Things to do in Arachova

Arachova is built along one steep street on the southern flank of Mount Parnassos, and it has two completely different lives. In winter it is the fashionable weekend town of Athens: the ski centre is above it, the bars are full on Friday and Saturday night, and rooms are booked out and expensive. From Sunday to Thursday, and for most of the summer, it is a quiet stone mountain town. Knowing which one you are booking is the entire practical question, and it matters more than anything else on this page.

The town itself. Grey stone houses with tiled roofs stacked along the slope, a clocktower on the rock above, and a main street that carries the through traffic of the Athens to Delphi road. That through traffic is part of the character rather than a flaw to complain about: this is a town on a road, and always has been.

The clocktower walk. Up through the lanes, about twenty minutes, and it gives you the valley. It is the best free thing here and the quickest way to get above the main street.

What the town actually makes. Arachova is known for weaving and rugs, for formaela, a hard sheep’s cheese usually served fried, and for honey and pasta. The shops selling these are genuinely local products rather than souvenirs, which is an unusual thing to be able to say about a town on a tourist road.

Parnassos and the ski centre. The centre at Kelaria and Fterolakka is Greece’s largest, at 1,600 to 2,250 metres, about half an hour up from the town. The season is roughly December to April, snow depending, and it is a real ski area rather than a token one. Skiing in Greece surprises people; this is where it happens.

The same mountain out of season. Walking and driving country, with the Corycian Cave on its flank, a large cavern that was a sanctuary of Pan and the nymphs, reached on a rough road above the town. A cave that was a sanctuary is a better summer objective than most towns of this size can offer.

Delphi, ten minutes away, which is the strongest argument for staying. Delphi is a ten-minute drive west, which makes Arachova the obvious place to sleep when visiting the sanctuary. Many people who intend a Delphi day trip from Athens would have a far better time staying here a night and seeing the site early. That is the single most useful sentence on this page, and it is worth acting on.

How to plan it. About two and a half hours from Athens by road, with buses, and a car helps for the mountain. One or two nights, timed deliberately for either the winter version or the quiet one. Our Arachova guide has the practicalities and where to stay covers the weekend problem in detail.