Kardamyli Tours

Kardamyli tours start in a coastal village of Messinian Mani on the Messinian Gulf, below the slopes of Mount Taygetos, with a fortified tower complex above its old quarter. The routes cover Old Kardamyli and the Mourtzinos tower, the Viros gorge, the paths to the mountain villages, the coast by sea kayak and the house of Patrick Leigh Fermor. Greece Tours lists the hikes, sea trips and day tours that start in the village.

This page covers what Kardamyli tours see in the old quarter, on the gorge paths and in the nearby villages, the history of the village, the sea trips, the writer Patrick Leigh Fermor, how visitors reach Kardamyli and which season suits each route. The tours below are checked on GetYourGuide and leave from Kardamyli, Stoupa and Kalamata.

What do Kardamyli tours cover?

Kardamyli tours cover a coastal village of Messenian Mani on the east shore of the Messenian Gulf, at the foot of Mount Taygetos. Kardamyli is the seat of the West Mani municipality in Messenia and counted 332 residents at the 2021 census.

Kardamyli tours reach the village 36 kilometres south-east of Kalamata, the city covered by Kalamata tours. Kardamyli sits 20 metres above sea level and keeps its ancient name, although older maps label it Skardamoula. Other spellings include Kardamyle, Cardamyle and Kardamili. Much of the village stands on a prehistoric lava flow that still shows as igneous rock.

The Ministry of Culture has declared Kardamyli a landscape of special natural beauty and a historic landscape, for its rich vegetation, the stages of Maniot house building preserved in it and a land lived in since prehistoric times. The old town stands just metres from the newer one, and Kardamyli tours cover both.

West Mani spans the north-western part of the Mani peninsula, known as Messenian Mani or Outer Mani, on the western side of the Taygetos range.

• Municipality: West Mani, formed in 2011 from Avia and Lefktro, with its seat at Kardamyli.
• Area: 402.8 square kilometres, from just outside Kalamata to the edge of Agios Nikon.
• Population: 5,875 residents at the 2021 census.
• Economy: olive growing, livestock, building work and tourism.

What do Kardamyli tours see in Old Kardamyli and the Mourtzinos tower?

Kardamyli tours see Old Kardamyli, or Pano Kardamyli, where the fortified complex of the Mourtzinos-Troupakis clan holds a tower, a three-storey fortified house, a forge, an olive press and the church of Agios Spyridon inside three defensive walls.

The complex covers the north-east part of the hill of Pano Kardamyli. Traces of megalithic masonry at the base of its walls show an earlier phase, and the main core went up in stages from the late 17th to the 19th century. Agios Spyridon, built in the 18th century, reuses ancient and Byzantine material, and members of the family lie buried inside it.

In 1967 the heirs Maria and Eleni Boukouvalea gave the complex to the Greek State to become a museum, and it was listed as a historic monument in 1994. Between 1999 and 2004 the three-storey house, the ontas, was restored as the first station of the Mani Museum Network. Kardamyli tours visit its exhibition, Maniot Settlements, told through maps, engravings, photographs and models with texts in Greek and English.

The complex itself works as an exhibit, joining a defensive work, a manor house and a production unit. Kardamyli tours walk past the tower, forge, cistern, vegetable garden, olive press and family church.

• Ground floor: the history and building phases of the complex, and the Mourtzinos family.
• First floor: Maniot villages from the first Christian centuries onward, with threshing floors, terraces, mills and cisterns.
• Second floor: the clan system of Mani, tower houses, cobbled paths, harbours and watch posts.
• Castle and tombs: a 12th-century castle above the Hellenistic chamber tombs of the Dioscuri.

Which hikes do Kardamyli tours follow?

Kardamyli tours follow the Viros gorge, 19 kilometres long, on the line of the former royal road that linked ancient Sparta with Kardamyli. The route starts at Agios Panteleimon, 1,400 metres up on the western side of Taygetos, and descends to the sea at Kardamyli.

The path crosses the Vasiliki forest and passes the church of Agia Sofia, the tombs of the Dioscuri, the ruined Lykaki monastery and the Sotiros monastery. Kardamyli tours need about 11 hours for the full crossing. In myth, Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, walked this way to Sparta to marry Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and Helen. The villages of Tseria and Exochori stand at the gorge’s exit.

