A Litochoro tour starts in Litochoro, the town at the foot of Mount Olympus in Pieria, and follows the trails that leave it, through the Enipeas gorge to the monastery of Agios Dionysios and on towards Prionia. The tour is one of the Greece Tours on Greece Ville.
This post covers the formats on sale, where Litochoro lies, its history, the Enipeas gorge, the monastery of Agios Dionysios, the trails from the town and the questions that come up before booking.
What is a Litochoro tour?
A Litochoro tour is a visit to the town of Litochoro in southern Pieria, which sits at the base of Mount Olympus on the western shore of the Thermaic Gulf. Nearly every climbing route on the mountain starts southwest of the town.
Litochoro is a town in Macedonia, Greece, and was once a municipality in its own right. After the 2011 local government reform, it became the seat of the Dion-Olympos municipality within the Pieria regional unit.
Litochoro took the name City of Gods from its place at the foot of Olympus. In Greek myth, the mountain above the town was the home of the twelve gods of Olympus.
A Litochoro tour starts in a town that serves as the usual base for Olympus hikes. A road climbs from Litochoro to Prionia, where the main hike up the mountain begins at its foot.
The town itself holds a harbour, a museum, a concert hall, a town hall and squares. Its two main churches are Agios Nikolaos in the centre and Agios Dimitrios in the north.
In June 2016, the Olympus National Park Information Center opened in Litochoro. It briefs visitors on the archaeological sites, mythology and monasteries of the mountain before a Litochoro tour heads uphill.
- Town: Litochoro is the seat of the Dion-Olympos municipality in Pieria.
- Nickname: The town carries the name City of Gods.
- Cemetery: Agios Athanasios, in the north of the town, ranks among the traditional cemeteries of Greece.
- Facilities: Schools, banks, a post office, a hospital and a sports centre serve the town.
For the mountain above the town, the Mount Olympus day trip page covers the massif in depth, while a Litochoro tour keeps its focus on the town and the trails that leave it.
Which Litochoro tour formats are on sale?
The Litochoro tour formats on sale range from expert-led hikes in the Enipeas gorge and walks to its waterfalls to a trek on the Orlias river, a national park hike, an educational workshop and private trips from Thessaloniki.
The first format is an Enipeas gorge hike on Mount Olympus, run with a local from Pieria. The listing names Pieria, the regional unit whose southern part holds Mount Olympus and Litochoro.
A second Litochoro tour format is a highlights hike to the Enipeas waterfalls on Mount Olympus. Both of these first two formats stay with the Enipeas, the river that gives the gorge above Litochoro its name.
A third format is a hike inside Olympus National Park, the oldest national park in Greece. Park rules allow entry only by the existing roads and movement only along formed paths.
A fourth format is a trek on the Orlias river. The same river marks the finish of an Olympus triathlon, whose running leg comes down forest roads from Skolio.
A fifth Litochoro tour format is an educational workshop on Olympus. The last two formats are private: one links Dion, Olympus, Litochoro and Enipeas from Thessaloniki, the other pairs Mount Olympus with Litochoro village.
- Gorge hike: A local leads walkers through the Enipeas gorge.
- Waterfall hike: A highlights route ends at the Enipeas waterfalls.
- River trek: One format follows the Orlias river on foot.
- Private trips: Two private formats combine Litochoro with Dion or with Mount Olympus.
The tour cards and availability boxes on this page list live dates for each Litochoro tour format, so departures and private options can be compared before booking.
Where is Litochoro on a Litochoro tour?
A Litochoro tour takes place on the eastern slopes of Mount Olympus in southern Pieria. The town lies 22 km south of Katerini and 90 km south-southwest of Thessaloniki, with its nearest beach 5 km to the east.
Litochoro stands 58 km north of Larissa and 420 km west-northwest of Athens. Pieria, whose capital is Katerini, holds Mount Olympus in its southern part and meets the Thermaic Gulf on its eastern side.
Two ancient sites lie close to the town on a Litochoro tour. Dion, with its archaeological park and museum, is about 8 km north, and Leivithra, with its acropolis and park, is about 9 km south.
East of the town, the coastal strip of Pláka runs from the foot of Olympus down to the Thermaic Gulf. It stretches from Leptokarya in the south to Gritsa in the north and holds sandy beaches.
Gritsa, also called Limenas Litochorou, serves as the port of Litochoro, though its capacity is restricted. The coast there continues north to the community of Variko and also has sandy beaches.
