Best Dog-Friendly Hotels in Meteora and Zagori

Before you go

What happens when you get there

Weight limits

Divani Meteora takes pets up to 4 kg and Grand Forest Metsovo takes dogs up to 7 kg. Those are the only two limits in print. Meteora Hotel at Kastraki and Epirus Palace publish none, so they're the two to ask with a bigger dog, and neither says in writing that large dogs are welcome.

Fees

No extra charge at Meteora Hotel at Kastraki, where dogs are accepted on request. EUR 35 per room per night at Grand Forest Metsovo. Divani Meteora is listed at EUR 40 per pet per stay, but the figures quoted for it vary, so confirm with the hotel. Epirus Palace doesn't publish a fee.

Meteora monasteries

Pets aren't normally allowed inside the monasteries. Whether a dog can wait in the courtyards or on the steps isn't published, so plan on one person staying outside with the dog while the other goes in. Entry is EUR 5 per person per monastery in cash, there's a dress code, and each monastery closes at least one weekday, with more closed days from 1 November to 31 March.

Trains

Hellenic Train carries pets up to 10 kg free in a carrier. Dogs over 10 kg are carried only on a few Athens to Thessaloniki and Athens to Lianokladi services, not towards Kalambaka. The Kalambaka line has been closed since September 2023 and runs as a replacement bus, where the carrier limit is 50 x 40 x 35 cm with at most three small pets per bus. Ioannina has no railway.

Getting there

Drive. Athens to Meteora is about 350 km and 4 to 5 hours. Ioannina is 410 km from Athens and 270 km from Thessaloniki by motorway, and 92 km from Igoumenitsa port for the ferries to Corfu and Italy. Ioannina airport is 4 km from the centre with Aegean flights from Athens, so check the airline's cabin rules for your dog directly.

Shepherd dogs in Zagori

Flocks graze on the Zagori trails and they're guarded by working shepherd dogs. The national park's advice to hikers is to keep away from herds and their dogs. Keep yours on a lead and give any flock a wide berth.

Vikos Gorge

The park publishes no rule on visitors' dogs in the gorge, neither a ban nor a lead requirement, so ask at the information centres in Aspraggeloi, Mikro Papigo or Metsovo before you set out. In the park's core zone, which includes the gorge, swimming, camping, fires and staying after sundown are forbidden. The crossing between Monodendri and Vikos or Papigo is about 12 km and six to seven hours at medium difficulty.

Winter and heat

Carry snow chains in the Pindos in winter, when bad weather can last. In Megalo Papigo you park at the village entrance and walk about five minutes in, which matters with a dog and luggage in snow. At Meteora in July and August the exposed trails are hot by midday, so walk early morning or at sunset.

Best walks

At Meteora, the old paved footpath towards the Holy Trinity rock starts at the top of Kalambaka's old quarter, and the lanes and paths out of Kastraki run between the pillars. Fourteen interconnected trails were mapped in 2021, but many paths are poorly marked and no rule on dogs is published for them, so keep to the clear ones or take a guide. In Zagori, Kipoi is the easy stop: the Kontodimos bridge at the village entrance, the Milos bridge by the old water mill, the Petsonis bridge towards Fragades and an 18th-century three-arched bridge just outside the village, most of them signposted and close to the road. Ioannina has lakeside walking along Lake Pamvotida. At Metsovo the pine forest starts at the door of Grand Forest, with the Aoos Springs lake roughly half an hour away by car.

When to go

Late spring and early autumn suit a dog best. July and August bring high heat by midday on the exposed Meteora trails, so keep walks to early morning and sunset. Winter at Meteora is quiet, moody and sometimes snowy, with shorter monastery hours and more closed days from 1 November to 31 March. In the Pindos, winter means snow chains, and the snow in the Zagori mountains starts melting by late February.