Agia Sofia, once called Gournitsa, sits on the east bank of the Viros torrent at 210 metres, close to Kardamyli. Its stone church, a former monastery, carries a dome on a tall twelve-sided drum, and Georgios Makrymallis painted it in 1700.

Kardamyli tours that aim higher take the paths toward Profitis Ilias, the 2,405-metre summit of Taygetos and the highest point of the Peloponnese. The Ridomo gorge, also spelled Rindomo, runs more than 25 kilometres from the high peaks and divides the central range from southern Taygetos.

• Forest: black pine and Cephalonian fir along the Viros gorge.
• Lookouts: medieval stone posts, called vigles, built in caves and on cliffs of the gorge against pirate raids.
• Ridomo bridge: a double stone bridge at Biliovo.
• E4: the European long-distance path runs along the lower slopes of Taygetos.
• 20 July: a bonfire at the summit chapel of Profitis Ilias, watched from Kardamyli.

What history do Kardamyli tours tell?

Kardamyli tours tell a story that starts in Homer’s Iliad, where Agamemnon offers Kardamyle to Achilles, and runs through Spartan, Venetian and Ottoman rule to the Mourtzinos tower in Old Kardamyli, where Theodoros Kolokotronis prepared the revolution of 1821.

Kardamyli tours begin with Book 9 of the Iliad, where Agamemnon names Kardamyle first among seven well-governed cities he offers Achilles to bring him back to the fight. Under Sparta, its people were perioikoi, second-tier citizens. In the time of Philip II it was an autonomous Messenian city, from 146 BC it belonged to the League of Free Laconians, and under Augustus it passed to Sparta as a port.

Refugees from Mystras found shelter in Kardamyli after the destruction of their town in 1460. The Venetians won the Battle of Kalamata in 1685 and conquered Mani, and buildings in Old Kardamyli mix Greek and Venetian design, but the Ottomans reversed those gains in 1718. Michalbeis Troupakis served as bey of Mani from 1779 to 1782, when the Ottoman fleet seized him; he was hanged at Mytilene.

His son Panagiotis, called Mourtzinos, led the clan from the Kardamyli tower and commanded about 1,000 men. In 1802 Sermet Bey came with 12 frigates and 3,000 soldiers; Mourtzinos held out for days, broke through the siege and rebuilt much of the burned tower. Kardamyli tours stop at the tower where Kolokotronis arrived on 6 January 1821 and stayed until March. On 23 March the Mourtzinos force marched with him on Kalamata.

• Captaincy: the Troupakis-Mourtzinos clan held the captaincy of Androuvista for more than 200 years.
• Filiki Etaireia: Panagiotis Mourtzinos joined it on 20 November 1818.
• Kolokotronis: wrote that Mavromichalis held the title of bey, but Mourtzinos held the power in Mani.
• Dionysios Mourtzinos: his son, minister of war in the government of 1823.

Which villages near Kardamyli do Kardamyli tours visit?

Kardamyli tours visit Proastio to the south-east, Stoupa and the fishing village of Agios Nikolaos on the coast further south, and the mountain villages of Exochori and Kastania on the slopes of Taygetos, all inside the West Mani municipality.

Proastio stands at 232 metres and had 252 residents in 2011. The municipality lists its towers of the Perdikeas and Chioureas families, the restored Melissinoi fountain of 1643, the monastery of Agioi Theodoroi and a stone bridge.

Stoupa lies 45 kilometres from Kalamata, beyond Kardamyli. The Frankish Leuktron Castle, built in 1248 and 1249 to subdue the Melingoi tribes of Taygetos, stands on a hill in Stoupa. Nikos Kazantzakis lived at Kalogria, by Stoupa, in 1917 and 1918 and worked with George Zorbas at the Prastova lignite mine. Agios Nikolaos, once called Selinitsa, lies about 4 kilometres further south, with neoclassical houses, stone mansions and the Gerakaris gun battery at its entrance.

