Cliff-hanging Monasteries, Mountain Villages of Peloponnese, Lousios Gorge & River: Day Tour from Athens or Nafplio with Traditional Lunch Included
€400
This is a private trip for up to eight people guided by your driver/guide.
Why this tour? It’s a tour of landscape, mountain views, people, food, and historic non-touristy monasteries at amazing locations. Don’t be surprised if we meet locals that talk to us like we are best friends, because we are. We have a connection because the countryside people are very authentic, friendly and spontaneous. We respect them and they welcome us!
At Monastery of St John Prodromos
Experience authentic Greece from a local point of view with a full-day trip to the mountain villages of the Arcadia region in the center of the Mythical Peloponnese.
Explore the beautiful villages of Dimitsana & Stemnitsa, wet your feet in the Lousios river. Visit a couple of cliff-hanging monasteries, taste local food and drink, and visit the Open Air Water-Power Museum. Let your driver offer real Greek lunch and drinks in a very scenic non-touristy location before returning to your base.
Duration: 9-10 hours
Language: English Departure: 8:00 a.m. from Athens or 8:30 a.m from Nafplio town
You can book this tour online now. The pricing shown is for 1 or 2 people (not per person).
For more pricing details & options please see the “Pricing” tab below or Contact Us to get a quote for more if you’re more than two people.
Meet your private driver/guide for your 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. departure.
In a short trip of no more than 2 1/2 hours, we shall reach our destination in this “real Greece” experience.
Starting from Athens, we drive towards the Corinth canal and make a quick 10 min stop to see the Corinth canal. If we start from Nafplio town we drive directly towards the mountains without the Corinth canal stop.
We head towards Tripoli town (mountainous central city of the Peloponnese) and start our village exploration of mount Mainalo in the region of Arcadia. Not for nothing is the name Arcadia used as a shorthand for bucolic beauty.
The main destinations are the awesome villages of Dimitsana & Stemnitsa and also a couple of cliff-hanging monasteries.
Dimitsana is one of the most attractive villages in the mountainous Arcadia region. It is set on a double hump overlooking the Lousios river. In this beautiful stone-built village, there are six beautiful churches since the Frankish and Norman rule. Just two km south of Dimitsana we shall be visiting the Open Air Water-Power Museum containing a reconstructed watermill, tannery, and gunpowder mill showing how the basic pre-industrial techniques used water as the main energy source for the production of various products. The museum is closed on Tuesdays and a few Greek national holidays, so please inquire in advance.
Stemnitsa village has a medieval feeling with the stone-made houses, cobble-stoned alleys in an amphitheatrical structure. The amazing Prodromou & Emyalon monasteries will be visited and of course Lousios river, the gorge, and the remaining ancient Gortys. All monasteries are in the beautiful gorge of the Lousios river and one of them requires an easy 15-minute hike. There will also be short walks through the narrow stone-built roads of both villages.
The gorge and river of Lousios are the most important and beautiful natural monuments of Peloponnese, ideal for hiking, rafting, and kayaking while a drive around will reveal amazing landscapes.
In the surroundings of Dimitsana and Stemnitsa villages, the important sights include the Emyalon & St John Prodromou Monastery, both located inside the Lousios gorge and river. At the spectacular landscape of Lousios Canyon, 3 km away from Dimitsana village we meet the Monastery Emyalon. It was built on a perpendicular cliff among cypresses probably on the ruins of another earlier building from the Byzantine period.
One of the more impressive attractions of this area is the monastery of St John Prodromos built along the side of Lousios Gorge. You can’t see the monastery from its parking area at the top of the gorge and a sign sends you on to a cobbled path that leads down the side of the gorge. Just when you think it can’t possibly be here because there’s nothing but a steep-sided ravine and trees, you look up, and there it is, above you, a long mass of buildings clinging like limpets to the rock face, with some tiny, box-like structures with wooden buttresses underneath.
Somewhere in between these sites, you will enjoy a typical Greek lunch in a place to be arranged by your leader. For those seeking to discover real Greece, these villages are must-visits any time of the year.
At the end of the day, we return to your accommodation or the cruise ship in Athens or Nafplio.
☼ Private tour for 1-8 related people.
☼ Hotel pickup and drop-off.
☼ Private local driver with very good knowledge of the sites to be visited.
☼ Brand new (2018-20) non-smoking vehicle & non-smoking driver.
☼ The dress code of the driver depends on the season of the year, always informal but at the same time professional.
☼ Each adult traveler is allowed a maximum of one carry-on bag.
☼ Authentic Greek lunch & drinks with dessert.
☼ In-car information booklet & bottled water.
☼ Flexible itinerary.
☼ Free online consultation for all aspects of your planning and staying in Greece from the first moment you book the trip or any other day or multi-day trips of Eudaimonia.
☼ Optional: Vegetarian lunch can be arranged in most cases. Please let us know in advance.
