Dadia is a settlement on the slope of Gibrena peak. It is located inside the magnificent National Park of Dadia-Lefkimmi-Soufli Forest. During the Ottoman period, the village was called Tsiam-Kebir or Tsamkioi, meaning "pine tree" in Turkish,  due to the existence of many pine trees in the area. Dadia was named after the Greek word δαδί (dadi), meaning the resin-filled wood that comes from the pine tree employed as a means of lighting and kindling.

According to folk tradition, the residents of Dadia settled here to avoid an epidemic in their homeland, a city located on a hill, on the bank of the Evros, the ruins of which can still be traced at the point where the river meets the Maggazi stream.