About Kalamaris Waterfalls (Καταρράκτης Καλαμάρης)
The Kalamaris Waterfalls (also Καταρράκτης Καλαμάρης or Kalamari Waterfall or “Squid Waterfall” in Greek) was a tall waterfall with two distinct tiers.
I think of this waterfall like a low-key local waterfall as it’s quite close to the seaside lagoon town of Gialova, which itself is perhaps less than 15 minutes drive from the attractive town of Pylos.
In my experiences with Greece Waterfalls, especially in the Peloponnese, I’ve found them to require some degree of adventure and/or risk as far as accessing it – whether by foot, or by car, or a combination of both.
In the case of the Kalamaris Waterfall, I’d say that it was more difficult to drive to this waterfall (see directions below) than it was to hike to it.
In fact, a sign near the trailhead indicated that it was a mere five-minute walk to get to the waterfall.
That said, my hiking excursion took closer to 10-15 minutes or so without stops at a very deliberate pace, but the trail was pretty well-used and benign.
On the other hand, it took me around 20 minutes to drive to the trailhead from Pylos (though it might be half that time if driving from Gialova).
In any case, the trail initially passed through a forest with the ubiquitous olive trees as well as a surprise grove of bamboo.
There were even some limestone or some kind of karst walls as well as alcoves as I got closer to the waterfall (perhaps hinting at the geology resulting in its formation).
Only at the very end did I have to traverse some kind of small dam or wall, and then cling to a potentially muddy ledge with steps on it to get over an initial hill.
Once I was on the other side of that hill, I could finally see the Kalamaris Waterfall and its tall, slender characteristic as it dropped in a pair of twisting tiers.
From a distance, I could see that there was a tree and some cliff profiles that conspired to keep the full height of this waterfall from being seen satisfactorily.
However, as I got closer to the waterfall’s plunge pool, only the bottom tier could be cleanly seen while only hints of the profile of the upper drop revealed itself.
The plunge pool was interesting in that I encountered quite a few frogs that inhabit this area, which resulted in sudden splashes of water when I approached the base of the falls.
Given that Greece was in the midst of a multi-year drought as of late March 2024, I was actually surprised at how well this waterfall was flowing (though I have seen in the literature photos of this waterfall flowing with greater vigor).
Overall, I spent about 45 minutes away from the car with about 20 minutes of it spent just admiring the waterfall and its surroundings.
So that gives you an idea of how little of my effort was spent hiking.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that this waterfall can also be referred to as the Gialova Waterfall due to its proximity to the coastal village.
However, I still don’t understand how the waterfall got the name “kalamaris” (i.e. squid or calamari in Greek).
Authorities
The Kalamaris Waterfall is near the village of Gialova of the Messinia Prefecture in the Peloponnese Administrative Region of Greece. It is not clear if there’s an official governing body that presides over these waterfalls. However, it seems like local landowners and town officials from Gialova and the Schinolakka Village have been responsible for signs and road/trail infrastructure. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Greece National Tourism Organization website.
The Kalamaris Waterfall resides very close to the village of Gialova.
However, since I approached this waterfall from Pylos (or Pilos), I’ll describe the driving directions from there.
From Pilos, I headed northeast on the Route 9 for a little over 4km to a roundabout where I took the exit for Gialova.
Then, I followed the Route 9 for another 4.4km before turning right onto a small road (I recalled there was a sign for Gialova Hills).
If you happen to see the Aegean Gas Station, then you just missed the turnoff.
From there, I then followed a narrow road (almost single-lane in parts) for about 900m before the road started to climb.
Just as the road makes a sharp bend, there was a blue sign for Καταρράκτης (or “katarraktis”) pointing to the right at a fork.
I took that fork, which put me onto an even narrower single-lane road that quickly went unpaved.
I then followed this unpaved road for another 1.5km to a small clearing, which was the car park for the Kalamaris Waterfall.
One thing to keep in mind about this unpaved stretch of road was that it was a bit of a “white knuckle” kind of road.
That’s because there were some loose rocks (some of which can be tire-popping) as well as water-damaged ruts (conspiring to scrape the bottom of your car).
My only advice is to take this road slowly to avoid bottoming out as well as to not get into a bad situation if there’s a car coming in the opposite direction.
Overall, I took about 25 minutes to make this drive, but it would be an even shorter drive had I been staying in Gialova.
Another thing worth mentioning was that there was some kind of metal protrusion almost acting like a tire spike at the trailhead parking.
I’m not sure if that metal protrusion was put there intentionally, but this trailhead would not be the place to have a flat tire so be very careful here!
For context, Gialova is about 8km (about 15 minutes drive) north of Pylos, about 51km (about an hour drive) west of Kalamata, 100km (over 90 minutes drive) south of Ancient Olympia, 181km (about 2.5 hours drive) southwest of Nafplio, 201km (about 3 hours drive south of Patras (or Patra), and 273km (over 3 hours drive) southwest of Athens.
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Starting with a sweep of the full height of the falls before walking closer to its plunge pool for a better look at its main drop
Checking out a frog before panning over to the plunge pool fronting the lower drop of the falls
Checking out the falls from the far side of the stream before walking over to the other side around its plunge pool and doing a bottoms up zoomed in panning of the falls from there
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