Taking a trip to Mt. Pelion in Greece in autumn after the heat of summer is gone when the leaves change colors to beautiful shades of orange and red can be like a fairy tale.
Mt. Pelion, located in the southeastern part of Thessaly in central Greece, is dotted with traditional, scenic villages nestled along its green slopes. The villages go all the way down to the nearby Aegean.
The forests are filled with oak, maple, and chestnut trees, and olive, pear, plane, and apple tree groves dot the landscape.
Every picturesque village of the Mt. Pelion area is well-known for its restaurants, featuring local dishes, the Greek liqueur tsipouro, and local wines.
You can easily find hiking trails and stone paths leading to pristine springs, waterfalls, and streams, and you will have miles and miles of forests to explore during this lovely, much cooler season.
Here are some of the most charming villages to visit in Pelion, each one unique and with a different style, but all completely enchanting.
Villages in Pelion are perfect destinations for a trip to Greece
Tsagarada
This picturesque village in Pelion attracts many visitors during autumn because it is beautifully situated in the middle of a chestnut forest, and the views from there are simply breathtaking.
This lovely village is known for its enormous, one-thousand-year-old plane tree, found right in the middle of the square of Agia Paraskevi church, and its many homes with colorful flower gardens.
Millies
Milies, which is built in the form of an amphitheater on the green slopes of Mount Dikri, is considered to be one of the most scenic and traditional larger villages of the Mt. Pelion region.
The village is called Millies (“apple trees”) because it has been famous for its production of apples since time immemorial. However, Millies has so much else to offer, as well, including marble fountains, old mansions, and its many silvery olive groves, which cover the nearby slopes.
Makrinitsa
A visit to Makrinitsa will leave you entranced by its unique beauty, and you will simply not want to leave this beautiful mountain haven in Pelion, especially in the autumn.
Makrinitsa is known as “the noble village” since it has been home to a great many wealthy people over the years. Most of the homes in Makrinitsa are lovely mansions, which are in beautiful settings and are lavishly decorated.
The village itself is also known as “The balcony of Pelion” because of its stunning views due to its altitude at 630 meters (2,066 feet) above sea level.
Zagora
There are vivid reminders of Zagora’s ancient past with the ruins of a castle and a necropolis located in the area.
The homes in this village were constructed in the style of the folk architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries, with decorated false windows and deeply-carved wooden doors.
Zagora is also well-known for the variety of fruits produced in the area, including strawberries, plums, apples, pears, and sloes—a type of berry.
Portaria
The village of Portaria became famous for its silk products, including sashes, silk thread, and handkerchiefs, during the centuries of Turkish occupation.
Like the entire region of Pelion, the village of Portaria is abundant in streams and waterfalls, as pristine waters course over its steep cliffs. Its imposing, whitewashed, stone houses cling resolutely to the mountainsides.
Pinakates
The village of Pinakates, situated near the beautiful ancient city of Volos, is built on a mountainside at an altitude of 560 meters (1,837 feet).
This village is a truly picturesque place, with cobblestone paths, traditional homes, and mansions.
The main square of Pinakates includes numerous plain trees and a gorgeous fountain featuring a marble statue of a lion.
