Aenos National Park International Dark Sky Park

Aenos, also spelled Ainos, is the highest mountain on Kefalonia, the largest of Greece's Ionian Islands. Its national park was created in 1962 to protect the Cephalonian fir, a tree found only in Greece, and it is the smallest national park in the country at 2,862 hectares. The park is part of the Kefalonia-Ithaca UNESCO Global Geopark. In June 2023 DarkSky International named it the first International Dark Sky Park in Greece, after three years of work with the Greek DarkSky chapter.

The park has two separate sections. The larger, 2,316 hectares, surrounds the summit of Megas Soros at 1,627 meters. The smaller, 546 hectares, surrounds Roudi, also called Gioupari, at 1,125 meters. Work before certification included light pollution measurements, a lighting retrofit at the Aenos antenna complex and a public lighting study for the south of the island.

DarkSky says average sky quality readings show exceptional darkness, especially in the park's interior, but its page gives no figures. Some light from nearby islands sits on the horizon, visible only through gaps in the dense forest and from the highest viewpoints. Our light pollution map estimates Bortle 2.

Night sky observing and astronomy nights are free, and some sites need booking ahead. The park lists details on its website and social media. In our data, June, May and July give the most hours with the Milky Way core up in full darkness. The core peaks around 23 degrees above the southern horizon, and the summit area gives you the best chance of an open view south over the trees.