Το Μονοπάτι του Μαινάλου
Καλώς Ήλθατε στην Επίσημη Ιστοσελίδα του Menalon Trail.
Το πρώτο πιστοποιημένο μονοπάτι στην Ελλάδα από την ERA είναι πραγματικότητα και έτοιμο να εξυπηρετήσει ακόμα και τον πιο απαιτητικό λάτρη της φύσης από όλο τον κόσμο.
Ξεναγηθείτε στην ιστοσελίδα μας για να δείτε και να μάθετε για την περιοχή, τα χωριά, τη χλωρίδα και την πανίδα του Μονοπατιού του Μαινάλου.
75 χιλιόμετρα στη φύση και την ομορφιά της, σας περιμένουν μαζί με τους οικολόγους φίλους σας να “περάσετε” ευχάριστα τον χρόνο σας και να “ζήσετε” αξέχαστες στιγμές σε μία από τις υψηλά βαθμολογημένες διαδρομές της Ευρώπης. Το Μονοπάτι του Μαινάλου, στην Αρκαδία, στην Πελοπόννησο,στην Ελλάδα είναι γεγονός.
Ελάτε να μας γνωρίσετε…


Το 1ο Πιστοποιημένο Μονοπάτι στην Ελλάδα
Το Μονοπάτι του Μαινάλου βρίσκεται στην Αρκαδία, στην Πελοπόννησο, μια περιοχή πλούσια σε ιστορία και τοπία στην Ελλάδα. Μάθετε για τη γεωγραφία, την χλωρίδα και την πανίδα, τα χωριά, το θησαυρό της γαστρονομίας μας και ό,τι εκδηλώσεις εδώ.
Το Μονοπάτι του Μαινάλου, μήκους 75 χλμ, περνά μέσα από τα χωριά Στεμνίτσα, Δημητσάνα, Ζιγοβίστι, Ελάτη, Βυτίνα, Νυμφασία, Μαγούλιανα, Βαλτεσινίκο, Λαγκάδια, βοηθώντας στο δυνάμωμα του τουρισμού και των υπηρεσιών της Γορτυνίας.
Ξενοδοχεία, ξενώνες, ενοικιαζόμενα δωμάτια, καφετέριες, εστιατόρια, παραδοσιακές ταβέρνες, καταστήματα με σουβενίρ, παραδοσιακά τοπικά προϊόντα, Mini Markets, Ταξί & Εταιρίες Μεταφορών για το Menalon Trail είναι εδώ και έτοιμα για εσάς.
Που βρίσκεται το Menalon trail
& Πως να Έρθετε Εδώ
The Menalon Trail is in Arcadia, the center of Peloponnese. It unfurls through the Lousios River gorge, the western slopes of Menalon Mt., the valley of Mylaion River & the Northeast Gortynian Mountains.
The Menalon Trail is just 200 km from Athens center, the capital city of Greece. It is an easy and interesting route, full of small villages and places to visit and fortunately it needs only your basic driving attention to reach on time. Have a nice trip.
The Menalon Trail is just a highway of 245 km from Athens International Airport (Eleftherios Venizelos) and only 110 km from Kalamata Airport. You can check flights for both of them and pick the best one for you and your hiking team.
There are 2 ports close to The Menalon Trail:
1) the one is the port of Piraeus and
2) the other one of Patra. From there you can have your car or rent one and come to us and start your adventure.
Εκδηλώσεις & Νέα
Ανακοίνωση – Πρόσκληση Κυριακή 21 Ιουνίου 2020 Πεζοπορία 6 χιλιομέτρων [...]
