koutouki cave

Stalactites and Stalagmites, the history of Peania Cave

This is a cave of incomparable natural beauty. Kutuki, the most important natural monument, amazes the visitor with its majestic atmosphere. Stalactites, stalagmites, and columns of various colors form halls, balconies, squares, and corridors, reminiscent of mysterious dreams.

The monument was accidentally discovered in 1926 by an ordinary shepherd from Peania. During the next grazing of the herd, one of the animals suddenly disappeared, falling into the ground. The shepherd, who decided to find out, found a goat in one of the most beautiful caves in Europe.

The most impressive thing is that this cave is 2,000,000 years old, and due to the lack of another entrance, no one has ever seen it! It was not used as the home of primitive man, as happened in other caves, where bones and traces of fire were found.

Saturday – Sunday 09:00 – 15:50 Holidays 09:00 – 15:00 tickets General admission 5 € Students, seniors, over 65 3€

Magnificent stalactites and stalagmites create unique formations that can easily take on well-known forms of well-known works of art in the imagination of a living mind. In the light of lanterns, they are bright white or, depending on the impurities in the rock, are colored yellow, brown or brown. If you come across a broken stalactite, pay attention to the concentric layers on its break, reminiscent of growth rings on a tree stump – they speak of the consistent growth of the stalactite by depositing more and more layers of calcite. Walk down the sloping road leading up to the cave and take a few minutes to admire the view from above before entering.

A long 17 m tunnel leads to the main hall, built for the convenience of visitors, and the length of the tourist route is 350 m, through which tourists enter the underground grotto. Here they can admire stalagmites and stalactites, impressing the imagination with their size and shape.

The original natural entrance is located on the roof of the cave.

Take a walk and then go to the sea where you can organize a picnic or sit somewhere to eat. But now let’s get back to Koutouki… “Koutouki” is the largest and most beautiful of the 60 caves in Attica. It is located on the eastern edge of the main mountainous region of Imittos, at an altitude of 510 meters, and belongs to the municipality of Peania. The first explorer of the cave is journalist D. Hatzopoulos. This was followed by several visits by various groups of nature lovers, notably Giannis and Anna Petrocheilou of the Hellenic Speleological Society in 1954, who also mapped the cave.

The cave is part of the Hymettus underground system. Its creation is due to the high solubility of limestone in rainwater. This is the main reason for the creation of the cave. In this way, a large part of the Peania Cave was created, with a rich variety of stalactite formations and elements that prompted the giving of various names in the halls, balconies, squares, and corridors. The “Olympic Tower” can be distinguished from the “Owl”, “Corals”, “Armor” and “Red Falls” by iron oxides, which penetrate into the cave along with water from the surface of the earth. “Kutouki” is a cave with a vertical height of 38.5 meters. and a runway length of about 350 m. The huge central chamber measuring 60 x 60 m is divided by stalagmites, stalactites, and columns. The temperature inside is 17°C stable all year round and the humidity is 90%.