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Region

Thessaly

Monasteries in the sky at Meteora, and the green villages of Pelion.

4 museums
All museums ↓
📷 Dipa1965 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Thessaly is the great plain of central Greece, ringed by mountains: Meteora in the west, Mount Pelion and the port of Volos in the east.

Museums in Thessaly

Look inside, then pay your admission straight to the museum.

The story of Thessaly

At Meteora, monasteries stand on top of giant rock pillars, some 400 metres above the valley. Six are still lived in and can be visited, and the Great Meteoron has a museum of icons, manuscripts and old kitchens. In the east, the stone villages of Mount Pelion, the mountain of the centaurs in myth, look down on the sea, and Volos has a fine archaeological museum.

  • 1988Meteora on the UNESCO list
  • 14th c.the first monasteries are built on the rocks

Thessaly through time

The big moments, and where to see them today.

  1. c. 1340The monk Athanasios founds the Great Meteoron.See it: Great Meteoron Monastery

What to do in Thessaly

  1. 01

    Great Meteoron Monastery

    The oldest and largest monastery on the rocks.

    Meteora1 to 2 hours
  2. 02

    Athanasakeio Archaeological Museum of Volos

    Painted grave stones and Neolithic finds.

    Volos1 to 2 hours
Getting there

Getting to Thessaly

From the airport to the city centre by public transport, then the trains and local lines to the museums.

Arriving by plane

ATH
Athens Eleftherios VenizelosAthens · Athina · Piraeus

Getting around Thessaly

Lines and timetables change. Check the operator’s website before you travel.

On the map

Hidden story

Up in a net

For centuries visitors were pulled up in a net.

Read the storyClose

Until the 1920s the only way into many Meteora monasteries was by long ladders or a net hauled up by a rope and winch. Visitors liked to ask how often the rope was changed; the monks answered, 'When the Lord lets it break.' Steps were cut into the rock in the 1920s, but the old winch towers can still be seen.