Road access comes from the A1 motorway, part of the E75, through exits 70A and 71 east of the town. A regular bus service runs to Katerini, and a taxi stand sits in the central square.
- Region: Litochoro lies in the Pieria regional unit of Central Macedonia.
- Distances: Katerini is 22 km away, Thessaloniki 90 km and Larissa 58 km.
- Altitude: The town sits at about 350 metres, 5 km from the sea.
- Municipal unit: The Litochoro unit covers an area of 169.632 km2.
On a Litochoro tour, these distances place the town between the mountain and the sea, with Dion to the north and Leptokarya to the south along the same coast.
What history does a Litochoro tour cover?
A Litochoro tour covers a town first recorded in an account of a visit by Saint Dionysios to Olympus in the 16th century. Its later story centres on sailors and shipowners, a maritime museum and a landing of US Marines in 1999.
The town enters the written record through Saint Dionysios, whose 16th-century visit to Mount Olympus produced the first known mention of Litochoro. The same saint later built a monastery beside the Enipeas gorge above the town.
Although Litochoro is a mountain town, its people turned to the sea. Well into the 20th century, the town was home to shipowners and sailors, and that era ended when steamships replaced sailing ships.
In 1995, members of the Association of the Retired Sailors of Litochoro set out to record that seafaring past. Relics were gathered from former maritime families of the town between 1995 and 2002.
The Maritime Museum of Litochoro was founded in 2004 and is registered with the Greek Ministry of Culture. Anchors, buoys, ship propellers and a torpedo stand outside, and a plaque inside honours men lost at sea.
On 10 June 1999, 2,200 US Marines and sailors of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit came ashore at Litochoro on their way to Kosovo. Local people opposed the intervention, and CNN International broadcast the event live.
- First mention: Litochoro first appears in the record through a visit by Saint Dionysios.
- Seafaring: Shipowners and sailors lived in the town well into the 20th century.
- Museum: The Maritime Museum sits on the first floor at Agios Nikolaou 15.
- Exhibits: Ship models, compasses, chronometers and sextants fill the museum showcases.
A Litochoro tour that stops at the Maritime Museum shows how a mountain town on Olympus came to send its men to sea, in the age of sailing ships and steamships.
What is the Enipeas gorge on a Litochoro tour?
The Litochoro tour reaches the Enipeas gorge, the ravine of a small Pieria river that splits the eastern side of Olympus at Litochoro. The river rises at Prionia, passes the old monastery of Agios Dionysios and ends in the Aegean.
The Enipeas of Pieria is a small river, separate from the Enipeas of Thessaly. Its Mavrologos-Enipeas ravine runs for 14 km and, with the Mavratzas-Sparmos ravine, cuts the massif into two oval parts.
At Litochoro, the river bisects the eastern side of the massif. Lakko, on the Enipeas inside Litochoro, lies at 280 metres. From there, the Lost Trail race climbs 9 km to Monastiri at 810 metres.
Prionia, where the Enipeas rises, sits at 1,100 metres and once had water-driven sawmills. The family of Christos Kakkalos, born in Litochoro, worked as lumberjacks and took timber to them.
Race routes show the trail between Prionia and the town. One course drops from Prionia to the chapel of Agios Dionysios at 800 metres, then passes Koromilies, Sara and Portes before reaching Litochoro.
The Mythical Trail race gives the distance from Prionia down to Litochoro as 14 km. On this stretch, a Litochoro tour passes the chapel of Saint Dionysios, built under an overhanging rock just above a spring.
- Source: The Enipeas rises at Prionia, at 1,100 metres.
- Mouth: The river ends at an estuary on the Aegean Sea.
- Waterfalls: A tour format on sale leads walkers to the Enipeas waterfalls.
- Chapel: The chapel of Saint Dionysios stands on the river, southeast of the old monastery.
A Litochoro tour in the gorge links the town with Prionia, and the ruins of the old monastery stand just off the road between the two, beside the Enipeas ravine.
What is the monastery of Agios Dionysios on a Litochoro tour?
A Litochoro tour can include the monastery of Agios Dionysios, a Greek Orthodox house founded in 1542 by Saint Dionysios of Olympus. The old site lies in the Enipeas ravine at 850 metres, and the new one stands closer to Litochoro.
The saint dedicated the house to the Holy Trinity, so its original name was Agia Triada. Over time the founder’s own name prevailed, and the new monastery took his name directly.
The old monastery had strong high walls and a watchtower, which gave it the look of a small fortress. It was destroyed in 1943 and is now partly restored as a dependency of the new monastery.
