Thessaloniki travel guideThessaloniki like a local
Sights, food, walks and the small secrets of the city, picked by the people who live here.
Thessaloniki is a city you walk. Almost everything worth seeing sits between the old walls of Ano Poli and the waterfront, a stretch you can cross on foot in half an hour, with a coffee stop or two. This guide is the list we give our own guests: no rankings, just the places we keep going back to.
Sights
Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman layers within a few blocks of each other. Most of the monuments are free to walk around, and the museums are small enough for one morning.
White Tower
Waterfront
The symbol of the city, a 15th-century tower on the seafront that once served as a fortress and a prison. Inside, a museum tells the story of Thessaloniki floor by floor; the top offers the best view of the gulf.
Go up late in the afternoon for the light over the gulf.
Arch of Galerius & Rotunda
Kamara
A Roman triumphal arch from the early 4th century, covered in carved battle scenes, and next to it the Rotunda, a massive domed building that has been a temple, a church and a mosque. Kamara is also where the city meets up before going out.
Step inside the Rotunda for the mosaics.
Saint Demetrius
Centre
The basilica of the city's patron saint, one of the largest churches in Greece and part of the UNESCO-listed Early Christian and Byzantine monuments. Do not miss the crypt beneath it, built over the Roman baths where the saint was martyred.
Hagia Sophia
Centre
An 8th-century church modelled on its namesake in Constantinople, with a golden mosaic of the Ascension in the dome. The quiet square in front is a good place to sit for a while.
Roman Forum
Centre
The administrative heart of Roman Thessaloniki, a few steps above Aristotelous Square: a paved forum, an odeon and an underground museum that explains how the city was laid out.
Museum of Byzantine Culture & Archaeological Museum
Near the White Tower
Two of the best museums in the country, side by side and ten minutes from the waterfront. The Byzantine museum is the more surprising of the two: mosaics, icons and everyday objects from a thousand years of the city.
Heptapyrgion & the walls
Ano Poli
The Byzantine fortress at the top of the old town and the walls that run down from it. The walk along them is the easiest way to understand the shape of the city, with the whole gulf at your feet.
Food & Coffee
Thessaloniki takes eating seriously. The rules are simple: something from a bakery in the morning, a long lunch of small plates, coffee that lasts an hour, and dinner late.
Bougatsa for breakfast
Layers of thin pastry around warm custard, cheese or minced meat, chopped into pieces and dusted with sugar and cinnamon. Every neighbourhood has a bougatsa shop; the earlier you go, the better.
Koulouri from a street cart
The sesame bread ring sold on almost every corner is the city's real breakfast. Take one for the walk.
Modiano and Kapani markets
Centre
The two covered markets of the centre: cheese, olives, spices, fish and the small ouzeries squeezed between the stalls, where lunch is a few plates and a glass of tsipouro.
Go before 14:00, when the market is still full.
Ladadika
Port
The old oil-merchants' quarter by the port, restored into a maze of tavernas, mezedopolia and bars. Busy every evening of the week.
Trigona Panoramatos
Crisp syrup-soaked pastry cones filled with cream, a speciality of the hillside suburb of Panorama and sold in pastry shops across the city. One is enough.
Coffee on the new waterfront
Waterfront
Locals drink their frappé or freddo facing the sea. The cafés along the promenade are where the city slows down, especially at sunset.
Valaoritou for the evening
Centre
Old fabric-trade streets turned into the densest bar quarter of the centre. Start with a drink here before dinner in Ladadika, five minutes away.
Walks & Experiences
The city is built for walking, from the sea up to the walls. These are the routes we suggest to every guest.
The waterfront promenade
White Tower to the Concert Hall
Five kilometres of seafront with no cars, a string of themed gardens and Zongolopoulos' Umbrellas, the sculpture everyone photographs. Walk it, run it or rent a bike.
Sunset is the hour.
Ano Poli, the old town
The neighbourhood that survived the great fire of 1917: Ottoman-era houses, narrow lanes, small churches and tavernas with a view. Climb up, get lost on purpose, and finish at the Trigonio Tower for the panorama.
Aristotelous to Egnatia on foot
Centre
The grand square that opens onto the sea, then up through the markets to Egnatia, the avenue that has crossed the city since Roman times. The whole centre in forty minutes.
Seich Sou forest
Above the city
The pine forest on the hills behind Thessaloniki, twenty minutes from the centre by taxi, with easy trails and viewpoints over the whole gulf. Where locals go to breathe.
The port warehouses
Port
The restored piers of the old port host the Museum of Photography, the Cinema Museum and a few cafés right on the water, a short detour from Ladadika.
Family
Thessaloniki is an easy city with children: flat, walkable, with the sea on one side and plenty of open space.
Playgrounds and bikes on the waterfront
The themed gardens along the promenade have playgrounds, lawns and shade, and the bike lane runs the whole length. Bike rental is available near the White Tower.
NOESIS science centre
Thermi, 15 km from the centre
Planetarium, a giant-screen cinema and hands-on exhibits about science and technology. Worth the short trip out of town on a rainy day.
The zoo in the forest
Kedrinos Lofos
A small municipal zoo inside the Seich Sou forest, with shaded paths and a playground, easily combined with a walk in the woods.
A boat ride on the gulf
White Tower pier
The floating cafés that sail from the White Tower pier do a slow loop of the bay for the price of a drink. Children love it; so do adults.
Hidden Gems
Places that rarely make the guidebooks, all of them a short walk from the centre.
Bezesteni
Centre
A 15th-century Ottoman covered market with six lead domes, still in use, tucked between Egnatia and the modern shops. Step in for the cool and the light.
Bey Hamam
Egnatia
The oldest Ottoman bathhouse in the city, built in 1444, right on Egnatia. It opens for exhibitions; the domed interior is worth a look whenever it does.
Saint Nicholas Orphanos
Ano Poli
A small 14th-century church in a garden in the old town, with some of the finest Byzantine frescoes in the city and almost no visitors.
Bit Bazaar
Centre
A courtyard of antique and junk shops that turns into a cluster of tiny tavernas in the evening. Mezedes, wine from the barrel and no menus in English.
Pasha's Gardens
Ano Poli
A walled garden with stone fountains and odd little structures, built in 1904 and half forgotten in the upper town. A quiet place to sit in the shade.
Vlatadon Monastery
Ano Poli
A working 14th-century monastery just below the walls, with peacocks in the courtyard and one of the best views over the city and the sea.
Stay in the middle of it all
Our apartments are a short walk from everything on this page.
See our apartments