Combining different experimental techniques, investigations in hexagonal P 6 3 /mmc Er 2 Fe 17 show remarkable magnetovolume anomalies below the Curie temperature, T C . The spontaneous magnetostriction reaches 1.6 × 10 −2 at 5 K and falls to zero well above T C , owing to short-range magnetic correlations. Moreover, Er 2 Fe 17 exhibits direct and inverse magnetocaloric effects (MCE) with moderate isothermal magnetic entropy S M , and adiabatic temperature T ad changes [ S M ∼ −4.7 J(kgK) −1 and T ad ∼ 2.5 K near the T C , and S M ∼ 1.3 J(kgK)and T ad ∼ −0.6 K at 40 K for H = 80 kOe, respectively, determined from magnetization measurements].The existence of an inverse MCE seems to be related to a crystalline electric field-level crossover in the Er sublattice and the ferrimagnetic arrangement between the magnetic moments of the Er and Fe sublattice. The main trends found experimentally for the temperature dependence of S M and T ad as well as for the atomic magnetic moments are qualitatively well described considering a mean-field Hamiltonian that incorporates both crystalline electric field and exchange interactions. S M (T ) and T ad (T ) curves are essentially zero at ∼150 K, the temperature where the transition from direct to inverse MCE occurs. A possible interplay between the MCE and the magnetovolume anomalies is also discussed.