Accommodation

Given the wide range of options, which place should you choose for your holiday? If you want to enjoy swimming and only hike occasionally, you can stay in one of the coastal villages. But if hiking is your main priority and bathing comes second, you are better off staying in the mountain villages at an altitude of 500 metres. This also saves you the drive up, which usually takes 15 minutes.

Most of the accommodation is in flats; hotels account for only about 20% of the bed capacity. The flats are all well equipped with comfortable beds, toilet and shower in the room and a small kitchenette. They cost between €40 and €80, depending on size and season. Everywhere there is at least a small supermarket within walking distance to buy for breakfast and snacks.

An excellent homepage of the Association of Accommodation Providers makes it easy to find accommodation, and you also get good information about the respective place.

Of course, you can also order via booking.com or AirBnb, but the landlords get more out of it if you order directly.

For the village of Damouchari there is a listing of the accommodation facilities...

Food

Many tourists do not cook at the main meals, or only rarely. This is mainly due to the fact that the prices in the tavernas are very civil, because the Greek tourists should also be able to pay for them. The food is delicious everywhere, usually cooked by the family themselves, the wine doesn't hit the bank account like it does in Germany, half a litre costs between 4€ and 6€ euros, the water is always free because of the legal regulation, and there is also no charge for cutlery like in Italy. It is hard to spend more than 30€ for a dinner including wine for two, and if you share many starters and main courses together with friends in the Greek style, you pay even less per person.

The cuisine of the Pelion has its origins in mountain farming. Typical Pilion dishes are Melitsána Pilíou, aubergine with cheese in the oven, Τirí Pilioú, a spicy cheese pot with four different types of cheese, Spetzofai, a dish of ham sausage and peppers and various puff pastry dishes filled with cheese or spinach. Especially later in the year, there are also delicious mushroom dishes.

Of course there is also fish, but apart from the ubiquitous calamari and garídes (shrimps), often only what the fisherman has just caught. Fish is just as expensive in Greece as it is here. The same goes for coffee, as many Greeks sit in the tavern for hours just drinking a coffee.

Not to forget the many starters. Greek appetiser cuisine doesn't have to hide next to tapas and antipasti. On every menu, under Orektiká, you will find delicacies such as taramá (fish roe), melitzanosalata (aubergine puree), skordaliá (mashed potatoes with garlic), tirokafterí (spicy sheep's cheese), and of course tzatzíki and gratinated sheep's cheese, either spicy as boujourdí or normal as féta psití. In some tavernas you can also get tomatokeftédes (tomato meatballs) or kolokithokeftédes (succhini meatballs). And almost everywhere you can get gávros, deep-fried small anchovies.

Enjoy your meal - Kalí Órexi.