Christakis refuge

After a long day’s climb from the village square, up the Stalagmatia ravine and over the Flampouro ridge, the E4 brings you to Laka Christakis, a high hollow below Skolio, the second-highest summit of Olympus. The smaller Christakis peak (2,706 m) is about an hour’s off-path walk above the refuge. It’s about as remote as Olympus gets, with the summits right above you: spend a quiet evening up here and set off the next morning towards the Agapitos refuge and the highest peaks.

Both buildings are open and free to use, with bunk beds for roughly 20 people. There is no warden and no running water. Bring your own sleeping bag or sleeping-bag liner, enough food and enough water or other drinks for your stay.

The refuge is used from late spring to mid-September. Outside that window, expect cold, snow and strong winds.

Mountain refuges like this one work because every visitor leaves something for the next. If you have sealed, non-perishable supplies left over, leave them on the shelf: tinned food, dried pasta, rice or soup, sugar, salt, tea or coffee, cooking oil, candles, matches or a lighter, toilet paper, and any unused fire starters, charcoal or dry firewood you did not need. If you used firewood, please replace it. That way there is always something here for someone caught out by bad weather.

Take all your rubbish back down with you: wrappers, bottles, food scraps and cigarette ends included. Do not leave it in the refuge, burn it or bury it. The refuge lies within Olympus National Park, Greece's first protected area (1938) and a national park by presidential decree since 2021, where dumping waste of any kind in nature is prohibited and can be fined.