Hiking experts’ tips for staying safe in hot weather after five tourists die in Greek heatwave

After the death of British TV presenter and health guru Michael Mosley earlier this month, four more tourists have died in Greece’s historic early heatwave.

“There is a common pattern - they all went for a hike amid high temperatures,” Petros Vassilakis, the police spokesman for the Southern Aegean, told news agency Reuters.

Temperatures have soared above 40C in recent days, prompting local authorities to shut down the Acropolis in Athens and warn people to stay indoors between the hours of 11am and 3pm.

The string of tragedies included a 74-year-old Dutch tourist who was found dead on the eastern Greek island of Samos on Saturday after going for a walk; the following day, a 55-year-old American tourist’s body was found on the Greek island of Mathraki, west of Corfu.

Earlier this month on the island of Crete, a Dutch tourist, aged 67, and a French tourist, 70, both died while walking in the extreme heat.

As further heatwaves hit Cyprus and Türkiye, and Southern Europe braces for another blistering summer, Euronews Travel asks health and hiking experts how to stay safe while walking in high temperatures.

With Europe’s changing weather patterns, even tour companies themselves are having to adapt.

“We can no longer hike in some countries from June to September as the heat starts earlier - for example Spain is sometimes 40 degrees in June,” says a spokesperson from female-led activity holiday specialist WalkingWomen.

They have adapted their programmes to do more hiking in spring, autumn and winter when temperatures are lower. During the summer months, they go north to Scotland and Norway where it is cooler for hiking.

Similarly, small group adventure travel company Intrepid Travel is adjusting to new weather extremes.

“At Intrepid,