Greece - Mount Olympus 2,918m

September 20, 2026

Mount Olympus has an almost unfair advantage over other mountains. At 2,918 metres, Mytikas is not especially high by Himalayan or even Alpine standards, but Olympus carries something that elevation alone cannot explain. This is the mountain of the Greek gods—the place where Zeus and the Olympians supposedly ruled—and the mythology gives the climb a sense of significance before you have even put your boots on.

The reality is considerably more physical.

The standard ascent begins at Prionia, around 1,100 metres above sea level, and climbs steadily through dense forest toward the Spilios Agapitos refuge. From there the trail becomes increasingly open and rugged as it emerges above the trees. The higher you climb, the more Olympus begins to reveal itself: enormous limestone slopes, deep valleys and a succession of rocky summits surrounding the main ridge.

The first major objective is Skala, at 2,911 metres. From there, however, the character of the climb changes completely.

Mytikas is only a few metres higher, but getting there is not simply a matter of following a trail to a summit cairn. The final section involves steep scrambling over exposed limestone, with hands required in places and considerable exposure in others. It is short, but it demands attention. For anyone accustomed to scrambling in the Canadian Rockies, the terrain is familiar enough, although the route-finding and exposure give the final section its own character.

I set out from Prionia at 5 am and moved steadily upward. After about four hours I reached Skala, having already climbed most of the mountain. From Skala I continued toward Mytikas, reaching the summit after roughly five hours of hiking.

The final scramble was actually less demanding aerobically than the climb to Skala. The challenge was more about movement, exposure and picking the right line through the rock than simply grinding uphill.

From Mytikas, there was still a long way to go. I returned to Skala and then descended the mountain to Prionia. The entire outing was completed in less than nine hours car-to-car, with approximately seven hours of actual moving time.

Olympus manages to pack a remarkable variety of mountain terrain into a single day. It starts as a straightforward mountain hike and gradually turns into a serious alpine scramble.

And perhaps that is what makes Olympus so memorable. You don't need Himalayan altitude to feel like you've entered another world. For thousands of years, people imagined the gods living somewhere up there.

After climbing Olympus, I could understand why.

Old Holy Monastery of Saint Dionysios of Olympus sits at roughly 850–900 m in the Enipeas Gorge, about 17–18 km from Litochoro on the road toward Prionia. It was founded in 1542 by Saint Dionysios of Olympus.

Dionysios originally dedicated the monastery to the Holy Trinity, but over time it became known by the name of its founder. He had established himself as a hermit on Olympus, living in a nearby cave before and around the time the monastery was founded. The cave, known as the Holy Cave, is still preserved and can be reached on foot from the monastery.

The location is particularly striking. The monastery was built on a naturally defensible rocky plateau between streams, and its walls and towers gave it the appearance of a small mountain fortress rather than an ordinary monastery.

Dion sits on the northern/eastern foothills of Olympus, in a remarkably green landscape with abundant springs. Its name comes from Dios/Zeus—essentially, "the place of Zeus." It became the principal religious center of the ancient Macedonian kingdom. The sanctuary of Olympian Zeus was the most important religious canter of the Macedonian kingdom. Macedonian kings came here for sacrifices, ceremonies, military purification and celebrations of victories. In 334 BC, Alexander celebrated at Dion, performed sacrifices to Zeus and held the traditional games before setting out against the Persian Empire. The sanctuary therefore wasn't merely religious—it was closely connected to Macedonian royal power and military identity.