The past few days, I have had the chance to enjoy one of the most famous mountains of Greece, Mount Parnitha. Mount Parnitha, is one of the most visited mountains due to its proximity to the capital of Greece, Athens.

Athens is the capital of Greece. It was also at the heart of Ancient Greece, a powerful civilisation and empire. The city is still dominated by 5th-century BC landmarks, including the Acropolis, a hilltop citadel topped with ancient buildings like the colonnaded Parthenon temple. Although there is plenty cultural and historical sights in and around Athens, a visitor has many more reasons in order to visit this magnificent city.

About Mount Parnitha

Mt. Parnitha is located in Attiki province, 25km N from the city of Athens.It is one of the 4 mountains(the others are Immitos, Penteli and Poikilo) that surround the circular plain, in which the city of Athens is built. Mt Parnitha is the talllest and more impressive among the mountains that surround Athens.

Ancient Greeks believed that the cloven-hoof god Pan used to come here to play his flute and dance in the forest. Parnitha was first inhabited during the Mycenean Period and was always a key point area for Attica’s defense. There are also many beautiful churches and monasteriesto see here such as Aghia Triada, Kleiston Monastery, Aghios Kiprianos Monastery etc.

Walk on hundreds of footpaths, take a mountain bike ride on a designated trail in the area of Agios Merkourios, explore dozens of small caves and visit a lot of beautiful churches and monasteries (Agia Triada, Kliston Monastery, Moni Agiou Kiprianou etc). At the location Bafi and Flambouri (alt. 1,158 m.), two mountain refuges operate with a capacity of 50 persons each. The mountain attracts climbing fans (locations “Arma”,”Katebasma Gouras”, “Flambouri”, “Korakofolia” and “Megalo Armeni”).

---

Agios Kiprianos Monastery – Armade Well

The previous 2 times I have visited West Parnitha this season, I enjoyed some Dry Tooling and I hiked from Kliston Monastery a wonderful route. This time, not far from Kliston Monastery, my starting point was the monastery of Agios Kiprianos.

You can park your car in the vast parking space that is available for the visitors of the monastery. As soon you park your car, you walk till the end of the asphalt road and on that point there is the starting point of various trails.

The route I wanted to follow was a circular trail and I would be visiting the following areas of interest:

• Agios Kiprianos – Armade Well
• Armade Well – Koromilia Peak
• Koromilia Peak – Tamilthi Peak
• Tamilthi Peak – Alogopetra Peak
• Alogopetra Peak – Agios Kiprianos

The first part of the route are mostly well signed (follow the yellow triangle signs) and the only minor challenge the hiker will face are the many crossroads that lead to different directions. In addition, this first section of the hike is slightly uphill, but rather easy for most hikers.

---

Armade Well – Koromilia Peak

The Armade Well, is the second highest (740 m.) well of Mount Parnitha . The highest well of Mount Parnitha is the Kyriakou Well at an altitude of 770 m. The area of Armade Well is a very nice plateau surrounded by beautiful pine trees and some lower peaks of Parnitha.

As soon we reach Armade Well, in order to continue our route, we need to identify towards the north a small gorge. Pay Attention that is this section of the hike there are no signs and therefore I would highly suggest to have either a great understanding of Western Parnitha or better to have a GPS device with you.

As soon we reach the highest point of the gorge, then we move towards the west up to the point we identify the trail signs that lead to our first peak of the day, Koromilia Peak.

---

Koromilia Peak – Tamilthi Peak

As soon we reach Koromilia peak, we have the chance to enjoy the views towards the Thracian plain, Aspropyrgos and we could also identify the island of Aegina. Looking to the north, we could see the peak named Kyra.

---

See other outdoor activities in Parnitha:

• Hiking in West Parnitha – Kliston Monastery – Pan’s Cave – Arma
• Training on Mount Parnitha
• Winter Hike on Mount Parnitha
• Climbing in Korakofolia – Parnitha
• Climbing in Epos Fylis – Parnitha
• Dry Tooling in Rizos’ Cave – Parnitha
• Via Ferrata Arma – Parnitha
• Scrambling and Climbing the Flabouri Ridge

---

From Koromilia peak, we had to return from the same route till we came across again the trail that leads to Pan’s cave and Tamilthi Peak. Also in this section the route is very easy and mostly signed up to the point we turn south towards the peak of Tamilthi. The whole route moves across the forest and only in the last part there is a tiny small scrambling in order to reach the top of Tamilthi and to be able to enjoy the view towards Arma and even Mount Kyllini that was covered full of snow.

---

Tamilthi Peak – Alogopetra Peak

In order to reach Tamilthi peak, you need to scramble a rock for about 5-7 meters. The view from Tamilthi peak is really the best from all the three peaks, because you also have a clear view towards Arma.

Having enjoyed the splendid views from this peak, it was time to carry on with our hike and this time we had to downclimb again the 5-7 meters and to move towards the east -direction- Alogopetra.

In this section of the hike, we had to move within some bushes and basically off-trail for few hundred meters. Therefore, should you download the GPX file provided at the end of the post, please, be aware that a small section is done off trail.

For the rest, the trail is again on easy terrain and within less than 30 minutes we reached the last peak of the day, Alogopetra Peak.

---

Alogopetra Peak – Agios Kiprianos Monastery

The last section of this trail, which leads back to Agios Kiprianos Monastery, is again in easy terrain and basically pretty much downhill all through. In the area of Alogopetra, there is also the “Pano Alogopetra” which is a cluster of rock faces in the northern side of the Alogopetra peak, over the village of Fyli. Pano Alogopetra sits on an elevated balcony with grand view over the Fyli valley. On a clear day the eye can wander from the edge of Gkoura canyon down to the Elefsina coast on the south west and the city of Athens on the southeast. This is a great spot to enjoy a fiery winter sunset after a full day of climbing.

---

Details of the Hike:

• Location: Parnitha Mountain
• Starting Point: Agios Kiprianos Monastery
• Ending Point: Agios Kiprianos Monastery
• Trail Signs: Partly signed path
• Minimum Elevation: 448 m
• Maximum Elevation: 979 m.
• Total Distance: 12,3 km
• Difficulty: Easy
• Water Features: No

Bellow you can see the route we have followed on a map and on 3D:

---

Gear & Equipment

For this trip, I was carrying the following main gear:

• Kalenji Trail running Bag/Vest 10 l.
• Garmin Dakota 20 GPS device
• Cumulus Minilite Down vest
• Quechua Tech-Fresh 50 T-shirt
• Kalenji Kiprun XT7 Trail running shoes
• Rab Spark Waterproof Jacket
• Petzl e-lite headlamp

---

Before you leave this blog check out the following map

Below: This map marks all the mountaineering adventures that have been featured on Olympus Mountaineering so far, including several Sport climbing crags – Select full screen to expand, zoom in for more detail, or click on a marker for a link to the post.