Mount Athos

Mount Athos is a self-governing monastic republic on a mountainous peninsula in northern Greece: twenty great monasteries and many smaller houses, where Orthodox monks have lived and prayed for more than a thousand years. Only men may enter, with a permit and a booking at each monastery, for up to four days. Everyone else, women included, can see the monasteries from the sea, on the cruise boats that sail along the coast from Ouranoupoli.

A thousand years of monks

Hermits were living on Athos by the ninth century. In 963 St Athanasius the Athonite founded the Great Lavra with the backing of the Emperor Nikephoros Phokas, and in 972 the first charter of the Holy Mountain, written on goatskin and known as the Tragos, was signed. Over the following centuries monasteries were founded by Greeks, Georgians, Serbs, Bulgarians and Russians, under the protection of Byzantine emperors, Serbian kings, Ottoman sultans and Russian tsars.

Today there are twenty ruling monasteries, seventeen of them Greek, with the Serbian Hilandar, the Bulgarian Zografou and the Russian St Panteleimon, as well as sketes and hermitages. Athos is part of Greece but governs itself from its small capital, Karyes, and is under the spiritual authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Istanbul. Some 2,000 monks live there. It has been a World Heritage site since 1988, both for its monasteries and for its landscape.

The visitor’s cheat sheet

Seeing Athos from the sea

The cruises leave Ouranoupoli, the last village before the border, and sail down the west coast, keeping at least 500 metres offshore. In about three hours they pass the monasteries of Dochiariou, Xenophontos and the Russian St Panteleimon with its green domes, the port of Dafni, Simonopetra on its rock, Grigoriou, Dionysiou and St Paul’s, under the peak of the mountain. Longer trips add the islands of Ammouliani and Drenia. In Ouranoupoli itself, the twelfth-century Tower of Prosphori, by the harbour, is a museum, though it is being restored and may be closed.

Visiting as a pilgrim

The permit

Reserve with the Pilgrims’ Bureau in Thessaloniki, at 109 Egnatia Street, by phone or email, up to six months before your visit, with a scan of your passport. On the day of entry, collect and pay for the permit, the diamonitirion, at the Pilgrims’ Office by the harbour in Ouranoupoli, which opens early in the morning; bring your passport and cash, and arrive at least an hour before your boat. The permit allows four days and three nights.

Getting in

Buses run from Thessaloniki to Ouranoupoli, and because the boats leave early, it is best to spend the night before in the village. A conventional ferry and faster boats run to Dafni, calling at the west-coast monasteries on the way; the fast boats take only small bags. From Dafni a bus climbs to Karyes, and minibuses run on the rough roads beyond. From Ierissos a boat serves the east-coast monasteries.

Staying in the monasteries

You must book a bed at each monastery by phone or email, ideally a month ahead, and arrive before the gates close at sunset. Hospitality is free, though a donation is customary. Guests eat with the monks in the refectory, mostly simple vegetarian food, and are welcome at the services, which begin in the small hours. The monasteries keep the old Julian calendar, thirteen days behind ours, and most keep Byzantine time, in which the day starts at sunset.

What to see

In Karyes, the Protaton church has wall paintings of about 1290–1310 attributed to Manuel Panselinos, the finest on the mountain. The Great Lavra, founded in 963, is the oldest and largest monastery. Vatopedi keeps the Girdle of the Virgin, Iviron the icon of the Virgin Portaitissa by its gate, and Simonopetra stands on a rock some 330 metres above the sea. Fit pilgrims climb the peak, 2,033 metres, with its chapel of the Transfiguration, in summer, staying at the refuge on the way.

Cruises and where to stay

Don’t miss

• Simonopetra On its rock, from the boat or from inside.
• St Panteleimon The Russian monastery’s green domes.
• The Protaton Panselinos’s paintings in Karyes.
• The Great Lavra The first monastery, founded in 963.
• A night service For pilgrims: the long vigils in candlelight.

Insider tips

Dress for the monasteries: long trousers, no shorts, and nothing bright or flashy. Do not swim, and ask before taking photographs. Boat times change with the weather, especially in winter, and buses on Athos may wait for the boats rather than run to the minute.

Spring and autumn are popular, and summer weekends and Greek holidays fill first. Off-season, from November to March, permits are easier to get but the weather and the boats are less reliable.

Where to stay and eat nearby

Ouranoupoli, the village at the border of Athos, has hotels, tavernas and the boat offices, and Ierissos, on the east coast, is quieter. Both are a few hours by bus or car from Thessaloniki.

See all the Greek churches in this guide →