Parnassos: the back story

About Parnassos: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Ski Resorts Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

In antiquity Parnassos was a sacred mountain: Delphi, the greatest oracle of the ancient world, lies on its southern slopes, and in myth Deucalion’s ark came to rest on the mountain after the great flood. Today the high plateaus of Kellaria and Fterolakka form Greece’s largest ski centre, two and a half hours from Athens.

A sacred mountain

Parnassos rises across Boeotia, Phthiotis and Phocis, its highest peak, Liakoura, reaching 2,457 metres, its slopes dark with Cephalonian fir. At its foot lies Delphi, the sanctuary of Apollo and the ‘navel of the earth’ to the ancient Greeks, and the mountain runs through mythology: here, the ski centre recalls, Deucalion and Pyrrha came to land after the great flood.

The ski centre

The Parnassos Ski Centre spreads across two areas, Kellaria and Fterolakka, with 23 pistes (four of them for beginners), seven ski routes and seven linking trails, 34 kilometres in all, from 2,260 down to 1,640 metres. Four pistes, Iniochos, Iraklis, Odysseas and Vakchos, are homologated by FIS for international races, and a snowpark at Kellaria 2200 has rails and jumps for every level. Off-piste, deep-snow ‘black’ routes await the adventurous.

Ski in the morning where the ancients placed the Muses, and lunch within sight of Delphi.

The lifts

It was the first ski centre in Greece to install a detachable lift, and since 2015 it has run five modern gondola and combi lifts. Seventeen lifts in all include two eight-seat gondolas, three combi lifts mixing eight-seat cabins and six-seat chairs, and four baby lifts. In the low season, from Tuesday to Thursday, a reduced set of lifts runs; at weekends, all sixteen main lifts can operate, snow permitting.

Every budget

Parnassos is very good value: in 2025/26 a day pass cost €35 at weekends and holidays, €30 on Mondays and Fridays and €20 from Tuesday to Thursday, with family tickets from €40. Arachova, the stone village below, has guesthouses and four-star hotels; for something grander, Tagli at Livadi and the chalets of Elatos sit among the firs.

Our advice: ski midweek for the lowest prices and emptiest pistes, stay in Arachova for its evenings, and keep a morning for Delphi on the way home. Check the centre’s live status page the evening before; it is updated just after 4.30pm.

Parnassos in brief

From the Parnassos Ski Centre’s official site, parnassos-ski.gr (October 2026).

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Parnassos: the back story before you go.