The picturesque Agali Gorge in Central Euboea is an ideal destination for a day trip from Athens filled with relatively easy hiking and beautiful mountain views.
The gorge is tucked away on the southwest slopes of Mount Dirfys near a village called Agios Athanasios some 100 kilometres away from Athens.
The best time to visit Agali Gorge seems to be winter or early spring when the stream, running through the bottom of the gorge, fills with water.
During our November visit the stream was dry, but we were treated to beautiful autumnal scenery thanks to the many colourful plane trees lining the riverbanks.
Maps, signposting & difficulty
The area of Agali Gorge is included in the Anavasi map of Dirfy & Xerovouni. We didn’t need our map for this hike, though. The trail was marked well by red signs, and the path was clear and easy to follow most of the time.
With 13 km in length and approximately 1000 metres of elevation gain (and loss), completing the hike requires a certain level of fitness. Other than that, I didn’t find it particularly challenging.
Many people finish the hike after about 5 km at the Kratia Spring and return from there. We decided to walk all the way to the shelter of Agali and loved the stunning mountain views offered from the upper section of the trail.
You’ll have to return the same way anyway, which means that you can choose the finish point of the hike based on your aptitude and fitness level. For more details about the trail, check out our recording on Wikiloc HERE.
Driving to the beginning of the trail from Athens
The drive to Agios Athanasios from the centre of Athens took us around one and a half hours and was easy. We left Athens following the Lamia highway until we spotted a sign for Chalkida, crossed the Evripos Strait, and drove through the city of Chalkida until we reached the coast.
We roughly followed the coast until Nea Artaki, where we turned right, following a sign for Steni. We left the road to Steni right before a village called Katheni and followed a small local road towards the entrance to the gorge.
At some point, our GPS took us through a shortcut following a dirt road through olive groves. At first, we thought we lost our way, but soon enough we were back on the asphalt road without any difficulties.
To avoid this slight complication, you can drive all the way to the village of Agios Athanasios and turn towards the Agali Gorge from there (see the directions on Google Maps HERE).
We parked our car near a football field at the end of the asphalt road and continued on foot.
Agios Athanasios to Kratia Spring
From the football field where we parked our car, we followed a dirt road running towards the entrance of the gorge among small olive orchards.
It didn’t stop at the beginning of the gorge as we expected but continued through the bottom to Kryo Vrisi Spring some 2 kilometres away.
Seeing this wide, newish dirt road scarring the bottom of the gorge was heartbreaking, and we kept wondering what other kinds of development could be expected here in the future.
Don’t get me wrong, the scenery of towering cliffs and a rocky riverbed lined by majestic plane trees was stunning. But seeing this kind of construction work taking place in a place of such natural beauty without any regret for the environment took away our ability to fully enjoy it.
At Kryo Vrisi Spring, things changed for the better. The dirt road became narrower and narrower, and after a while, it finally turned into a trail. From here, it climbed steadily through the wooded slopes on the eastern side of the gorge towards Kratia Spring.
The colourful deciduous trees were slowly replaced by a thick fir forest, and beautiful views started opening up across the gorge. After another two and a half kilometres of an uphill climb, we arrived at Kratia Spring, sitting in a beautiful spot shaded by large plane trees.
Kratia Spring to Agali Shelter
From the spring we continued our climb uphill, following a steep path marked by red signs. The views of the gorge got better and better the higher we climbed, serving us as a welcomed distraction.
After a while, we arrived at a dirt road where we turned left. We followed the road for a bit, catching the first glimpses of the Agali shelter in the distance.
After about a hundred metres we come across a trail branching off to the left. It descended the forested slopes for a bit before climbing up to the shelter on the other side of the valley.
The Agali shelter is just a small wooden structure, closed to visitors. However, it offers stunning views towards the summit of Dirfy and across the surrounding mountains.
The asphalt road towards the village of Glifada on the eastern coast of Euboea passes from here, so the shelter can easily be accessed by car as well if you want to arrange for pickup.
