Best places to run in Greece

A ~220km waymarked long-distance trail traversing Corfu from south to north over mule paths, olive groves and coastal ridges.

Crystal-clear spring-fed river with an easy riverside path past stone bridges and plane trees at the foot of the Vikos Gorge.

The highest Cycladic peak at 1004m, climbed from Filoti past the cave of Zeus for sweeping island views across the Aegean.

The dramatic 70m Karanos falls in a leafy town park of century-old plane trees, with easy paved walkways and viewpoints.

A riverside trail up the Fonias gorge past natural rock pools (vathres) to tall waterfalls under Mount Saos.

A scenic mountain reservoir ringed by forested shores and lakeside tracks popular for gentle walks and runs year-round.

A pine-clad hill of marble paths southwest of the Acropolis giving the city's best views and an easy central walk.

The highest hill in central Athens at 277m, a short steep climb through pines to a 360-degree city-and-sea panorama.

Otherworldly sandstone pinnacles topped by monasteries, linked by ~16km of old monks' footpaths from Kastraki and Kalambaka.

A famed turquoise lagoon and white sandbar reached by a rugged downhill walk from the Gramvousa peninsula track.

Clifftop 5th-century-BC Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion with coastal headland paths and famous Aegean sunsets.

Greece's highest massif at 2917m, climbed from Litochoro via Prionia, Spilios Agapitos refuge and the exposed Skala-Mytikas scramble.

Restored stone paths link the cliff-perched village of Olympos to coastal coves on rugged northern Karpathos.

Iconic white-cliff cove with a rusting shipwreck; the rim has clifftop viewpoint walks (the beach itself is boat-only).

The mythic mountain above Delphi rising to 2457m at Liakoura, with high ridge hikes and the ancient site on its slopes.

A chain of cascades and emerald pools linked by short forest trails through a verdant Messenian valley.

At 2407m the highest summit of the Peloponnese, a long hard climb above the Vyros Gorge from the Taygetos refuge.

A surreal moonscape of wind-sculpted white volcanic rock you can wander on foot above turquoise inlets.

The pine 'green lung' on Thessaloniki's hills, with many kilometres of shaded trails and city views minutes from the centre.

Greece's second-highest peak at 2637m, a long alpine climb past its own Dragon Lake through black pine forest.

The forested mountain on Athens' eastern doorstep, laced with trails and fire roads ideal for runs close to the city.

A shady, well-watered gorge descending through pine and oak to the south coast near Sougia, gentler than Samaria.

The Vikos Gorge, recorded as the world's deepest relative to its width, runs ~12km from Monodendri to Vikos village beneath 900m cliffs.

A quieter 8km gorge walk on an old mule path between 300m walls of fig, cypress and oak, far less crowded than Samaria.

Europe's longest gorge, a 16km descent from the Omalos plateau through the narrow Iron Gates to the Libyan Sea at Agia Roumeli.

A high Peloponnesian massif (2355m) above the dramatic Styx waterfall and Mavrolimni alpine lake.

Crete's highest peak at 2456m, climbed past the Ideon Cave and Nida plateau on the island's E4 traverse.