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Buses to Ioannina
KTEL is the main bus company in Greece. They operate the various bus schedules that connect Ioannina (the capital of Epirus district) with many other Greek cities and towns.
Athen - Ioannina price 33Eur one way, KTEL do not offer return tickets for this line!
Athens - Ioannina: several buses from 07.00 to 22.00 trip 6.5hrs
Ioannina - Athens: severall buses from 07.00 to 24.00 trip 6.5hrs
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Hi there I am coming to greece for a alittle holiday. I need to catch a bus from parga to ioannina on tuesday the 16th september and I need to be there for 930am. how long do the buses take? Thank you sophie
Kalimera Sophie,There are no direct buses from Parga to Ioannina in September, only in the summer months, juni - augustus. THerefore you have to go via Igoumenitsa or Preveza.If you must be in Ioannina before 9:30 that means you should first get a bus from Parga to Preveza or Igoumenitsa at around 6:00 and from either of these towns, a bus to Ioannina that should leave latest 07:30. I am not sure if this will work, bus schedules change frequently and I dont know these schedules well. But in anycase consult the local bus office in Parga. They will provide you with the latest bus schedules.The tourist agents in Parga organize once per week a bus excursion to Ioannina, check that option too. ALex
hello,
We (2 people) are planning to trek in the area in mid september (route 21 in "The mountains of greece" - the Zagori circuit)
Do we need to make reservations, or will we be able to find place to sleep at night in place?
Also, in the book the trek starts from Tsepelovo - is it possible to get there from Athenes by buses in the same day?
thanks a lot,
Maor
hallo
mid-september is a quite period for zagori and our mountains, and it will not be a problem to find rooms in the villages. Allthough it is recommended to make reservation for the astraka hut and perhaps for the villages Mikro Papingo and VIkos as the number of rooms is limited in these 2 villages.
you may start the tour from Monodendri or Papingo villages. To my opinion, monodendri is the ideal place to start this trek. There are few buses per week, normally it is 2 times per week, between Ioannina and the Zagori villages of Monodendri and Tsepelovo. They depart from same bus station where the bus from Athens arrives. If they dont have such a bus on the day you arrive then the next best solution is a taxi transfer.
alex
Hello Alex,
How long does it take to drive from Ioannina to Monodendri? It sounds like a scary drive but we are going to take it.
Thank you.
Hi,
THe drive to Monodendri is aprox 38km. I do it in 35 to 40min and it is not scary at all, just normal roads. You propably confuse this with the road to Papingo villages, that road has an exciting part indeed.
Alex
thanks for your rapid solutions.
Do you know how much will it cost using a taxi?
thanks again,
Maor
Kalimera,
3.4 eur is the cost of the bus ticket IOA - MONODENDRI
For now they have this bus 2 times per week and 2 times/day.
That is on Monday and Thursday 06:15 & 14:00 depart. time from Ioannina
Estimate a minimum price of 30 eur for a taxi transfer IOA - MONODENDRI, but do bargain for the price !
Alex
Hello,
my friend and I are going to walk in the Pindos in October 2008 for nine days. We could not find timetables about the buses from Thessaloniki to Ioannina. Please can you tell us, when there is a transfer by bus possible? We will arrive on a Saturday in Thessaloniki. Then we want to take a bus from the airport into the city, then from Thessaloniki to Ioannina and on the same day, if possible, from Ioannina to Klidhonia. I'm looking forward to your answer,
Greets Michael
Kalimera Michael,
Yes indeed, it is very difficult to find bus timetables online. There was a very good website for all bus routes in Greece, www.ktel.org (KTEL is the main bus transportation company in Greece) but for some strange reasons, that website has been inactive for the last 2 years!
But here is my tips:
Thessaloniki airport - Thessaloniki new bus station, 45-50min local direct express bus, a bus per 30min, ticket ~3euros
Thessaloniki - Ioannina, 4.5 - 6 hrs (depending on route followed) several buses/day, but even on saturdays there must be 4-5 buses in total, I remember there was one in the afternoon arouns 15.00 and the last one around 21.30. Price ~22E one way (return tickets not possible on this route).
Ioannina - Konitsa (that bus is the most frequent and stops in the village of klidonia ). There is a bus every couple of hrs, trip is 50min, price ~ 5E. Last bus departs from Ioannina ~ 19.30. if you can not catch it. then only taxi is for you.
May I ask, which trekking route are you going to follow? 'Cause Klidonia is not the usual starting point for trekkings in Zagori and North Pindos! The villages of Mikro/Megalo Papingo , Monodendri and Tsepelovo are where most of trekkings start - end.
Hope it assists you.
