When I visited Thessaloniki, one of my biggest sightseeing goals was Meteora and as it turns out for a good reason.
How to get there
From Thessaloniki you can take a bus which takes roughly 3-4 hours with one changeover in Trikala. An important note, in theory its possible to return on the same day, but you‘ll be pressed for time since the last bus leaves somewhat early. I stayed over night to enjoy the sunset. But if you’re unlucky and run into some rainy days it may be an option to consider.
Monastery magic
The main attraction of Meteora are of course the monasteries. You can almost immediately see them and especially after you walked around the first peaks.
There are a few different routes you can take, another thing to note, the Adrachti rock is a dead end, so only go there if you’re prepared to hike the same way back (which is more like a short stroll though).
When you reach the peak its an amazing view, I hiked up from Kastraki to the Holy Monastery of the Great Meteoron. Which is not a particularly demanding ascent, especially if you don’t bring all your photo equipment.
Mountain view
At the top I followed the road and took a small detour to a clearing in the hills, where I figured I could line up the monastery with the mountains in the distance.
On the next day I visited the other parts of the valley, with some nice sunbeams in between. And luckily, I left before the rain arrived.
Is it worth the journey?
Yes, definitely! I very much enjoyed my visit and would’ve stayed longer if the weather had been more stable. There are nice short hikes up to the plateau and even on the top you can further explore. I also really love the very unique atmosphere of these mountains in this valley, even before considering the amazing monasteries at the peaks.