Teleporio™ — Greek Island Travel Intelligence

Zagori Mountain Running

Zagori Mountain Running (17–19 July 2026) traverses the Vikos Gorge rim and Pindos trails in Epirus — 93 km, 15 years, one of Europe's best trail events.

Zagori Mountain Running — Greece's Greatest Trail Race

Zagori Mountain Running is in its 15th year in 2026 and has grown into the most important mountain running event in Greece and one of the most compelling trail races in Europe. The event runs 17–19 July 2026 through the zagorochoria — the 46 traditional stone-village communities of the Zagori region in northwestern Epirus, linked by famous Ottoman-era arched stone bridges — and across the high alpine terrain of the Pindos range. The flagship Challenge format covers 93 km over two days (60 km on day one, 33 km on day two), with a cumulative altitude gain that reflects the genuine mountain character of the course.

The Vikos Gorge — which the course skirts — is recognised by Guinness World Records as one of the world's deepest gorges in relation to its width: 900 m deep, 1.1 km wide at its narrowest. Running beside this is not a metaphor for dramatic scenery. It is, literally, one of the most dramatic landscapes in Europe, and almost no international travellers have seen it.

Getting There and Staying

Ioannina Airport (IOA) has regional flights from Athens. Ioannina city (30 km from the zagorochoria) is the closest urban base. The traditional stone-built guesthouses (arhontika) of the Zagori villages — many restored as small hotels — are exceptional places to stay, but they fill early for race weekend. Book months ahead.

The Zagori Region

Zagori is one of the most culturally distinctive regions in Greece. The zagorochoria — the 46 stone-village communities that form the Zagori administrative unit — were semi-autonomous under Ottoman rule through a specific treaty arrangement, which allowed them to maintain their own governance, language, and architectural tradition. The result is a network of villages that look unlike anything else in Greece: large stone mansions (konak), cobbled lanes, arched Ottoman bridges (the Kokkorou bridge, the three-arched Plakida bridge), and a landscape so forested and watered that it feels entirely unlike the Aegean world below.

The Vikos Gorge is the centrepiece: 12 km long, 900 m deep, and so narrow at its deepest that the two rim walls are less than 1.1 km apart. The gorge is walkable in a full day from Monodendri to Papingo (3–4 hours walking). The Papingo villages (Mikro and Megalo Papingo) at the head of the gorge are the most dramatic of the zagorochoria, with the Pyrgi rock formations — towers of grey limestone rising directly behind the village — creating a setting that has no parallel in Greece. Ioannina, 30 km away, is the regional capital, with a fortress on Lake Pamvotis, the Ottoman Aslan Pasha Mosque, and the tomb of Ali Pasha. Fly to Ioannina Airport (IOA) from Athens in 50 minutes.