Η ΜΑΙΝΑΛΟΝ Κοιν.Σ.Επ απέσπασε την κορυφαία διάκριση του Platinum βραβείου στην κατηγορία Specialty Travel (Ειδικές μορφές τουρισμού) και το Silver βραβείο στην κατηγορία STRATEGYQ "Τουριστική ανάπτυξη / Συνεισφορά στην τοπική ή εθνική οικονομία"
Τιμητική βράβευση από το Ευρωπαϊκό Ίδρυμα Friedrich Naumann για την Ελευθερία. “Menalon Trail – Ένα καινοτόμο, επιτυχημένο και πολλά υποσχόμενο εγχείρημα”
Ανακοίνωση – Πρόσκληση Κυριακή 21 Ιουνίου 2020 Πεζοπορία 6 χιλιομέτρων [...]
Η ΜΑΙΝΑΛΟΝ Κοιν.Σ.Επ απέσπασε την κορυφαία διάκριση του Platinum βραβείου στην κατηγορία Specialty Travel (Ειδικές μορφές τουρισμού) και το Silver βραβείο στην κατηγορία STRATEGYQ "Τουριστική ανάπτυξη / Συνεισφορά στην τοπική ή εθνική οικονομία"
Τιμητική βράβευση από το Ευρωπαϊκό Ίδρυμα Friedrich Naumann για την Ελευθερία. “Menalon Trail – Ένα καινοτόμο, επιτυχημένο και πολλά υποσχόμενο εγχείρημα”
Είπαν για εμάς
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i traveld whit giannis. a nice guid. he took us for a nice wallk over the melnia wallk. He knows all the trails in the area. It's worth a stroll... read more through the villages along the river that connects them. On the way to see monasteries hanging. You can also ask him for a bike ride. jonh942003@gmail.com.
12 Οκτωβρίου, 2019We hiked the Menalon Trail in March from Stemnitsa to Vytina over four nights. We could have maybe made it three, but we wanted a day in the middle to... read more rest (which we did in Dimitsana in the Amanites Guesthouse, which I highly recommend). It was a beautiful trail but in March be warned - it can get quite warm in places but also quite foggy, rainy, and cold! We started off in the beating sun, but eventually on the Dimitsana - Elati route we ran into snow several feet deep! The first leg, going along the gorge and the monasteries was beautiful. We saw turtles and donkeys as well along the way. Nearing Dimitsana, we ran into some flooded areas of the trail and had to climb around and get our feet quite wet for a bit of it due to recent spring rain. There were some marked detours but we did lose the trail at one point and regained it later on. Dimitsana itself was a lovely quiet town, a great place to rest off the first day and we were lucky to see it snow-covered in the morning. The museum in town was unfortunately closed because of the holidays, but as we walked past it, it looked interesting. After resting, we did two legs in one day from Dimitsana to Zygovisti and then on to Elati. Because of recent snowfall, this third leg started out okay but quickly became a challenge as we had to walk up and down steep snow-covered icy trails which we hadn't quite been prepared for. Luckily some proper hikers were ahead of us, so we followed their footsteps and were fine. They had hired the services of a Menalon Trail guide, which you can do by email or calling the number for the trail (I recommend this if there's any sign of inclement weather). In Elati we stayed at Vanna's House (the contact you can also get from emailing Menalon trail), who provided a beautiful dinner and breakfast in their lovely self-built farmhouse. From there we did the last leg at a leisurely pace to Vytina. Vytina is a bigger town which probably gets more tourists, but we didn't feel as welcome there as in the earlier few towns along the trail - but it's a gorgeous town nonetheless.
The whole trail is pretty clearly signposted, however due to aforementioned inclement weather (rain and snow), it might be not so easy to find during early spring. The only time we walked near other people was during the first leg, as there are people going between the monasteries. In the snow covered areas, we saw hints of other travellers, but for the most part the whole trail felt like it was just for us!
To get to the trail, we took a bus from Athens to Tripoli (€16.50 each) and had been planning on taking a local bus from Tripoli to Stemnista, but we found there was a holiday on that day, so we had to pay for a taxi (€40). On the way back to Athens, we took a bus from Vytina back to Tripoli which carried on to Athens. I found there wasn't so much clear information on getting to/from Menalon trail that you can find online... But it's not really a big problem because, unless there's holidays, you can probably make it to and from Athens OK.
