Meteora monasteries: opening hours, tickets, dress code and which to visit

Of the twenty-four monasteries once built on the rocks of Meteora, six are still active and open to visitors. They are working monasteries, not museums: each has its own hours, its own closing day and a dress code, and those three things decide how you should plan your visit.

Which day each monastery closes

The most common mistake is to arrive at Great Meteoron on a Tuesday morning. Each monastery closes on a different day of the week, so Saturday and Sunday are the only days when all six are open.

• Great Meteoron: Tuesday
• Varlaam: Friday
• Roussanou: Wednesday
• Holy Trinity: Thursday
• St Stephen: Monday
• St Nicholas Anapafsas: Friday

In winter (1 November to 31 March) opening hours are shorter and some monasteries add a second closing day; Great Meteoron, for example, then closes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and Varlaam on Thursday and Friday. The monasteries change their hours with little notice, and major feast days follow their own schedule. Call before you go: the Municipality of Meteora publishes each monastery's phone number.

Tickets and dress code

Entry costs €5 per person at each monastery, paid at the door. Bring cash.

The dress code is the same as at every Orthodox monastery: women enter in a skirt below the knee with their shoulders covered, men in long trousers. Several entrances keep skirts to lend, but in summer, when the coaches arrive, they can run out.

How to see them in one day

The monasteries sit along a paved road that starts in Kalambaka and Kastraki and loops around the rocks. By car they are only minutes apart. The challenge is not the road but the steps:

• Great Meteoron and Varlaam: the largest and the most visited. Plenty of steps, but see them first, early in the morning, before the tour groups.
• Roussanou: on a small rock, a moderate climb. A convent.
• Holy Trinity: perhaps the most dramatic setting, with steps cut into the rock.
• St Stephen: reached over a bridge, with no climb. A convent, and ideal for older visitors and families with a pushchair.
• St Nicholas Anapafsas: the first you reach coming from Kastraki.

Three or four monasteries fit easily into a day. If you only have a morning, choose Great Meteoron, Varlaam and Roussanou.

Before you go

Meteora is a place of worship for the monks and nuns who live there. Speak quietly, ask before taking photographs inside the churches (it is usually not allowed), and respect the hours: when the gate closes, it closes.

For the story of the rocks and seven centuries of monastic life, read the magazine's feature on Meteora.