Waters of the Styx

The ancients placed the entrance to the underworld here, and the Styx by which the gods swore their unbreakable oaths was believed to be this water, seeping from the rock of Chelmos and falling down a dark cliff into the Mavroneri, the black river. The fall drops roughly two hundred metres in a thin ribbon, and the ravine below stays cold and shadowed even in August. Reaching it means driving a rough track above Peristera and then walking a path along the gorge, scrambling in places, with the last section over loose rock and wet stone; three to four hours round trip is typical for fit walkers. Legend held the water lethally corrosive, and one ancient tradition blamed it for the death of Alexander the Great; the ravine's genuine hazards are rockfall and slipping.

What you actually see

• The fall - a two-hundred-metre ribbon down a black rock face.
• The Mavroneri gorge - a cold, shadowed ravine below the cliff.
• The Chelmos slopes - high mountain scenery above 1,800 metres.
• The approach path - a rough trail along the river bed and scree.

When to go

June to September, once the snow has cleared from the upper gorge and the path is dry. Spring meltwater makes the ravine dangerous, and winter access is out of the question.

Honest expectations

This is a demanding walk, not a viewpoint: loose rock, exposure and route-finding, and people have been injured here. Go with a guide or experienced company, start early, and turn back if the path looks beyond you. There are no facilities of any kind.

Nearby

Kalavryta and the Chelmos ski centre lie north; the Cave of the Lakes is on the same mountain road.