Need to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city? Lace up your hiking boots and head out onto the trail. Designated a national park in 1961 the densely-forested Mt. Parnitha, which covers a huge area of over 30,000 hectares about 40km north of Athens city-center, is a hiker's heaven and a magnet for nature lovers as it offers a vast hiking trail network for all levels of difficulty.
The ancient Greeks believed that the goat-footed god Pan used to come to Mt. Parnitha to play his music and dance in the forest. Today, one still finds thick forests of fir and pine, jagged mountain peaks, gorges, caves, and springs. The National Park it is also home of one of the largest remaining Red Deer populations in Greece. The deer make their habitat here, in one of the richest areas of the country concerning flora, hosting over 1,000 plant species, 96 of which are endemic to Greece, as well as some 132 bird species, 25 mammal species, and 30 reptile and amphibian species, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).