Temple of Apollo Epikourios
Temple of Apollo Epikourios
4.5
About
An amazing temple site, as large as the Parthenon. Preserved under a vast tent to protect it. Its bold architecture is unique. Must be seen! Delicate columns, and striking internal design originality.
Duration: 1-2 hours
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4.5
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RichardK938
West Palm Beach, FL728 contributions
July 2021
Finding this temple by driving on windy mountain roads was difficult but trust your iPhone maps program. It'll get you there. The entire enormous temple is covered with huge tent to protect it which makes the viewing of it as a whole about impossible. You can go into the tent and see close-up views and take photos of sections of the very well preserved temple but you're not going to get a feel for the enormity of it as a whole since it's covered. Still very impressive and worth the hunt to find it.
Written 8 October 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
zotty2014
Varese, Italy3,387 contributions
Aug 2023 • Solo
The road to get there is long and winding, but the surface is much better than any Italian road in the city center. The covering makes the visit possible even in the summer heat because it protects thermally. You cannot enter inside the temple because the works are still in progress, but you can appreciate the architectural value of an exceptional monument. Area in a very pleasant remote area without anything commercial. It's a shame that the friezes are still in London.
Written 4 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ilias Kolas
Kakovatos, Greece7 contributions
Aug 2020 • Family
I went with my family . I was curious to see how this temple looked like but i am not satisfied. The road was very difficult and why not dangerous. The temple is nothing extraordinary. I would better go 2 times in Ancient Olympia then one time in this temple.
I will not go a 2nd time here. I wouldn't recommend you to make the journey to it except if you are a historian.
I will not go a 2nd time here. I wouldn't recommend you to make the journey to it except if you are a historian.
Written 12 August 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
guido v
4 contributions
Sept 2024 • Couples
Long journey on mountain road between sheep goats and boulders rolled on the roadway. The place is nice but the tent covering the temple is horrible. Off-white and ruined. Inside a beautiful temple but the structure that covers it devalues it. We have steel and Plexiglas to protect the monuments. You can't pack them!
Automatically translated
Written 26 September 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Rita D
London25 contributions
Aug 2012 • Couples
This temple is not on very many tourist intineraries, perhaps because it is a bit isolated and takes time to get there, and maybe also because the instructions on the internet for visiting it are rather vague. But we recommend you give it a go if you have the time, because it is a quite magnificent example of Greek classical architecture, and one of the most complete of its period within Greece.
Getting to the temple is far simpler than we had anticipated. It is just over an hour's drive south of Olympia. We got there from Athens on our way to Olympia, but of course you could also do it as a part-day trip if you are staying in Olympia. Get to the village of Andritsaina using a map or GPS. In the village you will see clear brown signs to the temple, just over 14 km away. It is on a road which climbs, but is not particularly steep — fine for ordinary cars.
This is an exceptionally large, complete and well-preserved classical Greek temple. Its relative isolation, about 1100 metres high and surrounded by ravines, has helped its preservation from looters, etc, and a protective tent covering it since 1987 has stemmed erosion as well — even if this does prevent one from viewing it at a distance. However, rather strangely, we found that the tent creates a kind of intimacy with the building and the materials that it's constructed from. So we felt the power of the temple in a rather different, and special way than we have on other sites.
Next to the temple there are some notes in Greek, English and French, and also a video sequence about its preservation.
At www.sacred-destinations.com/greece/bassae-temple-of-apollo-epicurius there is a quite detailed description of the architecture and history of the temple that we found helpful to read before we visited. Good guidebooks also contain basic information about it.
What the website does not mention, though your guidebook may, is that there is a large sanctuary surrounding the temple, so leave enough time to explore this too if you can. We have found that the more sanctuaries we visit, the better we come to understand them. This one has many lovely mature oak trees along with the architectural remains, and, as always, a gorgeous view. The ancient Greeks certainly knew how to pick their spots.
You cannot get around this site with a wheelchair or mobility scooter (and we don't think that the authorities could make this possible without immense ingenuity and expense). But if you can walk even a little, you can see a lot.