Kardamyli tours climb to Exochori, also called Xechori, 8 kilometres from Kardamyli at 500 metres on the south-west side of Taygetos. Until 1932 it bore the name Androuvista, where Michael Palaiologos, founder of the Troupakis line, settled. Kastania, at 700 metres, sent 400 men to the revolution of 1821, and Kolokotronis took refuge in its Dourakis tower. Kardamyli tours that head on toward the Laconian side join wider Mani tours.

• Agios Nikolaos: 425 residents at the 2021 census and a 5-metre lighthouse west of the village.
• Kastania: the 12th-century church of Agios Petros, whose restoration won a Europa Nostra award in 2016.
• Museum network: the Dourakis tower in Kastania is a station of the Mani Museum Network, like the Mourtzinos tower.

Which Kardamyli tours go to sea?

Kardamyli tours go to sea by kayak, boat and dive trips. Paddlers reach the Meropi islet, 400 metres south of the harbour, and the shore holds the beaches of Ritsa, Delfinia, Kalamitsi and Foneas. A diving centre also works from Kardamyli.

The mountains behind Kardamyli hold back the Meltemi wind. The sea off the village therefore stays unusually calm, and it lies flat in the morning until the sea breeze picks up. Morning is the calmest time for Kardamyli tours by kayak.

Meropi, also called Amygdalonisos, sits 100 metres off the rocky coast at Vardia, and swimmers and sea kayaks cross to it from the shore. Private owners have held it since 1862. Its single-aisled church of the Dormition of the Virgin dates from 1779. The church and the ruins of a fort are listed monuments, and their protection zone covers the whole islet.

For diving, boat trips and water sports, the municipality of West Mani points to the diving centre on Kalogria beach and in Kardamyli. Swimming stops along the shore:

• Ritsa: the official beach of Kardamyli, a large beach of small pebbles framed by olive trees, with municipal lifeguards from 1 June to 30 September.
• Delfinia: a large beach towards Stoupa with dark sand, no sunbeds and calm water sheltered by the gulf.
• Kalamitsi: a small beach 1.5 km from Kardamyli, shaded by tall cypresses, with shallow water far out from the shore that suits children.
• Foneas: a cove of white pebbles 4 km outside Kardamyli on the road to Areopoli, where a rock in the middle of the beach serves as a diving board; a westerly wind calls for care.

Kardamyli tours that follow the coast road south through Oitylo and Areopoli reach the Diros caves, which lie on the shores of Dirou Bay near Pyrgos Dirou.

Who was Patrick Leigh Fermor, whose house Kardamyli tours visit?

Kardamyli tours visit the house of Patrick Leigh Fermor, the English writer and soldier who lived beside Kardamyli in his later years. He wrote Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese, and in 1996 he and his wife Joan left the house to the Benaki Museum.

Leigh Fermor was born in London on 11 February 1915 and died on 10 June 2011. At 18 he set out on foot from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople, the journey behind A Time of Gifts. In the Second World War he served in occupied Crete, where, disguised as a shepherd called Michalis, he led the party that captured General Heinrich Kreipe in 1944. Kardamyli later made him an honorary citizen.

His book Mani appeared in 1958. It follows a trip with Joan and their friend Xan Fielding that starts near Kalamata and heads south along the Mani coast, chiefly by boat or caique, to Gytheio. Joan took the photographs for the first edition, and Tzannis Tzannetakis, a future prime minister of Greece, translated it into Greek.

The house stands at Kalamitsi, just outside Kardamyli. The architect Nikos Hatzimichalis designed it with the couple, and it was completed in the mid-1960s. Its four low stone buildings sit in a garden of cypresses and olive trees, with stone steps down to a small pebble beach. The Benaki Museum record adds four points for Kardamyli tours:

• Donation: Tzannetakis suggested the Benaki Museum, which took full ownership after Leigh Fermor died in 2011.
• Opening: President Prokopios Pavlopoulos opened the restored Leigh Fermor House on 19 October 2019.
• Library: museum staff catalogued the 6,000 volumes of the house library.
• Garden: a bronze bust of Leigh Fermor by the sculptor Praxitelis Tzanoulinos stands in the garden.

Kardamyli tours find a working house: the museum hosts researchers and university groups there, as the couple wished.