30 Ιουλίου, 2019We have just finished the full 8 sections of the trail. Like many of the reviewers we enjoyed the fir forests, the rock perched monasteries, the picturesque villages and the... read more hospitality of the villagers.
The late season had its effect so some villages were practically vacant. This includes Zygovitsi, Elati, and Magouliana, with Nymphasia just a bit more lively. So when preparing accommodation better check availability beforehand. Luckily you can always call for a taxi from a neighboring village. People are very friendly - one time we were offered a ride to the guesthouse in the larger village, and in another the guesthouse owner took us to the next village to continue the trail.
Autumn proved to be very welcome for hiking. Except for few raindrops in the first two days the weather was shiny, with few clouds, and with just the right temperature, around 20c. The autumn also offers the special golden colors of the poplars and plane trees in the river beds.
Other memorable pictures are the great plane tree in the village square of Magouliana, and the clear quiet stream with moss-covered stones in the narrow shady creek before Elati.
Transportation from Athens should not be a problem. For access to and from the area we used KTEL Arcadia bus service. They have a quite regular line between Athens and Tripoli, few times a day from Tripoli to Stemnitsa and twice a day from Lagkadia back to Tripoli.
28 Σεπτεμβρίου, 2017We split the trail into 4 days walking 2 stages each day starting 15th October. Stayed at Lagkadia, drove to the end of the stages each day and got a... read more taxi to the start to walk back to the car. Excellent scenery, fairly strenuous walking in places. Trail mostly well signed, took a couple of wrong turns. We had a map but didn’t bother to download the app.
We stayed at Agnantio Studios with wonderful hosts Takis and Dora and their son Demetri. Accommodation and breakfast was excellent and Dora arranged our taxis for us each day as we don’t speak Greek.
Would recommend both the accommodation and the trail. We had excellent weather as well!
Saw a tortoise, numerous lizards, a few small snakes which soon disappeared into the undergrowth, lots of goats but very few people.
21 Οκτωβρίου, 2018 -
I hiked the trail solo in the last week of June and it was fantastic. I did it in four sections and walked to a village with accommodation every day.... read more I want to share that it is possible because I couldn't find any other reviews where people did it this way before I went. (I’m a 35 year old female, pretty confident hiking).
Tip: FOLLOW THE SIGNS. They are frequent so if you haven’t seen one for a while, consider backtracking. They are visible but it only takes a minute to miss a turn into the forest. Sometimes the trail has to be changed due to conditions, so there are handwritten notes on the little signs.
My recommended alternative shorter adventure would be to walk day 1 and day 4 and spend more time relaxing in the villages.
My route:
Day 1: Stemnitsa to Dimitsana
Short day, about 5.5 hours including stopping to explore old monasteries.
Day 2: Dimitsana to Vytina (via Zygovisti and Elati)
It is admittedly a big day, up to 10 hours, but if you are reasonably fit and experienced and set off early it's achievable.
Day 3: Vytina to Valtesiniko (via Magouliana)
This is a long pants day, lots of scrub. Took about 8 hours with stops.
Shout out to my hosts at Petra & Elato Hotel and to the family that runs Taverna Vasilikos (Ταβέρνα Βασιλικός), they were so friendly and made me a superb pizza.
Day 4: Valtesiniko to Lagkadia
Definitely one of the nicest scenery days, and some of the best walking. About 5 hours. Glad for my leftover pizza.