Getting to the temple is far simpler than we had anticipated. It is just over an hour's drive south of Olympia. We got there from Athens on our way to Olympia, but of course you could also do it as a part-day trip if you are staying in Olympia. Get to the village of Andritsaina using a map or GPS. In the village you will see clear brown signs to the temple, just over 14 km away. It is on a road which climbs, but is not particularly steep — fine for ordinary cars.
This is an exceptionally large, complete and well-preserved classical Greek temple. Its relative isolation, about 1100 metres high and surrounded by ravines, has helped its preservation from looters, etc, and a protective tent covering it since 1987 has stemmed erosion as well — even if this does prevent one from viewing it at a distance. However, rather strangely, we found that the tent creates a kind of intimacy with the building and the materials that it's constructed from. So we felt the power of the temple in a rather different, and special way than we have on other sites.
Next to the temple there are some notes in Greek, English and French, and also a video sequence about its preservation.
At www.sacred-destinations.com/greece/bassae-temple-of-apollo-epicurius there is a quite detailed description of the architecture and history of the temple that we found helpful to read before we visited. Good guidebooks also contain basic information about it.
What the website does not mention, though your guidebook may, is that there is a large sanctuary surrounding the temple, so leave enough time to explore this too if you can. We have found that the more sanctuaries we visit, the better we come to understand them. This one has many lovely mature oak trees along with the architectural remains, and, as always, a gorgeous view. The ancient Greeks certainly knew how to pick their spots.
You cannot get around this site with a wheelchair or mobility scooter (and we don't think that the authorities could make this possible without immense ingenuity and expense). But if you can walk even a little, you can see a lot.
Written 6 August 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Aussiesinmaine
Falmouth, ME226 contributions
Apr 2019 • Family
The drive - is all paved roads, but very windy and you can’t not drive fast, so plan a half day from Pyrgos.
The site- allow 30 minutes for the site, due to its remote location only real enthusiasts of Greek history would want to visit. There are few interpretive signs and the encompassing tent means it is not an Instagram worthy photo op.
Parking is roadside, and it is a short walk (2min) to the ticket kiosk. The ticket kiosk has a person present and takes cash or credit card.
The walk is not especially difficult and could be accessed by all but the most physically impaired.
There is a bathroom located well away from the temple, and is accessed over a rocky path.
There is nowhere to purchase food or drink at the site or along to way once you head into the mountains. So bring your own.
The site- allow 30 minutes for the site, due to its remote location only real enthusiasts of Greek history would want to visit. There are few interpretive signs and the encompassing tent means it is not an Instagram worthy photo op.
Parking is roadside, and it is a short walk (2min) to the ticket kiosk. The ticket kiosk has a person present and takes cash or credit card.
The walk is not especially difficult and could be accessed by all but the most physically impaired.
There is a bathroom located well away from the temple, and is accessed over a rocky path.
There is nowhere to purchase food or drink at the site or along to way once you head into the mountains. So bring your own.
Written 16 April 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
nettamaw
Vale of Glamorgan5 contributions
The temple at Bassae is more or less in the centre of the Pelopponese area of Greece. An area which is not very well known but is beautiful and interesting. A hunting area in the Winter, it's quiet at other times of the year, although I did visit in June so can't really say what it's like in August! A mountainous region with picture book red-roofed villages built on the slopes of the mountains. The temple is some way from Andritsena, a journey made longer by the rough ride so take it slowly! For some years past and future, restoration is taking place so the temple now is encased in a very well designed protective 'tent'. This does take away some of the impact of its setting but the fabric and amount of the temple still standing makes up for this. The views have not changed much since the temple was built and with imagination one can go back to Ancient Greece and 'see' the crowds of people around the temple. Can recommend Dimitsana and Stemnitsa to stay - both very attractive villages. Watch out in Andritsa for 'ripoffs' at some tavernas for coffee!
Written 16 January 2010
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
dimitris k
Sissi, Greece4,447 contributions
Jan 2018 • Couples
The way from Kyparissia via Platania was long but at the end we have been fully compensated!
The temple is 10 km south of Andritsena 270 61 in Vasses.
The temple is 10 km south of Andritsena 270 61 in Vasses.
