The Vikos Gorge is located in Northwestern Greece, in the province of Epirus and its region known as "Zagorochoria" ("Mountain Villages"), a group of forty or so villages that remained largely autonomous during the Ottoman years; the uninformed visitor is free to distinguish them based simply on the "brilliant melancholy" of their roofs: instead of the usual red, you are greeted by gray roof tiles, dictated by local commerce and mineral availability rather than high level aesthetics.

The Vikos Gorge, 900 meters deep and 12 kilometers long, regarded as the grand canyon of Greece, is a unique geological marvel. It is covered with lush vegetation composed of various trees and flowers. The healing verbs used by the renowned "quack" herbalists who worked in former centuries were mostly collected from the Vikos. Many wild animals including the rare wild goat still live in the gorge. Moreover, in the whole region of Zagori there are many kinds of animals surviving, such as wild boar, bears, wolves, ferrets, roe, deer and others.

Vikos and a part of Aoos have, together, been regarded since 1973 as the biggest national forest of Greece, covering an area of 126000 square miles. Another well-known national forest, the one of Valia Kalnta, lies in Eastern Zagori, north of Vovousa. The national forest is considered to be one of particular natural beauty.

Roughly speaking, the gorge runs from the village of Monodendri ("Single Tree") to the village of Vikos; at least, this is the right way to cross it, as long as you know where you are going. For, exiting (ascending) the gorge at Monodendri should be quite an operation; the gorge is not to be taken lightly: the crossing can easily take 6-8 hours, ending in an arduous ascend towards the village of Vikos, rather than in a refreshing swim in the Libyan Sea--as is the case with Greece’s other well known (and considerably easier) gorge (Samaria).

Once down at the gorge, you keep going and going ... Through the river’s dry bed in the beginning, climbing a bit on the banks later on: for, the round stones that litter the gorge keep growing, until they reach gigantic, unclimbable proportions, silent witnesses to a turbulent past. The dirt path along the bank is well defined, but not very “protected”, and there are a few tricky spots where it is “spoiled” ("chalasmeno"); those spots you cross quickly standing “straight up” rather than slightly leaning “perpendicularly to the path?.

Generally, there isn’t much water at the bottom of the gorge; none at all, in fact, until you reach the source of the river Voidomatis ("Bull-eyed"), a tributary of Aoos River. A path, passing between the two riverbanks, leads to the ravine formed of perpendicular rock faces reaching a peak of 950 meters. The width of the gorge, at riverbed level, fluctuates between 30 and 100 meters. Through Aoos, Voidomatis leads all the way into Albania. . Because of its long length some visitors do not intend to explore the Gorge. For them it is possible to enjoy it from one of several viewpoints, just staying apart and gazing. We suggest three sites, which offer the best possible views into the Gorge:

a) The Monastery of St. Paraskevi in Monodendri
b) Oxya above Monodendri on the mountain
c) Beloi, a view point about half an hour’s walk beyond Vradeto.