About Valanaris Waterfall (Καταρράκτης Βαλανάρη)
The Valanari Waterfall (or Valinaris Waterfall; Καταρράκτης Βαλινάρης in Greek; also called Ntrafi Waterfall) could very well be the closest waterfall to Athens (or at least the Athens International Airport) that I’m aware of.
It’s a somewhat hidden twin waterfall dropping a modest 6m in height though it can merge into a singular entity when the stream has very high flow.
Speaking of its flow, our early April 2024 visit was in the midst of a multi-year drought that affected much of the Mediterranean, especially Southern Greece.
Nevertheless, as you can see from the photo above, this waterfall exhibited some resiliency despite having endured the hottest month of March in 15 years.
Anyways, I got the impression that this was really more of a locals’ waterfall because there was no signage for it, and the path to reach its base was on an unmaintained trail of use.
Yet despite it being unsigned and otherwise obscure, we did notice at least two parties that knew exactly where it was.
One of the parties was a pair of local women who actually showed up right after we parked our car, and they parked at the exact spot where the trail started (while we were busy trying to figure out if we were in the right place or not).
However, just as we were about to go down the steep trail to the bottom of the waterfall, they were already on their way back up!
Upon speaking with them, we learned that they were disappointed with the Valanaris Waterfall’s low flow, which caused there to be insufficient water for swimming or at least cooling off.
If I had to guess, this waterfall would probably go dry after another month or two without any measurable rain.
These ladies were also quite surprised that we (foreign tourists) even knew about this spot, which attested to the rather word-of-mouth local feel of this place.
By the way, even if there was enough water for swimming, I did have water quality concerns because there were housing developments further up the canyon as well as within the immediate area.
It made me wonder if this stream was subject to suburban runoff similar to the situation with Paradise Falls in Thousand Oaks, California, where that stream was unsuitable for swimming.
Accessing the Valinari Waterfall
In any case, we spent about 45 minutes away from the car (see directions below), of which half that time was spent taking pictures and just enjoying the falls.
The unmaintained trail was well-used enough to follow down to the base of the Valinari Waterfall, which could easily be seen on the descent.
There was also a branch of the trail that went to the brink of the waterfall, where there was another pool for wading and cooling off, as well as continuing further up the canyon.
We definitely had to be careful on the descent because there was a combination of loose dirt as well as erosion in the steepest parts of the use-trail (a recipe for a slip-and-fall).
Once at the bottom of the 150m use-trail, there was a somewhat wide flat area in front of the twin waterfall for taking pictures and just enjoying the spot.
Finally, we did notice some graffiti as well as litter, which I’d imagine was another consequence of the lack of authority figures keeping this place from succumbing to urban blight.
I do worry that with the socials blowing up spots (especially local spots like this one), I’d imagine that the urban blight issue will only worsen over time…
Authorities
The Valanari Waterfall resides in the municipality of Penteli in the Athens Prefecture of the Attica Administrative Region of Greece. It is not clear if there’s an official governing body that presides over this waterfall (and if there isn’t, I can imagine this situation changing, eventually). For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Greece National Tourism Organization website.
The Valanari Waterfall is hidden in the suburb of Drafi, which is part of the municipality of Penteli in the former Athens Prefecture.
Although it’s within a half-hour drive from Athens (assuming no traffic, which is highly unlikely), I’m going to describe the driving directions from the Athens International Airport.
We actually did this driving route in reverse so we have a good handle on finding this place without being tempted by the GPS to be led astray.
From the Athens International Airport, the most straightforward route (even if it involves tolls) would be to drive about 5km south on the A62 before heading north on the A6 Expressway.
We’d drive for about 12km north on the A6 Expressway before taking the exit 14-15 towards Marathonos Ave / Mesogeion Ave.
We’d then turn right at the light onto Marathonos Ave (towards Pallini), and we’d drive for about a little over 1km to a traffic light, where we’d make a left turn (onto Pallados Athinas; there’s a Vodafone building at this intersection).
After making a left, we then make a right turn onto Elaionon (you can’t go straight anyways due to a one-way street going in the opposite direction), and then we’d follow this street for about the next 3km.
Eventually, this street reaches a three-way intersection with a stop sign, where we’d then turn left onto a wide residential street (Acheon Ave).
We’d follow Acheon Ave. for about 2.3km to the unsigned trailhead for the Valanaris Waterfall (you might notice a dirt mound with a trail going over it on the right, which is opposite some undeveloped lot with lots of foliage between homes).
The residential street is very wide so there’s plenty of street parking here, but without any signs, you’ll want to pay close attention to the map and the GPS coordinates given in this write-up.
Overall, this drive took us a little over 30 minutes.
For geographical context, the suburb of Drafi is about 22km (30 minutes drive) north of the Athens International Airport, 25km (about 30 minutes drive) south of Marathon, about 29km (about 30 minutes drive depending on traffic) northeast of Athens, 84km (about an hour drive) southeast of Chalkida, and 101km (over an hour drive) east of Corinth.
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Checking out the falls from multiple positions at its base
Checking out the falls from an elevated position before descending to its base and doing panning closeups of each segment
Brief upstream to downstream sweep from the brink of the falls
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