Written 6 January 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
globetrotter4989
Nijverdal, The Netherlands195 contributions
Apr 2012 • Family
We visited this temple in a hail storm in early April, and despite this, or maybe because of it, entering the tent that hides the temple from the elements, and seeing the temple for the first time, took our breaths away.
As it's inside a tent the fact we couldn't see the views from the top didn't stop us from admiring the tenacity and audacity of those who so long ago build such a grand structure in such a remote and inhospitable place, on top of a mountain in the middle of Greece.
Hopefully with good weather it will should be even more impressive, so we'll certainly be back
As it's inside a tent the fact we couldn't see the views from the top didn't stop us from admiring the tenacity and audacity of those who so long ago build such a grand structure in such a remote and inhospitable place, on top of a mountain in the middle of Greece.
Hopefully with good weather it will should be even more impressive, so we'll certainly be back
Written 18 April 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
traveller1959
Düsseldorf, Germany3,167 contributions
Sept 2019
This temple was built by the ancient people of Figaleia when Apollo showed them a herb that grew here, on this mountain, and that protected them from the plague (what kind of herb it was is unknown till today). Once, the temple was of perfect beauty, also because of its splendid location in the mountains.
But the foundations are damaged and the rather leaning columns may collapse if the next earthquake comes. So, they protect the temple under a huge tent and are doing the repair works. In 40 years, they have so far completed 2 pairs of columns (from 15), so you can expect it will take hundreds of years to finish the rest of the repair works. In other words, do not expect to see the temple without tent in your lifetime - even if you are pretty young.
I admit, I am an archeology buff. But is it worth to see a temple under a tent? Yes, it has columns of all three styles, but you can see this elsewhere (e.g. in Epidauros). Yes, it is a large temple, but there are more large temples in Athens and Cape Sounion. Yes, it is rather well preserved, but the Temple of Hephaistos in Athens is MUCH better preserved.
In September 2019, you had limited access to the temple. You could go into the tent, but only at the front of the temple. The rest was barred because of the works. That meant, one glimpse, two pictures (with tent and fence and scaffolding in the background) and after a few minutes you are gone.
Think about it if this 5-minute-experience is worth the drive to this rather remote site. Well, we combined it with the Neda waterfalls and for us it was a kind of mountain detour on our way from Koroni to Olympia, but I would really hesitate to recommend it to others. Decide for yourselves.
But the foundations are damaged and the rather leaning columns may collapse if the next earthquake comes. So, they protect the temple under a huge tent and are doing the repair works. In 40 years, they have so far completed 2 pairs of columns (from 15), so you can expect it will take hundreds of years to finish the rest of the repair works. In other words, do not expect to see the temple without tent in your lifetime - even if you are pretty young.
I admit, I am an archeology buff. But is it worth to see a temple under a tent? Yes, it has columns of all three styles, but you can see this elsewhere (e.g. in Epidauros). Yes, it is a large temple, but there are more large temples in Athens and Cape Sounion. Yes, it is rather well preserved, but the Temple of Hephaistos in Athens is MUCH better preserved.
In September 2019, you had limited access to the temple. You could go into the tent, but only at the front of the temple. The rest was barred because of the works. That meant, one glimpse, two pictures (with tent and fence and scaffolding in the background) and after a few minutes you are gone.
Think about it if this 5-minute-experience is worth the drive to this rather remote site. Well, we combined it with the Neda waterfalls and for us it was a kind of mountain detour on our way from Koroni to Olympia, but I would really hesitate to recommend it to others. Decide for yourselves.
Written 19 September 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
How was the drive to the Temple? We are headed from Messini and continuing on to Olympia? The roads look slow and windy, which we can handle. Are they paved?
Written 4 April 2017
The drive is fine but you do need to take care of the winding road. It's towards Olympia but you need to head for Figalia. There are signs.
It's worth the trouble!
Written 5 April 2017
Looking to go in June 2016. Is it open Mondays ? What are the hours ? And, any good place for lunch nearby ?
Written 29 April 2016
openning hours 9-17.00 but again i would double check as winter time maybe different to summer
Written 1 May 2016
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