How do visitors reach the start of Kardamyli tours?

Kardamyli tours start 36 km south-east of Kalamata, whose international airport (KLX) lies 9 km west of the city and mainly handles summer flights. From Athens, 243 km away, the drive via the A7 motorway takes less than two and a half hours.

Kalamata International Airport carries the name of Captain Vassilis Constantakopoulos. Its terminal sits between Kalamata and Messini on the EO82 road, which leads to the A7 motorway. In the summer months, charter and scheduled flights arrive direct from European cities, and Aegean Airlines opened a base there in March 2013. Car, taxi and bus are the only ways to and from the terminal.

From Kalamata, a winding road, partly along the sea, runs through Kampos to Kardamyli and continues through Stoupa to Oitylo. Kardamyli tours without a car use three bus links:

• Airport bus: from a stop close to the terminal building to Kalamata in 20 to 25 minutes.
• Athens coach: KTEL buses link Kalamata with Tripoli, Corinth and Athens on frequent services.
• Mani line: the KTEL Messinias timetable lists the local line Kalamata – Kardamyli – Stoupa – Agios Nikolaos – Agios Nikon – Oitylo.

The EO82 road from the airport also runs east to Sparta, so one arrival at KLX serves both Kardamyli tours and Sparta tours. Kalamata airport transfers cover the road from the terminal to the village.

When do Kardamyli tours run best?

Kardamyli tours run best from June to September, when Kalamata records mean highs of 28.9 to 32.5 °C and lifeguards watch Ritsa beach. Spring and autumn suit walks, and the year brings a jazz festival, a mountain bonfire and a documentary festival.

Greek National Weather Service figures for Kalamata give July a mean high of 32.5 °C and a mean low of 19.1 °C, with 4.2 mm of rain and 367.6 hours of sunshine. In Kardamyli itself, summer days reach 32 to 35 °C, and heat waves above 38 °C are common, which favours sea-based Kardamyli tours in July and August.

Spring and autumn bring warm to cool, changeable weather. Mean highs reach 21.0 °C in April and 24.9 °C in October, which suits Kardamyli tours on foot. Profitis Ilias, the Taygetus peak above Kardamyli, keeps its snow until early June. The calendar adds these dates:

• Spring: the International Jazz Festival, created by the Sarpsborg Jazz Club of Norway, fills squares, beaches, cafes, bars and restaurants of Kardamyli with free concerts.
• 20 July: on the feast of the Prophet Elias, a bonfire burns at the chapel on the Taygetus summit, and Kardamyli is the local gathering point to watch it without the climb.
• July and August: the Kardamili Art & Docs Festival takes documentary screenings, theatre and concerts to 16 villages of West Mani.
• Late September: the same festival holds its main four days in Kardamyli, with films, masterclasses and workshops for children.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Kardamyli tours need tickets for the Leigh Fermor House?

Yes. The Benaki Museum requires online tickets for every visit to the house, and its e-ticket system opens at the start of the previous month. Visits run on set weekdays, with a separate summer timetable. The site and its terrain make the house hard to reach for visitors with restricted mobility.

Which local foods do Kardamyli tours taste?

The West Mani table includes siglino, pork salted for three days and smoked with sage for ten hours, and Mani sausage flavoured with orange. Lalangia are fried pieces of dough, saitia is a thin pie of wild greens made from October to March, and babanatsa is a summer dish of bread, olive oil, tomato, coarse salt and feta.

What is the weather like for Kardamyli tours in winter?

January in Kalamata averages a high of 15.5 °C and a low of 6.0 °C, and December brings 152.6 mm of rain. Snow almost never falls in the village, and the Taygetus blocks northerly winds, so winter lows sit a bit above those of Kalamata. The KTEL Messinias timetable from 1 October lists the Kardamyli line.

Which film was shot at stops on Kardamyli tours?

Before Midnight, directed by Richard Linklater with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, is the third film of the Before trilogy. The cameras rolled from August 2012, all on the Peloponnese coast, including the Kardamyli home of Patrick Leigh Fermor. The Mega Channel series Kliniki Periptosi was also filmed in Kardamyli.