Vikos: the world's deepest gorge relative to its width, where stone bridges count the centuries

There is a corner of Greece that looks nothing like the blue-and-white postcards of the Cyclades. In the interior of Epirus, near the Albanian border, the Pindus mountains split open into a wound of rock called the Vikos gorge. For kilometres the valley floor plunges between limestone walls hundreds of metres high, while far below runs the river Voïdomatis, its waters so clear and cold they seem made of glass. It is often cited as one of the deepest gorges in the world relative to its width, and when you look out from the Oxya viewpoint you understand why at once.

The villages of Zagori

All around stretches Zagori, a network of some forty stone villages linked by ancient paths and by arched bridges built by the local master masons. To walk here is to pass through villages like Monodendri, Vikos or the two Papingo, where the grey houses seem born of the mountain itself and the squares stay silent even in summer. The classic crossing of the gorge, from Monodendri to the village of Vikos, takes several hours on foot and rewards every step with landscapes that shift at every bend.

A destination for slow travel

This is a place for those who seek slowness. You will find no big resorts and no tidy rows of sunloungers: only family-run inns, tavernas where you eat whatever the season offers, and trails shared at most with a few hikers and the flocks. Walking the old drove roads, sleeping in the village guesthouses and drinking from the springs helps sustain a fragile local economy, rather than draining it elsewhere.

When to go

The ideal time is spring, when the meadows bloom and the streams run full, or early autumn, with the woods turning copper and the air already crisp. High summer can bring heat and a few more visitors at the viewpoints; better to choose the shoulder months, when Zagori becomes once more what it has always been: a world apart.

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Getting there

The gateway to the Zagori region is Ioannina, the capital of Epirus, which has an airport (with few flights, mostly via Athens). From the city it takes about an hour along mountain roads to reach the village of Monodendri, the most common starting point for the Vikos gorge. A car is strongly recommended — rentable in Ioannina — to move among the stone villages of Zagori along the winding mountain roads.

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