You can break this trail up into "do-able" parts. I walked one section with my very informative guide from Explore Menalo, guide highly recommended, but you can also explore independently.... read more Lovely river valleys fir forests and storybook villages it is a 70km trail, and it took 4 hours to walk 9 kilometers.

  I 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).

  Easy access...landed Athens.. train direct to Korinthos.. great value car hire with Vasilopoulos car hire including pick up and drop from station.. 90 min easy drive to Stemnitsa for... read more overnight guest house then walk in 5 stages ..not 8. Trail times are very ambitious especially with backpack and gradients. Mountain and forest areas are stunning with numerous historic sites reroute. Villages are very hospitable with Stemnitsa ( Gartagani Guesthouse) and Nimfasia (Acropolis Guesthouse) our most memorable. We arranged a lift back to our car with guest house host in Valtesinisko (V/studios) at our arrival in Lagkadia which is a very charming village ( taxis are expensive and few).
Drive on to Vouraikos Gorge track train walk...another must.
An easy very rewarding waking week all round.
Great buys in jewellery ( Stemnitsa) and honey (Lagkadia)

  We 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.

  We 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.

  This trail is really amazing!

We did 3 parts:

Dimitsana - Stemnitsa: Both villages are beautiful. The trail takes you through the gorge where you have a great... read more view of the river Lousios. The nature is really something to see. Very peaceful trail, we encountered very few people. The monastery close to Stemnitsa is also worth visiting. Once you are at the top a great view awaits you.

Stemnitsa - Karitaina: Karitaina is really a very beautiful village. This is not part of the official trail and is not so well maintained, however it is really amazing. I would not recommend it to acrophobic people. Also consider that despite the fact the hike is short, it still takes a while to do since the path is not so easy to go through. You once more decent into the gorge of the river and, for the most part, hike along the river Lousios.

Elati - Vytina: An amazing part of the trail. First going through a cedar forest and along a small river. Really worth it. Again both villages are really beautiful. With a bit of lack we were able to get a cab from Vytina back to Elati for about 15 euro.

  A wonderful walk - highly recommended. We staying in Dimitsana and took a taxi to Stemnitsa, and walked back along the trail. The section is 12.5km and a combined ascent... read more of 700m (although it felt more). The walk is about 5 hours plus stops. Setting off it the morning we were above the clouds which gradually cleared during the day. Basically the walk takes through the gorge starting at 1000m and dropping to 500m and then back to 1000m. The trail is extremely well way-marked, as are many Greek paths, pretty hard to get lost, and we did not take a map. We were lucky with the weather, there was torrential rain just after we return and I imagine it could get very hot in the summer months.

  We walked from Stemnitsa town & saw two old monasteries along the way. However we had a bit of trouble getting a trail map. Before we left Australia, we bought... read more a map via Menalon Trail site, but no matter how I tried, I just couldn’t download the map they sent on the email. We just loved the look of Stemnista town as we drove through & rang Mpelleiko Guest House that afternoon & got a room there. Luckily the owner Nena was very knowledgeable about the trail & lent us a map & explained the good trail to walk. Anyway the first Monastery was called Prodromos in the cliff!!! Two monks greeted us with Greek coffee, water & some sweets. Saw some interesting frescos in a small chapel. The view from the verandah was so beautiful, but if I saw myself from the bottom of the cliff, I would be so scared to death!
Then we saw the other monastery was called old Philosophou(not in use) & also the new one. At the new one, a very friendly monk greeted us with some cold water & sweets & showed us the inside of the church full of beautiful frescos. Must shut the door of the church after you walk in or else, so many cats will follow you inside. Then we went down to Lousios River to swim, but the water was so cold & my husband did swim for 5 mins & I could only walk in for 1 mins & left. All this took 8 hours & that was one of the best memories of Greek holiday. Also we could easily drive to each monastery, we are so glad that we walked to find some interesting plants & great sceneries. We would like to do all 75 km of 8 sections one day.