We ate our lunch here, enjoying the mountain views, sunshine, and fresh air before returning to our car the same way.
Update: Agali Gorge: Kratia Springs & Boidokleftra Cave
After several weeks of heavy rain this past January, we decided to pay the beautiful Agali Gorge another visit, hoping to see some water in the streams this time.
And our timing couldn’t be any better! At the beginning of February, the gorge was overflowing with crystal-clear water, forming beautiful pools, rapids, and even small waterfalls.
Instead of following the same route as before, we planned a circular hike: following the gorge up to Kratia spring, then returning along the rim of the canyon and with a small detour to the Boidokleftra cave.
On paper, the loop was about 12 km with roughly 600 m of elevation gain. It looked relatively easy, but the second half proved more challenging than I expected.
We started our hike at the football field just outside Agios Athanasios, near the information boards with a map of the area and directions.
We followed a dirt road into the gorge, and soon we reached the first of several small metal bridges crossing the stream.
In the morning, the gorge was quiet, filled only with the bubbling of the water and the occasional bird song, creating a magical atmosphere.
After passing the Kryovrisi Spring about 1.5 kilometres into the gorge, the road narrowed into a trail, and the bridges disappeared.
We had to cross the stream two more times, this time hopping from boulder to boulder or taking our shoes off to wade through the cool water.
Shortly after the second crossing, the trail turned right and began climbing through the forest toward Kratia spring. And even though it was uphill, the ascent was comfortable thanks to the well‑defined trail.
At Kratia Spring we took a short break under the majestic, leafless plane trees and refilled our bottles. Here we left the marked trail, which climbs straight uphill toward the Agali Refuge, and instead turned right onto a forest road.
For the next three kilometres we followed a series of forest tracks, taking a few shortcuts across the steep grassy slopes. This part was easy and enjoyable, with beautiful views opening toward the rocky slopes of Mount Dirfi towering above us.
After about 3 3 kilometres from the Kratia spring, at a sharp left-hand turn, we left the road and headed down a rocky slope. There were no signs and no obvious path, but we decided to trust the Wikiloc recording we were following.
We walked down the rocky slopes along the rim of the gorge, enjoying the amazing views of the surrounding landscape. The lower we descended, the rockier and increasingly challenging the terrain became.
Eventually we spotted some faint red markings on the rocks, and we realised the route was probably marked for the ascent since the markings were much easier to see when looking uphill.
Once we reached the treeline, the path became much clearer and easier to follow. Soon after we entered the forest we came across a faint path branching to the right — the detour to the Boidokleftra cave.
The trail to the cave descended abruptly through the wooded slopes and across some very slippery scree secured by a rope attached to the cliffs. After about 150 metres of uncontrolled descent we arrived at the cave entrance.
The cave didn’t look particularly impressive from the outside, and the first few metres inside were steep and extremely slippery. But after the effort of getting there, we decided to explore it anyway.
There was a thin rope secured to the rock near the entrance, and with its help — and a lot of caution — we climbed inside. The main chamber wasn’t very large, but the walls, covered with a variety of unusual formations shaped by dripping water, were quite impressive.
However, after a while the dark, moist cave started to feel a bit too much like Vecna’s lair, and we made a quick retreat.
Back on the main trail, we continued descending toward Agios Athanasios. The path run through the forest but is not clear at all at this point.
We got lost several times and had to push through scratchy bushes and dense undergrowth – something to keep in mind if you plan to follow our Wikiloc recording.
After another approximately 700 metres, we reached a rocky viewpoint with stunning views into the gorge, Mount Dirfis, and the Tanaida plateau in the distance.
From there, the path became clearer — still steep and muddy, but easy to follow, which was fortunate because our phone battery died at that point.
Eventually we reached a dirt road and followed it downhill, and it led us all the way back to the car through olive orchards and blooming meadows bathing in beautiful evening light.
