Planning

Litochoro, the base town

Almost everyone starts from Litochoro (Λιτόχωρο), a town of about 300 m elevation on the Aegean side with hotels, shops, pharmacies and outdoor gear. Thessaloniki airport is 90–100 km away, roughly 1 h 15 by car. Trains stop at Litochoro station, 5 km outside town, and KTEL buses run from Thessaloniki, Katerini and Athens. For the west-side routes the equivalent service town is Elassona (Ελασσόνα), on the Thessaly side of the massif.

The road to Prionia and Gortsia

One road serves both eastern trailheads. It climbs 18 km from Litochoro to Prionia (Πριόνια) at about 1,100 m, is fully paved, takes around 30 minutes, and ends at a taverna with toilets and drinkable springs. There is no mobile signal up there — the taverna telephones taxis for people who need one.

The Gortsia or Diastavrosi trailhead (Γκορτσιά / Διασταύρωση) is a signed dirt spur off the same road at km 13–14, with parking and an info kiosk at about 1,100 m. Parking is free at both. The Prionia lot fills by 08:00–09:00 in July and August, with overflow parking along the road; Gortsia rarely fills.

Taxis, the shuttle and the road link

The two trailheads sit 4–4.5 km apart on the same road, which is what makes the classic loop practical. Radio-Taxi Litochoro (+30 698 777 0240) serves both, at roughly €25–35 from Litochoro, slightly less for Gortsia. A €2 per person weekend shuttle has operated Friday to Sunday, June to September, in recent seasons — it is not a guaranteed service, so verify it locally before you build a plan on it. Failing both, the Prionia to Gortsia road walk is 4–4.5 km and 45–60 minutes downhill, and hitching it is standard practice as cars leave Prionia through the afternoon.

The north-east: Dion and the Orlias road

The Orlias trailhead (Ορλιάς) is reached from Dion rather than from Litochoro: a paved road that turns to gravel above the village and ends at the Agios Konstantinos chapel at about 310 m, where there is parking at the mouth of the canyon. No bus goes there, and nothing links it to the Prionia road except the long way round through Litochoro and Dion — so if you plan to come down at Gortsia, arrange the pickup before you start. Further west on the same side, the Krevatia refuge at 1,004 m is 5.7 km of asphalt plus 8.6 km of dirt road above Vrontou, passable by an ordinary car when dry.

The west side

There is no public transport to either western trailhead. Vrysopoules (Βρυσοπούλες), at 1,800 m the highest drivable trailhead on the mountain, is reached by asphalt from Sparmos and stays open all year — but the road ends at the gate of an active army training centre. Show ID, leave a phone number, park outside the base and do not photograph the installations. Passage can be refused during exercises, so call ahead on +30 24930 62163.

From Kalyvia, on the Elassona side, a 22 km dirt road needs a 4x4 and about 50 minutes to reach the Christakis bivouac at 2,413 m — the highest start of all, and the shortest way to Mytikas. Kokkinopilos (Κοκκινοπηλός), at about 1,150 m, is paved off the Elassona–Katerini road.

The classic two-day loop — recommended

21–22 km of trail plus a 4–4.5 km road link · +1,750 m / −1,800 m · 9.5–11 h of walking over two days

Day 1 climbs from Gortsia at 1,100 m to Petrostrouga at 1,940 m in 2–2.5 h, then over Skourta (2,476 m) and along the Laimos ridge to the Giosos Apostolidis refuge at 2,697 m: 6–7 h and about +1,600 m in all. Day 2 crosses the Zonaria ledges under the summit walls, drops to Refuge A and follows the mule track down to Prionia, leaving the 4–4.5 km of road back to the car.

Why this direction. The Gortsia gradient is gentler on the way up and the Prionia side is kinder on knees on the way down, with water at Refuge A instead of a dry ridge. You cross Zonaria in the morning, before the heat and before the day’s parties are above you in the couloirs. And because cars stream out of Prionia all afternoon, the road link is the easiest hitch on the mountain.

Adding Mytikas via the Louki couloir at dawn — helmet, dry rock — turns the loop into 27.5 km, about +2,250 m and 13–14 h of walking. The full loop, stage by stage →

The one-day push — read this first

Prionia to the plateau and back: 21 km · +1,700 m · 9–12 h

It is done every summer day, and it is the plan that gets people into trouble. A single push leaves no margin for the thunderstorms that build over the plateau most afternoons in June, July and August, and it puts you on the exposed upper third of the mountain at exactly the wrong hour. Nothing about the walking is beyond a fit hillwalker; the timing is the problem.

