Arachova

Arachova's gray-stone houses with red-tile roofs cling to the steep slopes of Mt. Parnassus, the highest mountain in Greece after Mt. Olympus. The 1980s brought a boom to this once-quiet region, which in winter is transformed into a busy ski resort. Weekends attract sophisticated Athenians heading for the slopes: hotel prices soar and rooms are snapped up; cobblestone streets fill with SUVs carrying skis aloft; and village taverns get crowded after dark as people warm their weary bones before the fires. Unlike other Greek destinations, in summer there are hardly any Greek tourists in Arachova and not everything may be open.