Palaios Panteleimonas

The village sits at about 500 metres on a spur of the Olympus massif, and it was almost completely abandoned in the 1960s and 70s as families moved to the coast for work. From the early 1990s the stone houses were restored under protection rules that preserved the slate roofs, wooden balconies and cobbled lanes, and the village came back as a destination rather than a farming settlement: guesthouses, tavernas around the square under enormous plane trees, and craft shops. The church of Agios Panteleimon dates from the eighteenth century. From the terraces the view runs down over Platamon castle, the coast and the gulf, and paths climb behind the village into the beech and chestnut woods of lower Olympus.

What you actually see

• The restored stone village - slate roofs, balconies and cobbled lanes.
• The plane-tree square - the social centre, shaded by old trees.
• The coastal panorama - Platamon castle and the gulf far below.
• The forest paths - walking routes into the woods of lower Olympus.

When to go

Late spring and early autumn are ideal; summer weekends fill the square with visitors from the coastal resorts. Winter is quiet and often misty, with some places closed.

Honest expectations

The village is small and essentially a single square with lanes leading off it, seen in an hour or two. Its restoration means the architecture is authentic but the function is entirely tourism. The access road is narrow with hairpins.

Nearby

Platamon castle is directly below; Olympus trailheads and Dion lie north.