Vikos is a gorge that people struggle to describe without numbers. It runs for about twelve kilometres through the limestone of the Zagori in Epirus, in north-west Greece, with walls that in places drop nearly a thousand metres from rim to river, and it has been listed in the Guinness book as the deepest gorge in the world in proportion to its width. A road cannot take you into it, but the viewpoints on the rim, near Monodendri and Vikos village, do the job well, with the stone walls falling away into a green shadow.
The best-known viewpoint is the one called Oxya, just outside Monodendri, where a short path leads to a rocky platform over the abyss. The view runs down the length of the canyon, with the pale cliffs, the dark forest on the floor and the high peaks of the Tymfi range beyond. A little further on, the Beloi viewpoint looks out over the gorge from the other side. Both are best early, when the light is soft and the clouds are low, and the mist in the canyon can be dramatic after rain. Stay behind the barriers, as the drops are sheer.
The villages around the gorge are the other attraction. Zagori has forty-odd stone villages, with slate roofs, cobbled lanes and arched stone bridges built by local masons in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when the region was wealthy from trade. The bridges, such as the three-arched Kokkori bridge, are beautiful and many are still in use. Monodendri has a handsome monastery perched on the rim, from which a path descends to the bottom of the gorge.
The roads here are twisty, narrow and often rough, with steep climbs and tight corners, and fog or rain can arrive quickly, so ride carefully. Fuel is not available in the small villages, so fill up in Ioannina, the large lakeside city about thirty kilometres away, or in Konitsa to the north. Cafés and tavernas in Monodendri and Vikos serve grilled meat, local pies and cheese. Summer is dry and warm, but the nights are cool, and autumn colours are superb.