The traditional village of Kouvelas is built near the river Neda, at an altitude of 850 metres. The village, with its rich vegetation and many bodies of water, is 16 kilometres from Dorio and 64 kilometres from Kalamata. It has approximately 180 permanent residents, along with the Kypseli settlement, where 38 people live. Due to its location, Kouvelas is an ideal destination for those who love nature-related activities, such as hiking, cycling, etc.
The inhabitants of the village, who come from the mountainous village of Liopesi, renamed Ano Kouvelas during the 1st Turkish occupation, are descendants of Arvanites. The latter arrived in the Peloponnese in the 14th-15th century. The village probably got its name either from someone called "Kouvelas" because he was a beekeeper or from "kouvelia", which in Slavic are containers for honey. During the Turkish occupation, the village produced great fighters of the Revolution of 1821, such as Antonis Kouveliotis, Ioannis Kordas, Chronis Minopoulos and others.
At the village entrance, a stone fountain donated by Dimitrios Giannakopoulos stands out. At the same time, from there, a serpentine road that ends at the banks after a distance of 7 kilometres of Neda, in an idyllic location next to the bridge, begins.
