If you’re visiting Zagori and Vikos you’re probably likely to hear about the short walk to the Beloi lookout. The views are spectacular. You can see almost the entire length of Vikos gorge. The only problem is that this is the one viewpoint of Vikos that most people know about. Unless you go at dawn, you’re unlikely to have the view to yourself.

The last time we visited the Vikos National Park, we discovered Megas Lakos almost by accident. Megas Lakos is a gorge that branches off from Vikos. Even though you can’t see all of Vikos gorge from Megas Lakos, the views from the Kakia Skala steps are a great alternative (or addition) to the Beloi Lookout. They're harder to get to, but there are no other visitors and the views are wonderful. There’s also a little thrill about the whole experience as there are no barriers or walls to protect you from the sheer 600-metre drop.

We visited in July when wildlife was everywhere - we found many beautiful orchids, wild strawberries and the meadows were filled with butterflies and the buzzing of bees.

The walk is relatively easy, although the path can be quite hard to follow at times, and it was very overgrown for us. In fact, I wasn’t able to find any other references to this lookout spot online, so I don’t think it’s a well-trodden path at all!

The start point is where a farm track branches off from the road to Vradeto. We followed the track for a short while before reaching a very decrepit looking paddock. At this point, the path follows along the side of the mountain. The path is reasonably well defined at the point, just make sure you don’t follow the other path towards Vradeto.

The path continues to hug the hillside, with varied scenery and increasingly large rocky outcrops.

Eventually, the path reaches a hanging valley. To the left is a well-defined peak (with good views), and to the right a ridge. Even though the path isn’t well defined, the route descends into the valley through a lush meadow. At the bottom of the valley we kept to the right, and then right again up to a small ridge with a sign and a small cairn. This is the start of the Kakia Skala steps!

Even though the Kakia Skala stairway is called a “stairway”, it really isn’t a stairway. It’s nothing like the better-known (and engineered) Vradeto steps. In fact “Kakia Skala” roughly translates to “bad/hard stairway”. It is simply a path created by farmers and animal herders as a means of getting animals down to the valley for grazing, and for collecting firewood.

The descent from here was steep, overgrown and relatively difficult. Even though progress was slow, the views were wonderful. Luckily there wasn’t too far left to go. After descending for a few minutes we found a nice rock to in on to take in the view and eat some lunch.

The views

Route details

The route back was straightforward, and much faster now that we knew the route! If you’re interested in exploring Megas Lakkos and the Kakia Skala stairway for yourself, the walk is roughly a 7km return and I’ve mapped the route on AllTrails. You can walk the return route in around 2 hours, although we were much slower as we kept stopping to take in the scenery.

Route map on AllTrails

We recently returned to the Zagori region of Northern Greece. Specifically to visit Vikos Gorge.

We first visited back in 2015, but realised Zagoria was the perfect place to return to during Covid times. You can easily hike for a whole day without seeing another soul, and the villages are quiet, beautiful and almost always have a small taverna serving excellent food.

Both times we visited Zagoria we ventured down into the gargantuan Vikos Gorge from numerous points. It has to be one of my all-time favourite places to hike. This is a brief guide to hiking the still relatively unknown Vikos Gorge.

Option 1 - my favourite way to hike Vikos Gorge

This is our preferred route. Unlike other routes, you start and finish in the village of Vikos. This doesn’t mean the hike is any less interesting than hiking end to end from Monodendri. It has the advantage that you don’t need to organise a taxi, and you can also make the route as long, or as short as you wish. It’s also worth noting that the scenery is so incredible, it doesn’t feel like you are repeating yourself at any point on this walk.

It’s also easy to park at the outskirts of the village of Vikos (map)

The walk starts with a descent from the village of Vikos (map) into Vikos Gorge. From the very beginning, the view is spectacular. The first part of the descent is like walking through a long-abandoned garden, with herbs flowers and fig trees.

The path starts to get a little steeper once you reach a small stone shrine at a look-out point.

Throughout the descent, you are treated to a breathtaking view of the Towers of Astraka, the third highest peak of Mt. Tymfi.

You also get a fantastic view of the Voidomatis springs and the Panagia (Virgin Mary) chapel at the foot of the gorge.

After around 40 minutes of descent the path starts to level out a little and enters young woodland. It’s at this point you have the option of turning left and heading further down the gorge to the Voidomatis springs. Personally I’d recommend doing this on the way back as it’s the perfect way to cool off before the ascent back up to Vikos.

At this point in the walk we noticed how lush and vibrant the gorge is. Everywhere you look there are wild flowers, butterflies and fragrant smelling herbs. You can actually buy some of these wild herbs at a small shop right next to the lookout point (map) in the village of Vikos.

As the hike continues you’ll pass through a wonderful variety of scenery from thick moss covered forest, to lush meadows, rocky riverbeds and even cave like channels hugging the side of the valley. It seems that every few minutes you enter a different world.

In the summer and autumn the river past the Voidomatis springs is completely dried up.

The further towards Monodendri you go, the wilder the hike seems to get. We passed a few tortoises exploring the undergrowth and were constantly surrounded by butterflies in every imaginable colour. The sound of the birds and insects as you walk is almost mesmerising.

You’ll eventually reach a few places where the path gets quite rocky and you have to do a little (very easy) climbing to stay on the path.

After roughly 8km of walking we stopped, walked down to the riverbed and find a nice lunch spot to eat our greek pie for lunch.

We then started hiking back towards Vikos. The great thing about doing the hike in this return manner is it’s completely up to you how much of it you do!

The best thing about the return leg of this hike is the treat towards the end…

Swimming in the Voidomatis springs (map) are (literally) breathtaking. They emerge from out of nowhere in the riverbed at the foot of Vikos Gorge. They’re clear, clean and seriously cold at only 4 degrees centigrade.

There’s a rock which is perfect for jumping in too. We jumped in 4 or 5 times before heading back to Vikos.

The ascent is the hardest part of the walk. Having said that, even if you take it really slowly it shouldn’t take any longer than an hour. As with the descent, the views are spectacular, especially in the late afternoon light.

Option 2 - Monodendri to Vikos (with taxi back to Monodendri)

If you’re set on hiking from one end of Vikos Gorge to the other, this is probably your best option. You’ll have the same scenery but will possibly miss out on some of awe-inspiring views as you descend into Vikos Gorge from Vikos.

This route is around 12km and takes roughly 6 hours, although you’ll want to factor in extra time for cooling off in the Voidomatis springs.

The main drawback with this route is finding a way of getting back to Monodendri once you have arrived in Vikos. There are a few small tavernas in the village of Vikos and I’ve read that most of them will offer to call a friend to provide you with an ad-hoc taxi service back to Monodendri for somewhere between €20-30. If you’re planning this, Hristoforos Tsoumanis is a good place to ask, and they serve ice cold drinks which are exactly what we needed at the end of our hike. Back in 2015 we ended up giving a lift to an Australian couple who found themselves stranded in Vikos.

Route map and details

Vikos Gorge hike route map courtesy of AllTrails - expand map

AllTrails has a route map of the entire route from Monodendri to Vikos.

You can use this map for options described in this article.

If you’re planning to hike in spring, summer or early autumn I’d recommend taking a lot of water. Although the heat is generally dry, and there’s a lot of shade, we ended up drinking 2 litres of water each.

We’ve hiked Vikos Gorge numerous times, and although it can be hot in the summer, in our experience it’s never been uncomfortably hot.

Happy hiking!