The final leg of the hiking trail back to our hotel in Kastraki was through what was quite possibly the most beautiful forest we’ve walked through in the Meteora area. There were mossy boulders all over the place, and the forest was so green and lush, it just felt magical.

We felt very satisfied with ourselves as we reached our hotel. Over the past two days, we’d hiked nearly every corner of the area. This is an incredibly beautiful, unique and culturally significant destination in Greece, and we are so glad we spent two days hiking in Meteora with our kids.

Day 2 was slightly longer than our first day, coming in at just over 13 km / 8 miles.

Tips for Hiking in Meteora with Kids

The hiking trails in the Meteora area are not well marked at all. In fact, the signage is either non-existent, or just really poor. Do not even think about going on extended hikes in the Meteora area without a good hiking app on your phone.

As you’ve seen above, we used AllTrails for our two days of hiking in Meteora. With AllTrails Plus we were able to download the trail maps onto our phones. It was very useful for following the intended path, as well as finding trails in the area when we wanted to deviate from the planned route. If you’d like to use AllTrails during your family hikes in Meteora, you can try it for free for 7 days – just sign up for your trial before you arrive!

Everyone will need proper hiking shoes, as the trails are a bit too rough for sports sandals or sneakers.

It gets very hot above the treeline, so bring as much water as you can carry. A water bladder is an effective way to carry lots of water for a full day of hiking with kids in Meteora.