11 Αυγούστου, 2019With a small team of nature lovers we hiked 4 of the most difficult trails at Menalon Trail over last week, starting from Karytaina, Moni Panagias Kalamiou, Atsicholos, Lousios river,... read more Moni Agiou Ioannou Prodromou, Moni Panagias Filosofou, Dimitsana, Elati, Zygovisti,Vytina. Since I'm amateur in this kind of excursions I faced many difficulties on walking many times under the hot summer sun of Greece or at very narrow paths, but I also enjoyed every step under the huge pine, oak and fir trees. Swimming at Lousios river natural Spa waters was so exciting that we spend almost 3 hours relaxing and sunbathing. The signs and explanatory panels were very helpful. At the villages we visited and stayed the people were very hospitable offering the nicest goods that they had, but the most important their warm welcome and smile. At the monasteries, visitors are welcomed with water and loukoumi so to refresh and rest a bit. From the monks we learned quite a number of historical and art details about the monastery and the people that lived there.
It really worths a lot to walk on foot to feel and discover real life.
18 Ιουλίου, 2016I have lots in four continents, and I find that the Menalon trail was well designed, with changing landscape, connection to culture and people, and ease of navigation/logistic. If you... read more have the time to do the whole thing I highly recommend doing the whole thing but if you just do a part then the Stemnitsana-Dimitsana section was really nice for the monasteries.
I did it in 5 days in July. The heat was bearable since I left early morning, stopped mid-day, and walked again from 2-3 pm until the next village.
I did (1) Stemnitsa-Dimitsana, (2) Dimitsana- Zygovisti -Elati, (3) Elati - Vytina - Nymphasia ; (4) Nymphasia - Magouliana - Valtesiniko; (5) Valtesiniko - Lagkadia.
Day 1: Stemnista is a cute village, Dimitsana has everything you need. In Stemnista I asked the B&B owner and he helped me arrange transfer of my stuff to Lagkadia. Lots of culture in the trail with several monasteries. Really interesting! A monk explained the history of the monastery to me (in perfect French). I had snacks for that day
Day 2: Long day, I ran out of water. I usually carry 2 liters and refill during the day but on that day 3 liters would have been necessary since some water streams/sources are dry in July. I did not stop in Vytina. In Elati there is no guesthouse, so I rented an apartment from a local person. I got the contact by emailing the Menalon trail people. Elati has one taverna - shout out to John the 13 years old son of the owner for speaking good English! Great, hard hiking day, beer tasted great!
Day 3: Nice walk in the valley. In Nymphasia I stayed at the Nymphasia Resort Hotel, 20 minutes from the village. I stayed 2 nights, did not do much, ate a burger, went to the swimming pool, and had a massage because I'm worth it haha! The staff is great and will work hard to make you happy (including yogurt for supper brought to your room). Shout out to the receptionist guy who seems to work every day from 7 am until midnight, and still found the energy to worry that I was "relaxed ok"!
Day 4: Great hike in forest and open scrub. Stopped at the ermitage and was able to toll the bell several times as I was the only one. Neat experience! Had lunch in Magouliana before the main square. The taverna was busy and people all said hi and smiling. Nice, welcoming experience! That day was particularly hot as the afternoon walk is in open land (not forest) so take you time. Valtesiniko is my favorite village: small, authentic, beautiful, clean, well organized. The priest kind of walks around the village entering cafés and tavernas saying hi! Moussaka was great! From the top of the village you can see the mountains stretching and the churches down below lighted in blue and white. Shout out to the owners of Thea Valtesiniko who were super welcoming and caring.
Day 5: Wonderful walk in varied fir forest. Felt elated walking and stopping in the deep forest moss. I had snacks as this day there is no village between start and end. The weather was nice and the walk easy. Towards the end of the walk I was sad it was already over! There was a bus back to Tripoli at 8 am the day after. (Check schedule at your hotel).
1 Αυγούστου, 2022I did the whole trail from 14-08-2020 till 21-08-2020. It's a great hike! A large part leads you through fir forests. The villages are small and beautiful. You need definitly... read more a walking stick. Mind that there is only an ATM in Stemnitsa, Damitsana, Vytina and Lagkadia. At many accomodations you can only pay with cash. In summer the bus leaves from Lagkadia to Tripoli at 15.00 h. The Menalon trail map helps you to understand the courses of the trail.
25 Αυγούστου, 2020