☼ Pickup and drop-off in areas outside of Athens or Nafplio (subject to a possible additional cost).
☼ Entrance fees to the Open Air Water-Power Museum (€3,00).
☼ Excess luggage not allowed.
☼ Touristy souvenir/shopping stops unless requested by yourselves
☼ Gratuities (optional).
Total pricing is at €400 for 1 or 2 persons (not per person).
For larger groups of 3 to 8 (related people; couples, groups of friends or large families) please contact us to get the best rate depending on the exact number of people and their age group. Also, if you are a solo traveler we will provide a discount or free extras. All our vehicles are brand new (2018-20). For 1-3 people a large 5 door 2019 sedan vehicle may be used for the trip; whereas for 3-8 people a large 2019 minivan may be used.
Payments made by Paypal, either through the website’s check out or directly, are subject to an additional cost of 5% which the client must include in the payment or pay to Eudaimonia on the day of the booked tour. This is the approximate fee that Paypal charges on all transactions.
On the way back to the main motorway we travel a different path out of the mountain range to enjoy the pine forest, time, and weather permitting.
Departure from the Athens area or Nafplio town. Your hotel, cruise ship (Piraeus or Nafplio port), or a pre-arranged meeting point very close to these locations. For other starting locations please contact us.
Many thanks to the "Adventure Therapy Club" for the great drone video of the two monasteries
Not all add-ons can be included in all tours either because of time limitations (daylight time, closing times of sites, etc) or because of the time of the year.
The Cave of Lakes day tour can be combined with several day-tours and create a multi-day tour.
Please contact us for details, availability, and pricing.
☼ Children must be accompanied by an adult.
☼ As this is a private tour, you will have the opportunity to customize your schedule and itinerary details.
☼ We are flexible and the duration of the tour is flexible, so there is no rushing during the tour except when there are specific restrictions (like not to miss the closing time of one of the monasteries).
☼ Due to uneven surfaces, this tour is not suitable for people with walking disabilities or using a wheelchair.
☼ If canceled due to bad weather or any other extreme situation, you will be given the option of an alternative date or full refund.
‘Eudaimonia’ is the trading name of Eudaimonia Private Tours of Greece, a tour provider officially registered under the Greek National Tourism Organization with business license number: 1245E70000044101. The ‘client’ is the person or persons who have made a confirmed booking with Eudaimonia.
ALL TOURS AND SERVICES HAVE THE FOLLOWING CANCELLATION POLICY
For “booking” dates on or after July 1, 2020
☼ Cancellations made greater than 15 days prior to the scheduled tour date will be fully refunded.
☼ Cancellations made between 7 to 15 days prior to the scheduled tour date will be refunded 80% of the agreed total tour fee.
☼ Cancellations made within 7 days of the scheduled tour date will be refunded 50% of the agreed total tour fee.
☼ Cancellations made within 48 hours prior to the scheduled tour date will incur a 100% charge.
If any specific client’s payment -full or partial- for a tour is labeled as “non-refundable” (e.g. last-minute bookings, etc), this will proceed to any other interpretations made from this cancellation policy, and it is only at Eudaimonia’s discretion to refund fully, partly or not at all, even under certain conditions including “Force Majeure”.
In all other cases: Eudaimonia reserves the right to make subtle changes to tour itineraries. Eudaimonia reserves the right to substitute vehicles and/or drivers should they arise. Eudaimonia reserves the right to change or cancel your booking in accordance with operating requirements or circumstances beyond its control. Should change and/or cancellation prove necessary we will give you reasonable notice thereof, in the circumstances, & where available, offer you a comparable alternative. If an alternative is not available or acceptable you will be entitled to either a full refund or monies paid by you to us or you can transfer to another Eudaimonia tour without payment of any transfer fee.
If the change or cancellation is due to force majeure (i.e. circumstances like political unrest, war or threat of war, riots, civil strike, closure of airports or ports, industrial disputes, terrorist activity, natural & nuclear disasters, fire, epidemic or health risk, Acts of God, adverse weather conditions or other similar events beyond Eudaimonia’s control) we will give a full refund of any monies paid to us less reasonable expenses incurred by us in respect of your booking (hotels, tickets, etc).
Eudaimonia is not responsible for the costs of any other travel arrangements affected due to our cancellations or rescheduling of any tour departure.
The client’s booking does not cover travel insurance. Eudaimonia strongly recommends that the client purchases travel insurance.
Dietary requirements must be requested from clients and forwarded at the time of booking or at least one week before the tour.
VALIDITY
The above terms and conditions are valid for all booking dates from July 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2021.
Any tours booked on previous dates (before July 1st, 2020) are subject to the initially agreed terms which, in all cases, would have been “non-refundable”. However, following the COVID-19 issues, it is also offered credit for the rescheduling of such tours until December 31st, 2021.
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