Alex
Hello Alex,
now we also have our Walker's Guide and can plan the tour with this guide. We prefer to start our tour in Tsepolovo. We will arrive by plane in Thessaloniki on saturdays. You told me to take the bus from Thessaloniki airport to Thessaloniki new bus station. Then, there is a bus, which drives 4 or 5 times to Ioannina on saturdays. Is there also a bus from Ioannina to Tsepolovo on saturdays? Or must we take the same bus, which people take to get to Monodhendhri, which only drives on mondays and thursdays? Or should we stay one day in Ioannina and take the bus to Tsepolovo on sundays, if there is one?
Then another question: How is the weather in October? I'm sure, we will need rain clothes. But, is it warm or cold? In the www. I could not find many informations about the weather in Epirus in this time.
The walker's guide describes, that you have to watch out for snakes, when you walk along the Vikos gorge. Are there many snakes along the Zagori circuit? Are there dangerous snakes?
Can we get drinking water in each village?
How is it with communication? I cannot speak and read Greece. Are there signs in English in Thessaloniki and Ioannina? And the drivers of the buses and taxis, do they usually understand a bit English or not?
My last question:
You know the mountains and can say how hard it is to walk the routes. We have planned two different walks through the Pindos, a hard one and an easy one. In the moment, I do not know, if it is possible to walk the hard one in a week, so I ask you for advice.
The hard walk:
1. Flight to Thessaloniki / by bus to Ioannina
2. by bus to Tsepolovo / Tsepolovo - Kipi - Monodhendhri (the easy route 22, 21)
3. Monodhrendhri - Papingo (route 21)
4. Papingo - Drakolimni lake - Astraka refuge (route 21)
5. Astraka refuge - Mt. Gamila - Kapesovo (route 21)
6. by bus to Skamneli / Skamneli - Goura spring (route 23)
7. Goura spring - Stomiou Monastery (route 23)
8. Stomiou Monastery - Konitsa (route 23) / by bus to Ioannina
9. by buy to Thessaloniki / flight back to Germany
The easy walk:
The easy walk is the same walk like the hard one till Kapesovo (day 5). If we walk this one, we will have three "free" days and in the moment I do not know where we can go or what we can do at these days. Should we make one or two day's rest or should we stay one day in Ioannina? Do you have a tipp?
Kalimera michael,
- Snakes are everywhere in Greece, nothing special with snakes in the Vikos gorge or elsewhere in Pindos. There is only one venomous snake in greece so as in the rest of europe that is the viper. Common sense practices to avoid being beaten: watch out where you sit and put your hands. Here is a link with a photo of a common viper: www.naturephoto-cz.eu/pic/sevcik/vipera-latastei--vipera-latasti.jpg
- Buses to Tsepelovo not available in the weekend; thus you better take a taxi; remember bargain for the price always.
- weather can be lovely in oktober, ideal for trekkings, especially during the first half of the month, but ofcourse you never know with the weather nowdays. I would pack clothing for temps ranging from 0 to 25 C.
- The water is absolutely drinkable in the villages; also the water from the springs found on the mountains or in the gorge. This water is far better than the bottled mineral water.
- Road and street signs are also written with Latin characters everywhere in greece, thus no problem with that.
- It wont be easy at all to find a taxi driver who speaks english, but ok they understand some very basic words. I suggest you take a greek phrasebook with you, it will really save you in some situations.
- regarding your hard walk plan here are some contents:
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2. by bus to Tsepolovo / Tsepolovo - Kipi - Monodhendhri (the easy route 22, 21)
6-6.5hrs easy-moderate depending which route you are gonna follow, is your plan with a visit to Beloi-Vradeto ?
3. Monodhrendhri - Papingo (route 21) 7-8hrs medium
4. Papingo - Drakolimni lake - Astraka refuge (route 21) 6- 6.5hrs medium - hard
5. Astraka refuge - Mt. Gamila - Kapesovo (route 21)
this is not the way to do it, besides the fact that is going to be a very long day, the typical crossing of gamila ends in Tsepelovo village, why Kapesovo I dont get it !!
6. by bus to Skamneli / Skamneli - Goura spring (route 23)
may I ask what are you gonna do at the spring ? camping?
7. Goura spring - Stomiou Monastery (route 23)
pls ignore this, it is only a waste of time, As I wrote this Kapesovo - Skamneli is a uselles way around, you just come down to Tsepelovo on day 5 and if you are not feeling very tired for another very long day, go ahead on day 6 (or just take a day pause) and start your walk from Tsepelovo up to Tsuka rossa Pass (4-5hrs) and from there down to either Konitsa (all the way to Konitsa no stop in stomio is needed. Konitsa-Stomio is 1.5hrs) or to Vrysohori (5-4hrs ) this is fantastic route, for me it is the best crossing in Pindos.