If you do it anyway: be walking from Prionia by 05:00, carry 3 L, fix a turnaround time before you start and keep it, and check the forecast and conditions at Refuge A as you pass. The shortest ascent on the mountain — Christakis to Mytikas in about 3 h, from the 4x4 road on the west side — is a genuine alternative if you have the vehicle for it. Otherwise, sleep high; that is what the refuges are for.

West side, two days via Christakis

Vrysopoules or Kalyvia · 12–16 km · +1,400 to +2,100 m · two days

Drive to Vrysopoules and walk in past Migotsidis, or take the 4x4 road from Kalyvia, and spend the night at the Christakis bivouac at 2,413 m. It is unguarded, always open, 10 + 6 bunks and utterly without services: sleeping bag, stove, food and all your water go in the pack. Next morning the E4 climbs to Skala and the Zonaria traverse leads to the plateau. Return the same way, or descend east to Prionia and have somebody meet you — the drive back around the massif is about 2.5 h.

Sunrise on the plateau

Apostolidis sits on the saddle below Profitis Ilias facing the Aegean, and the sun comes up out of the sea at roughly 06:05–06:20 EEST in mid-July. The easy version is Profitis Ilias (2,788 m), 15 minutes from the refuge, with alpenglow on Stefani — the Throne of Zeus — behind you. The committed version is Mytikas by the Louki couloir before first light: about 1 h 15 from the refuge, helmet and headtorch, dry rock only, and sensible only for a party that has already done that ground in daylight.

How fit do you need to be?

Every route here climbs between 1,350 m and 2,950 m, most of it with a pack, at altitudes where the air is noticeably thinner than at home. If you have not walked 1,000 m of ascent in a day recently, split the climb at Petrostrouga or Refuge A and enjoy the mountain instead of enduring it. Two consecutive days of ascent is the real test of the loop, not day 1 on its own.

Trail closures, July 2026

The E4 through the Enipeas gorge, Litochoro to Prionia, is officially closed. Storm Daniel destroyed at least three of the seven wooden bridges in September 2023, the repairs are still pending, and EOS Thessaloniki was campaigning for them as recently as June 2026. The marked official detour leaves the gorge at Myloi and climbs by the Agio Spilaio cave and the Agios Dionysios monastery to Prionia: 11 km, +742 m, about 5.5 h. Follow the signage on the ground rather than an old GPX track, and treat wading the riverbed for what it is — an unofficial workaround through a closed section, knee-deep and slippery at best. The gorge route, with the alert in full →

Weather

Olympus weather is notoriously volatile: the plateau can go from 25 °C sunshine to hail, fog and near-freezing temperatures within an hour. Afternoon thunderstorms peak from June to August. The working rule is to summit early and be off exposed ridges — Laimos, the summit rim, Kakia Skala, Zonaria — by about 14:00. Carry a windproof and warm layer even on a hot forecast, and remember that phone coverage above 2,500 m is patchy.

Snow calendar

Snowfields persist on Zonaria, in the Louki couloir, in Megali Gourna and on north-facing slopes into mid or late June, and fresh snow is possible again from October. From November to May the mountain is in full winter conditions and every route above 2,000 m becomes an alpine undertaking needing crampons, an axe and the skill to use them. Laimos corniches in winter. Ask at Refuge A or Petrostrouga what the state of the ground actually is before you commit to Zonaria or Louki in early season.

Rockfall in Louki

The Louki couloir is the mountain’s number one accident spot. Parties dislodge stones onto the people below them, the rock is polished by traffic, and the 150 m of climbing is UIAA I–II with four steeper steps. A helmet is mandatory — Refuge A rents them — and the couloir should be climbed early, before queues form, and never descended wet, icy or snowed. If in doubt, reverse Kakia Skala and take Zonaria: an extra hour, all T3.

Emergency numbers

Emergency, any service

112 — EU-wide, works on any network with signal

EKAV ambulance

166

Hellenic Rescue Team

+30 2310 310649 — runs Petrostrouga and Olympus search and rescue

Litochoro police

+30 23520 81100

Leave your plan with somebody who will notice if you do not come back, and give the refuge warden your route if you are staying the night.

Park rules, 2026

• There is no entrance fee and no e-ticket as of July 2026. Entry gates, registration points and carrying-capacity limits are under study, so this may change.
• Free camping and campfires are banned under the 2024 presidential decree that redesignated the national park. The refuges are the only legal overnight.
• Drones are restricted in the core zone without a permit, and photographing the military installations at Vrysopoules is forbidden.
• Olympus was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a mixed site on 26 July 2026. Expect visitor rules to tighten rather than relax.
• Carry your rubbish out, including fruit peel, and stay on the marked paths: the shortcuts across the scree above Refuge A are what erodes the zig-zags.