The gods chose well. Mount Olympus rises almost straight out of the Aegean, from sea level near Litochoro to 2,918 metres at Mytikas, its highest summit, in barely twenty kilometres, so that from the coast road it looks less like a mountain than a wall of grey rock and dark forest with clouds snagged on top. The ancient Greeks put their twelve Olympians up there, and on a stormy afternoon with thunder rolling around the peaks you can see why.
At the foot of the mountain lies Dion, the sacred city of the Macedonians, where Philip II and Alexander the Great made sacrifices before their campaigns. The archaeological park is a lovely, half-wild place, with the ruins of sanctuaries to Zeus, Demeter and Isis lying among springs, reeds and frogs, and a good museum in the modern village. Olympus itself became Greece's first national park in 1938, protecting a range of habitats from Mediterranean scrub through beech and black pine up to bare alpine slopes, home to chamois and a rich variety of flowers, many found nowhere else.
For riders, the classic route is the road from Litochoro up to Prionia, about eighteen kilometres of climbing through pine forest with hairpins and occasional views down to the sea. It ends at around 1,100 metres, at the trailhead for the summit, where a small taverna serves hikers by a waterfall. The surface is generally decent but can be broken in places, with gravel and fallen rocks after storms, and goats on the road are normal. Summer brings heat and haze at sea level and cool air in the forest; spring and autumn are better, and the upper road can be closed by snow in winter. The Enipeas gorge below the road is a fine walk.
Litochoro, six kilometres away, is the base town, with fuel, supermarkets and many tavernas, and it has the cheerful bustle of a place full of hikers and climbers. Dion and the coastal villages have basics too. Eat grilled meat and local greens, drink a little tsipouro in the evening, and watch the last light catch the summits from the square. In the morning the mountain is often clear before clouds build, so start early if you want to see the peaks.