8. Stomiou Monastery - Konitsa (route 23) / by bus to Ioannina,
stomio - Konitsa is just 1.5hrs of walking, why would you stay there? do you mean camping at stomio?
this is indeed a hard program, you got to be very fit to complete these routes in a week. I would plan it a bit differently, starting from Monodendri and with a longer stay at the berghut, 2 days, and as I wrote w/out Kapesovo-Skamneli Goura etc
hope it assists you
Hi Alex,
we have finished our plans of the trekking - tour and now we are looking forward to saturday, when we'll start our tour. I'm only afraid, that there are no busses on sunday, which take us from Ioannina to Klidhonia and one week later from Ioannina to Thessaloniki....I hope, there will be a bus, because a taxi-trip would be too expensive!
Thank you for all the information, you gave us about the Zagori! We will walk the shorter and easier route through the Zagori, so the tour will be a bit easier and we will have more time.
greets, Michael
Hi Michael,
you must be now allready back from that trekking in Pindos. You should nt have a problem with buses on sunday, there are buses every day also in the weekends on the route Ioannina - klidonia - Konitsa. Ofcourse there are buses on sundays also between Ioannina and Thesaloniki, not via Konitsa though. If you have time send us you comments from this trekking in Pindos.
mfg
ALex
Hi Alex!
Thank you for the informaion! We are planning with a walker's guide (The Mountains of Greece, by Michael Cullen) and we want to choose route number 21 (Zagori Circuit) out of this guide. Maybe, you know this guide and this route. We talked with other walkers about this route and they told us to start from Klidhonia. They also gave us tipps for our stages, what where we should walk each day...
We will stay nine days in Greece. Because the transport from and to Thessaloniki is such a long one, we have only seven days for our trekking - round through the Zagori.
1 transport from Thessaloniki to Zagori (Ioaninia? Klidhonia?)
2 Klidhonia - Papigo
3 Papigo - Drakolimni-sea - Astraka Refuge
4 Astraka - Tsepolovo
5 Tsepolovo - Kipi
6 Kipi - Monodhendhri
7 Monodhendhri - Papigo
8 Papigo - Klidhonia
9 Transport from Zagori to Thessaloniki
What's your opinion of this route? Is it too long or to short? Could we see more in those few days, if we would choose another route? I'm not sure, if it is the best one for those seven days. We are very fit and have much experience with trekking, so we want to see and walk as much as we can in those seven days. I'm looking forward to your answer!
Greets Michael
Yasoo Michael,
The Klidonia-Papingo & Papingo - Klidonia routes can be left out by starting your trekking either in Monodendri or in Tsepelovo villages. In this way you gain one more day for doing the gamila peaks (staying one more night at the berghut) or another walk. If you will not have your own car then you may use public bus to get to these 2 villages (2-3times per week ). The bus schedule changes frequently through the year! A taxi transfer is a costy solution, minimum price 35 euros, but do always a bargain on the price.
The Monodendri - Papingo is a long day's walk. This day can be as long as 8-9rhs, depending on your fitness and tempo. The last part is demanding, especially in a warm day.
You could also do the Tsepelovo - Kipi - Monodendri in one long day (6-8.5hrs depending if you are going via Vradeto or direct from Tsepelovo to Kipi ) but in terms of difficulty it is an easy/moderate route.
Alex
hi,
we also plan in the first two days to do Monodendri-Papingo-Astraka refuge (including the walk to the lake & back).
Do you think it is better to end the first day in Vikos?
also - you said it is better to make a reservation in Vikos/Papingo - can you please give me emails of places?
Thanks again,
Maor
Kalimera Maor,
The route Monodendri - Vikos village is the classic vikos gorge crossing route. The crossing to Papingo is an alternative but a harder and longer route. It is up to you to decide if you wanna have a long first walking day or split it in 2 nice medium in difficulty days of 6 + 2,5 hrs. Besides that, the location of Vikos village is the best in Zagori. The views towards the gorge and the mountains, you can see clearly even the Albanian mountains, are fantastic.
Regarding reservations for accomodations in these villages, email wont help you much, especially for the vikos village. in vikos village there are only 2 guesthouses, only by phone you can contact them. In Papingo villages, things are bit different, I recommend Mikro Papingo, which quiter and has a better location. There are a few guesthouses in that village, one of them is said to be luxurious accomodation, they may use email for contact, but you beter call. Names of places, I would not mention through here, it would be considered an advertisment by some. Just google it !!!
Hi Alex,
thank you very much for your informations. We are going to plan our route the next weeks till October. You'll hear from us!
Greets Michael
Hi
We will be spending one week in parga in August. Do you know how can we get by bus from parga to the mountain villages?
robert - austria
Hi robert Only in the summer months july + august there is a daily direct bus Parga - Ioannina - Parga, trip time aprox 2hrs one way. From Ioannina you will then have to take a taxi or local bus to the villages of Zagori. But one day is normally not enough for seeing much of these unique mountain villages, my suggestion is rent a car in parga and travel on you own. Alex