At Diros Bay, on the west coast of the Mani peninsula in the Peloponnese, three caves open into the rock almost at sea level: Vlychada, Alepotrypa and Katafygi.
Only Vlychada is open to visitors, and it is the reason people come. You see it from a boat.
The cave
Local people knew the cave was there from about 1900, but nobody explored it until 1949, when Giannis and Anna Petrocheilou, the founders of the Hellenic Speleological Society, went in. By 1960 they had mapped 1,600 metres. Cave divers working with the Ministry of Culture since 1987 have taken that figure to 14,700 metres, and most of what they have mapped is underwater.
That is the strange thing about Vlychada. The stalactites and stalagmites now below the surface were formed when the sea was much lower than it is today. Formations have been found 71 metres down, and the cave reaches 80 metres deep in places away from the visitor route.
The visitor route is about 1,500 metres long, and the first 1,200 of it is on water. Small flat-bottomed boats carry groups of about ten people, and a boatman poles them along a channel with the rock a short distance above your head. The last stretch is on foot. The whole tour takes around half an hour.
The water is brackish — fresh water from inland mixing with the sea. Inside, the air stays at about 18°C all year, and the water is colder than that.
What came out of it
The cave has produced fossil bones of panther, hyena, lion, deer, ferret and hippopotamus, some of them about thirty thousand years old, and the largest concentration of hippopotamus remains in Europe. Prehistoric pottery near the old entrance shows that people came here too.
The cave opened to the public in 1967, after six years of work to make it safe.
Alepotrypa
Two hundred metres east lies Alepotrypa, found in 1958. This one was lived in.
Neolithic people used it as a dwelling and as a burial place over centuries, and archaeologists have found skeletons, tools, marble figurines, pottery and a stone axe inside. Then an earthquake brought down the entrance and sealed everything where it lay. It stayed shut for about five thousand years, which is why it is sometimes called a Neolithic Pompeii.
Alepotrypa is not open to visitors. Its finds are displayed in the Neolithic Museum of Diros, a short walk from the cave entrance.
What travellers posted
Been here? A photo and two lines are enough.
Where to Stay
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Practical information
Getting there
Diros is on the west coast of the Mani, about fifteen minutes south of Areopoli and roughly an hour from Gythio. By car from Kalamata it is about an hour and a half, and from Sparta around an hour and a half as well.
You need a car. Public transport into the Mani is very limited, and there is no useful bus to the cave itself. The road down from the village of Pyrgos Dirou to the shore is short but steep.
Tickets and hours
There is an entrance fee for the cave, and the Neolithic Museum charges separately. Hours are considerably longer in summer than in winter, and the cave closes earlier in the low season. Check the current times before you drive out — the Mani is not a place to make a wasted journey.
The cave sometimes closes at short notice. The water level inside rises and falls with the weather, and after heavy rain the boats cannot pass. If you are travelling a long way in winter or spring, telephone first.
How to visit
The tour takes about half an hour inside the cave, and you should allow an hour and a half for the whole stop, including the museum.
You cannot go in alone. Visitors go in groups by boat with a boatman, tickets are sold for the next available boat, and in July and August the wait can be long. Arrive early in the day.
The museum is worth the extra half hour, particularly because it is the only way to see anything of Alepotrypa.
Good to know
It is cool inside — around 18°C all year — so take something with sleeves even in August.
You sit low in a small boat with rock close above you. The passages are narrow in places and you will be asked to keep your head down. Anyone who finds enclosed spaces difficult should think carefully before going in.
Photography is not allowed inside the cave.
Shoes with grip are useful for the walking section, which can be damp.
Diros beach is right below the cave — white pebbles and clear water — and it makes an obvious swim afterwards.
Diros Caves— been there?Tell others what you saw.
A photo and two lines are enough.
