Meteora: frequently asked questions

No. Cash only. Bring small notes: €15 per person if you plan to go inside three.

In summer: Monday St Stephen’s, Tuesday Great Meteoron, Wednesday Roussanou, Thursday Holy Trinity, Friday Varlaam and St Nicholas. Saturday and Sunday all six are open. In winter Great Meteoron closes Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and Varlaam Thursday and Friday. Full table with hours.

Early. Great Meteoron at 15:00 year-round; Varlaam and Holy Trinity at 16:00; Roussanou at 16:30 in summer and 14:00 in winter; St Nicholas at 17:00 in summer and 16:00 in winter. St Stephen’s closes at midday and reopens at 15:30. None opens before 9:00.

No: you buy at the door. What you do book is an organised tour, if you want one. The important thing is not booking but choosing the day well: from Monday to Friday the six are never all open.

No. Shoulders and knees covered, for men and women. Women enter in a skirt below the knee: wrap-around skirts are lent at the door of each monastery to put on over trousers.

It can be done: 14 hours, four of them on a coach each way, and you go inside three monasteries. It is the trip with the most reviews (1,394, 8.6/10) and customers themselves describe it as hard and crowded. If you have a spare night, sleeping in Kalambaka is far better. How the day from Athens goes.

No, even though the listing is named that way. The transport is a coach with wifi, leaving Athens Central Station at 9:00 and taking about four hours to Kalambaka.

There is a 13-hour trip (€95): departure at 9:30 from the Makedonia bus station, coach with a change at Trikala, a local guide in Kalambaka and back the same way. The coach legs are done on your own.

Great Meteoron, the largest and highest, as long as it is not a Tuesday (or Wednesday or Thursday in winter) and you arrive before 15:00. For the most photogenic, Roussanou; if you are with someone with limited mobility, St Stephen’s, the only one without stairs. All six, one by one.

Yes, choosing well. St Stephen’s is entered over a bridge from the road, no stairs. Roussanou has the easiest access of those up on the rocks. Holy Trinity and St Nicholas have steep climbs up rock-cut stairs.

Saturday or Sunday: all six monasteries open year-round. The worst day is a winter Thursday, with only three open (Roussanou, St Stephen’s and St Nicholas).

Yes. The monasteries set them and can change them without notice, especially on religious feast days. Our table follows the Visit Meteora one updated in July 2026; if you are going on a specific day for a specific monastery, confirm at your hotel the night before.

Rules on photography inside are set by each monastery and we have not verified them: respect the signs at each one. Outside, at viewpoints and in courtyards, there is no problem.