After the destruction, the monks moved to the Metochion, the monastery estate, founded in 1650 with farmland, a church and living quarters. Over the following decades, the estate was expanded into a full monastery.
The monastery is stavropegic, which places it directly under the Patriarch of Constantinople. As in other Greek Orthodox monasteries, the older part follows the abaton rule, so women do not enter that section.
Buildings outside the abaton, such as the new church and the museum, date from after 1985. Church furniture carries marquetry with ivory and mother-of-pearl inserts, and the museum shows three silver skulls holding saints’ bone pieces.
- Founder: Saint Dionysios of Olympus founded the first house in 1542.
- New site: The new monastery lies about 5 km northeast of the old one, nearer the town.
- Document: A paper dated 949 in the Islamic calendar, or 1542 AD, records Ottoman permission for the repair of a monastery on Olympus.
- Epitaph: A gold-embroidered epitaph from 1578-79 is the work of Arsenius, a monk of the Meteora monasteries.
That epitaph links a Litochoro tour with the Meteora monasteries, the goal of a Meteora day trip from Thessaloniki, and the E4 path runs on from Olympus to Meteora as well.
Which trails start from Litochoro on a Litochoro tour?
A Litochoro tour can follow the E4 European long-distance path, which passes through the town, or take the road and trails up to Prionia and the Olympus refuges. A race course from Dion crosses Orlias and ends in Litochoro.
The E4 is one of the European long-distance paths. It starts at Cabo de San Vicente in Portugal and ends in Cyprus, and its northern Greek section lists Dion, Litochoro and Olympus in a row.
Aluminium signs mark the route with a yellow rhombus outlined in black on a white ground, bearing the words E4/6. On rocks and trees, a white patch carries a yellow and a black parallelogram.
Prionia is the trailhead where the main climb from Litochoro begins. Above it, the Spilios Agapitos refuge, the first in the region, sits at 2,100 metres; its foundation stone dates from 1930.
A second route leaves by road for Stavros, a refuge 9.5 km from Litochoro at 930 metres in the Dionysios Monastery forest. From there a path runs past the Gortsia junction to the Petrostrouga refuge.
Orlias lies on the Olympus Marathon course, which starts in Dion at 3 metres. Runners reach Orlias at 740 metres, climb through Koromilia and Bara, and finish in Litochoro at 295 metres.
- E4 path: The long-distance path runs through Dion, Litochoro, Olympus and Kokkinopilos on to Meteora.
- Summit routes: The Skala-Kakoskala and Zonaria-Louki trails both form part of the E4.
- Upkeep: The Hellenic Federation of Mountaineering and Climbing maintains the E4 in Greece.
- Vertical race: The Olympus Vertical starts at Prionia and climbs over 1,000 metres in 4.3 km.
The same E4 also lists Pella among its northern Greek stops, which ties a Litochoro tour on foot to the Pella archaeological site further along the path.
What do travellers ask about a Litochoro tour?
A Litochoro tour raises practical questions about reaching the town by train, adding the ancient site of Dion, the running races that start and finish in Litochoro, and the museums open to visitors in and around the town.
How does a Litochoro tour reach the town by train?
A Litochoro tour by rail uses Litochoro railway station, which sits about 130 metres from the shoreline across the A1 from the town. Thessaloniki Regional Railway Line T1 between Thessaloniki and Larissa calls there, while the Athens to Thessaloniki Intercity does not stop. A regular bus links the town with Katerini.
Can a Litochoro tour add the ancient site of Dion?
A Litochoro tour can add Dion, which lies about 8 km north of the town. The site is known for its Macedonian sanctuary of Zeus, an archaeological park and the Archaeological Museum of Dion. The modern village carried the name Malathria until 1961, when it became Dion. One private format on sale already joins Dion with Litochoro.
Which races use the trails of a Litochoro tour?
The trails of a Litochoro tour also serve as race routes. The Olympus Marathon, first held in 2004, takes place in June and forms part of the Skyrunner World Series. The Olympus Mythical Trail, first run in 2012, has started and finished at Lakko on the Enipeas since 2018.
Which museums can a Litochoro tour visit?
A Litochoro tour can visit the Maritime Museum, housed in the municipal administration building, and the Olympus National Park Information Center in the town. Beside the A1 motorway stands the Alexandreion, a monument building devoted to Alexander the Great and his life, and the new monastery keeps its own museum of rescued treasures.