Adventure Week in the Peloponnese

Our guide meets you at Athens or Kalamata airport and drives you to the hotel on the Kalamata beachfront. From Athens it is the longest road of the week; from Kalamata airport it is a short hop.

Afternoon is free for unpacking and a first swim off the town beach. In the evening the group meets for the welcome dinner at a taverna in Kalamata, where the guide runs the trip briefing: the order of the days, the kit for each sport and the start times for the week. Tell the guide tonight about any vegetarian, vegan or other dietary needs, so the picnics are right from day two.

From Kalamata the transfer runs to Vorio, a village at the foot of Taygetos, where the hike starts. Our guide leads about four hours and 8 km through Ridomo Gorge, with 446 m of ascent and 466 m of descent, and boulder scrambling where the path gives out. Near the end the walls close to a corridor narrow enough to touch both sides, the rock cool under the palm. Lunch is a picnic in the gorge, and the evening in Kalamata is free, with the guide’s suggestions for dinner. Wear boots or trail shoes with grip: the boulders are polished.

Kayaks launch from Pylos after the drive west from Kalamata, and the guide leads about four hours and 8 km across Navarino Bay. The route takes in sea caves and crosses to Sphacteria, the long island closing the bay where the Battle of Navarino was fought in 1827. Cliff jumps are there for anyone who wants them; nobody has to. Lunch is a picnic, the afternoon goes to a beach on the bay, and the transfer brings the group back to Kalamata for a free evening. Bring swim kit, a hat and high-factor sun cream: there is little shade on the water.

In the morning the bikes leave from the hotel for a 20 km ride through the orange groves around Kalamata, with only 100 m of climbing. Stops come at small shops and at the farmers’ market, where olives and oil are sold by the stallholders who grow them, and at a kafenio (coffee house) for a Greek coffee. Afterwards a woman from Kalamata shows the group how she makes tzatziki, from straining the yoghurt to grating the cucumber. Lunch is included, and the evening is free. Bring a small bag for anything you buy at the market.

Kardamyli, on the Messinian Gulf below Taygetos, is the start for a stand-up paddle of about four hours and 4 km. Our guide teaches the stance on the beach first, then leads the group along the coast into coves and sea caves. Sea turtles surface here on some mornings, though a sighting is never certain. Cliff jumps are offered for those who want them, and lunch is a picnic on the beach before the transfer back to Kalamata and a free evening. If the wind is up and the sea is not safe for boards, the guide swaps the paddle for a hike.

Fotis Kontargiris, our senior canyoning guide, starts the day with a safety briefing at the Neda, after the longest drive of the week from Kalamata. The canyon section is about 3 km and four hours: natural slides, swims, scrambles, jumps into pools and abseils down waterfalls, with all canyoning gear provided. Lunch is a picnic by the river. Back in Kalamata, the farewell dinner is at the guides’ favourite restaurant in town. Pack a dry change of clothes for the vehicle: the drive home is easier out of a wet canyon kit.

Early light on the Kalamata front is the last thing on the plan before breakfast at the hotel: yoghurt, honey, eggs and olives. Our guide then drives the group to Athens or Kalamata airport. For an Athens flight this is a long road day, so tell us your flight time when you book and we set the departure from the hotel around it. Kalamata airport is the short transfer. Pack the wet kit the night before and keep a bag for damp shoes.