Driving to Mount Ipsarion by Jeep: Two GPS Devices, One Map and No Idea Where We Were

For about half of our week on Thassos, we had been trying to solve one very specific problem.

How do we get to Marble Beach?

We had a regular rental car, and under our rental company’s rules we weren’t allowed to take it on the off-road route to the beach.

Walking sounded possible until we considered the distance, the August sun and our general enthusiasm for arriving at a beach already exhausted.

There was also the option of getting there by boat, but that would mean organising our day around the boat rather than around ourselves.

So Marble Beach remained unresolved.

Until my friend, while we were lying on another beach, casually announced that she’d quite like to go to the top of Mount Ipsarion.

I am not exactly the person who spends a Greek island holiday searching for mountains to climb.

I admire mountains.

Preferably while sitting somewhere comfortable.

But my friend wanted to see the highest point on Thassos.

And then I realised something.

If we rented a Jeep for the mountain, we could also use it to get to Marble Beach.

Suddenly I was much more interested in mountaineering.

One phone call and we had a Jeep

I called our rental company, Potos Car Rentals, and asked whether we could swap our regular car for a Jeep for our final day.

No problem.

We just had to pay a small additional amount — around €25 as I remember it — and the next day we went to collect our new vehicle.

We looked at the Jeep.

Then at each other.

“Have you ever driven a Jeep?”

“No.”

“You?”

“No.”

Excellent.

Since the mountain had been my friend’s idea, she made the only reasonable decision.

“I am the driver.”

Fine by me.

We had instructions. Very good instructions.

The woman at the rental company was lovely.

She sat down with us, unfolded a paper map of Thassos and carefully showed us the route.

She marked where we should go up and where we should come down.

This was important because the route wasn’t as simple as driving up one road and returning along exactly the same one.

She also warned us about the rough road.

We listened.

We nodded.

We had a paper map.

We had two phones with GPS.

We had detailed instructions.

What could possibly go wrong?

At first, we were extremely confident

The beginning wasn’t bad at all.

The road was rough in places, but nothing particularly alarming.

We started to relax.

This was going to be easy.

Piece of cake.

On the way, we stopped near a small lake where several organised Jeep tours had also stopped.

The drivers looked at us.

Two women.

One Jeep.

No guide.

There may have been a look.

We continued.

Very confidently.

For a while.

And then there were five roads

Eventually we reached a junction.

Except “junction” doesn’t quite describe it.

There were about five different roads.

And we had absolutely no idea which one was ours.

We checked both phones.

We checked the map.

We searched online.

We walked a little way into some of the roads to see what they looked like.

One of them was covered in rocks so large that I remember thinking:

I’m not sure I’d walk down there, never mind drive a Jeep.

So we stood there.

And stood there.

And discussed.

And searched.

At some point we ate a chocolate bar for emotional support.

Approximately an hour later, we reached the mature and responsible conclusion that perhaps the mountain would survive without us.

We were in the mountains, after all. Getting properly lost just to prove a point seemed unnecessary.

We decided to turn around and go back down.

And then the Jeeps appeared

We were almost back at the road that would take us downhill when we saw them.

The organised Jeeps we’d seen earlier.

Going up.

We looked at each other.

Apparently, giving up was cancelled.

We turned the Jeep around and followed them.

And that was when the real road to Ipsarion began.

I thought I was going to lose my teeth

I have never been shaken around so much in a car in my life.

The road became properly rough — rocks, holes and sections that made the earlier part of the drive look almost luxurious.

My friend was driving.

I was being rearranged internally.

At one point I genuinely thought I might lose my teeth.

All of them.

Then I remembered I have another friend who’s an orthodontist.

So at least I wouldn’t have to spend the rest of my life without teeth.

Comforting thought.

The organised Jeeps kept overtaking us. Their drivers knew exactly what they were doing and exactly where they were going.

We did not feel the need to compete.

Our goal was considerably simpler:

arrive with Jeep, passengers and teeth in roughly the same condition in which we’d started.

And eventually…

we made it.

The top of Thassos

Reaching Mount Ipsarion was worth every bump.

The views were incredible.

And after everything that had happened on the way up, standing at the highest point on Thassos felt even better.

We were ridiculously proud of ourselves.

We spent about an hour up there, walking around, taking photographs and enjoying the fact that somehow — despite the five-road junction, the GPS confusion and the emergency chocolate — we’d actually made it.

For someone who hadn’t been particularly interested in going up a mountain that morning, I was having an excellent time.

Then we had to get down

We had learned something on the way up.

When you find people who know the route, do not lose them.

So when the organised Jeeps started heading back, we followed.

And then came the best part.

Remember that road at the five-way junction?

The one we’d looked at earlier and decided couldn’t possibly be a road you were supposed to drive on?

That was the road down.

Of course it was.

There was no alternative.

We looked at it again.

Somehow it had not become any less ridiculous in the meantime.

And down we went.

This was probably the roughest section of the entire drive.

There were rocks big enough to make me wonder whether we’d return the Jeep with the same number of wheels.

But we kept following the other vehicles.

Slowly.

Very slowly.

And eventually we made it back down.

Jeep intact.

Teeth intact.

Friendship intact.

A successful day.

And finally — Marble Beach

There was still one more thing to do.

We had the Jeep.

We were finally allowed, under the rules of our rental, to take the off-road route we’d been avoiding with our regular car.

So after Mount Ipsarion, we drove straight to Marble Beach.

The problem we’d been trying to solve for half the holiday suddenly wasn’t a problem anymore.

Marble Beach was one of several places we explored that week — you can read our full Thassos story here.

We parked, found our spot and spent a few hours beside that absurdly blue water.

After being shaken around a mountain for most of the day, lying on white marble beside the Aegean felt particularly civilised.

Sometimes travel planning works beautifully.

Sometimes you spend an hour lost at a five-road junction, follow strangers up a mountain and somehow solve two problems at once.

I’ll take either.

Would I drive to Mount Ipsarion myself again?

Yes.

But I wouldn’t describe it as a casual little drive up a hill.

The road is rough, navigation wasn’t always obvious to us, and having the right vehicle mattered. We also followed the rental company’s rules about where our regular car could and couldn’t go.

If you’re comfortable driving a 4×4 on rough mountain roads, it can be a fantastic adventure.

If you’re not, I wouldn’t force it just because we did.

There are organised Jeep and 4×4 tours to Mount Ipsarion, which give you the mountain without requiring you to spend an hour at a junction eating a chocolate bar and questioning your navigational abilities.

If rough roads aren’t your idea of fun, our day at Kefalogourna Waterfalls involved considerably less driving and considerably more cold water.

→ See current Mount Ipsarion Jeep and 4×4 tours
[AFFILIATE LINK – GETYOURGUIDE / VIATOR]