Cycling in Lower Olympos

One of the few - if not the only - marked cycling routes in Greece is located on Lower Olympus, the small "brother" of the "Mountain of the Gods".

This is a wonderful route, with many changes of scenery but also varying degrees of difficulty, which has as its starting point the village of Karyá in the Municipality of Elassona. In the first section it is uphill and penetrates deep into a wonderful forest in the part of the mountain that separates Karyá from Kallipevki.

Leaving behind Kallipevki, follows an almost flat section that passes next to the plateau of Nezeros (old name of Kallipevki), where until 1911 there was a lake named Askouris (or "Askourida"), which was drained for the creation of cultivable land.

After the plateau begins a sharply downhill section, with many "hairpins" that reaches Gonnous in the Municipality of Tempi. Up to here you will have crossed about 35 km. From Gonnous you can easily continue to the Tempi Valley and from there if you can stand 5 additional kilometers (quite uphill, however) you will reach the historical Ampelakia, in order to add some Kissavos to your cycling excursion (total route length: 46 km.)