Delphi - Corycian Cave
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 12.2 mi
- Elevation gain
- 2,864 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Easy
- Elevation loss
- 2,864 ft
- Max elevation
- 4,281 ft
- TrailRank
-
73
5
- Min elevation
- 1,813 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Moving time
- 5 hours 32 minutes
- Time
- 9 hours 31 minutes
- Coordinates
- 3373
- Uploaded
- June 5, 2022
- Recorded
- June 2022
near Delphi, Central Greece (Greece)
Viewed 1662 times, downloaded 56 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
My wife and me did this hike in the beginning of June in 30-35 Celsius with a lot of stops to take photos of various bugs and plants for iNaturalist. If you have some hiking experience, you will find the trail easy, but it is still a 20km hike, so expect a full day activity unless you are ironman. You should bring water generously if you do this in a hot day. It is a go and come back the same way round trip, we only altered the way back in the very end entering Delphi accidentally on a different street.
Going up the hill above Delphi at the beginning and to the cave at the end are the more challenging parts, the rest is just following a flat forest road. Some trees and bushes can provide shadow for taking a short rest except on the ascent of the hill at the beginning. It is possible to find water (see the waypoints), but we do not recommend relying on this.
We recommend taking 1.5 liter (or even more) of water per person (on a hot day), a hat, sunglasses, comfortable hiking sandals or shoes (forget flip flops), and a power bank for your phone (including a cable for which I had to go back to the hotel from the top of the stairs of Delphi).
The cave is easy to enter (just watch your step on the dark inner side as it can get slippery), it is refreshingly cool inside, and it is quite big. It can be useful to have a flashlight with you (or just use your phone if your battery can afford it) to highlight some of the rock formations on the inner side where it gets dark.
Enjoy the hike!
Going up the hill above Delphi at the beginning and to the cave at the end are the more challenging parts, the rest is just following a flat forest road. Some trees and bushes can provide shadow for taking a short rest except on the ascent of the hill at the beginning. It is possible to find water (see the waypoints), but we do not recommend relying on this.
We recommend taking 1.5 liter (or even more) of water per person (on a hot day), a hat, sunglasses, comfortable hiking sandals or shoes (forget flip flops), and a power bank for your phone (including a cable for which I had to go back to the hotel from the top of the stairs of Delphi).
The cave is easy to enter (just watch your step on the dark inner side as it can get slippery), it is refreshingly cool inside, and it is quite big. It can be useful to have a flashlight with you (or just use your phone if your battery can afford it) to highlight some of the rock formations on the inner side where it gets dark.
Enjoy the hike!
Waypoints
Waypoint
1,824 ft
Start wherever you can park in Delphi.
We stayed in Hotel Athina, hence our trail starts here.
Panorama
Waypoint
3,241 ft
Water reservoir, but it is not clear if the water is potable here.
My wife drank it later and did not get problems. If you follow her, you do it on your own risk (I do not recommend drinking it).
Tree
Waypoint
3,711 ft
Follow up the hill passing on the left of the fountain.
Looks like a fountain for animals, but it is dry now.
Picnic
3,770 ft
Picnic place, but no water.
There was a broken irrigation pipe leaking water, but we did not risk to drink it.
Picnic
3,753 ft
Fountain for animals and a picnic area.
The fountain was dry. There is also nicer picnic area shortly.
Cave
4,380 ft
Arrive to the Corycian Cave.
We posted some photos here of the inside of the cave to give you an idea.
Fountain
3,238 ft
Water from a pipe.
My wife was brave to drink this too. I prefer to drink only from trustable source.
Comments (4)
You can add a comment or review this trail
Is 20k one way or round trip ?
It is a round trip. It comes back the same way, that’s why it is not so visible on the map.
Excellent heading that way next week!
I have followed this trail View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Moderate
We've done this route Aug-23 based on this info - great summary and details by this user.
Note: there's potable water fountain next to the church. Luckily there was Guard Forest there and she confirmed before we drank.