Welcome to North Kynouria, where Parnon meets the Myrtoan Sea
Where the eastern slopes of Mount Parnon run down to the sea, Arcadia turns into something else entirely: a coastline of fishing villages, pine-covered hills and open water instead of mountain ridges. This is North Kynouria — the quieter half of Arcadia’s Aegean shore.
The name Kynouria is ancient. The plain around Astros, once called Thyreatis, was contested territory between Sparta and Argos for generations, and it was here, in 546 BC, that the two cities settled their claim with the legendary Battle of the Champions — three hundred picked warriors on each side, fighting over a stretch of borderland. Herodotus tells the story; the plain itself still lies quietly behind the modern town of Astros.
Down at the water, Paralio Astros keeps a small rocky islet just offshore, crowned by the ruins of a medieval castle and reached by a narrow causeway — one of the most photographed corners of the Arcadian coast, and one of the least crowded. Inland, on the slopes of Parnon, the monastery of Panagia Malevi has drawn pilgrims for centuries, and the springs and waterfalls around Agios Ioannis mark where the mountain finally gives way to the plain.
Higher up on Parnon, past Agios Petros, lies Kastanitsa — a village of tall grey-stone houses set inside a chestnut and fir forest, first recorded in 1293 and founded by Tsakones fleeing Slavic incursions centuries earlier. Its tower houses, some over 300 years old, sit beneath the ruins of a 14th-century Byzantine castle, and the whole settlement has been protected as a listed traditional village since 1967.
Staying in North Kynouria means moving easily between two worlds in the same day — a swim in the Myrtoan Sea in the morning, a walk in the pine forests of Parnon by afternoon.
Handpicked accommodations around North Kynouria
Don’t miss
- Paralio Astros & the castle islet — a small fortified rock just offshore, reached by a footbridge, with some of the calmest water on this coast.
- Ancient Thyreatis — the plain behind Astros where Sparta and Argos fought the Battle of the Champions in 546 BC.
- Moni Malevis (Panagia Malevi) — a centuries-old monastery on the eastern slopes of Parnon, near Agios Petros.
- Agios Ioannis — mountain springs and the Lepida waterfalls, on the road up from the coast.
- The E4 trail — descending from the Parnon ridge down to the sea, one of the quietest long-distance stretches in Arcadia.
- Kastanitsa — a stone-built Tsakonian village on the slopes of Parnon, with a 14th-century Byzantine castle above it.
