If you are asking yourself whether Thessaloniki is worth visiting, you are on the right track. This city is my home and it’s called (by locals), Greece’s spare or second capital. Its double UNESCO protection programs – for Byzantine heritage and gastronomy – thousands of years of layered history, and fantastic urban lifestyle of outdoor living, together with museums, festivals, farmers’ markets, and a lively waterfront make for a fantastic choice. Here’s my guide to the very best parts of Thessaloniki from a local.
Thessaloniki in a nutshell
🧭 Where: Northern Greece, 310 miles (6 hours drive) north of Athens.
✈️ Getting there: Thessaloniki Airport is a major international and domestic flight hub of mainland Greece
🌆 Visit Thessaloniki for: City exploration, hip lifestyle, ancient ruins, museums, festivals, and gastronomy.
🏖️ Best beaches: The stunning beaches of Halkidiki are only 55 miles away.
🍸 Where to eat and drink: All around the town, Thessaloniki is a UNESCO gastronomy city.
🛎️ How long to stay: At least 3 days.
Things to know before traveling to Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki is an ancient city, continuously inhabited for several millennia. This means layers of rich history visible all around the city.
Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, and modern Greek heritage is everywhere and the city lives with its past much more intimately than Athens.
The city was one of the most significant urban centers of both the Byzantine and the Ottoman empires, probably right after Istanbul.
This makes it an age-old cosmopolitan setting and a melting pot of nations, all leaving their mark on today’s city.
Nowadays, Thessaloniki is the city of its inhabitants, a far cry from tourism-plagued European metropolises.
Even its most central areas, full of vivid bars, restaurants, cafes, food stalls, open-air exhibitions, and pedestrian zones are frequented by locals much more than tourists. Thessaloniki is still an authentically Greek city.
Thessaloniki is significantly cheaper than Athens, so accommodation, food, and attractions will suit budget travelers much better than Athens.
Getting around
Thessaloniki is largely a pedestrian city, at least in the main areas of interest. You can walk around its central zones or take a public bus (€0,90).
The Metro is underway and expected to be opened in 2025. Taxis are readily available and cheap.
Rental cars are easily parked in one of many city’s private parking or garages (€10-20 a day).
Where to stay when you visit Thessaloniki
Much of what’s going on in Thessaloniki is confined to its city center, so staying somewhere centrally is the best idea.
I love the area around the Roman Agora, it’s grandiose, and very local at the same time.
Electra Palace Thessaloniki
5-star Electra Palace is the deserved favorite of visitors to Thessaloniki. The grand dame has newly renovated rooms, is on Artistotelous Square and has an astonishing Orizontes Roof Garden Restaurant Bar with panoramic views of the sea and the city. Spa and Wellness Centre, 2 swimming pools, 2 restaurants, and a British-style lounge bar make it hard to leave the hotel.
Imperial Plus Urban Smart Hotel Thessaloniki
4-star Imperial Plus has large, airy rooms and snow-white marble bathrooms. Family suites are very popular, but there is no car parking available on site. Walking distance to popular sites.
Noa Hotel
4-star Noa Hotel has floor-to-ceiling windows with sea views, 600 metres from Aristotelous Square. There’s room service, 2 restaurants, and family rooms and the staff are consistently rated as excellent.
Domotel Olympia
3-star Domotel Olympia is one of those great 3-star finds where it’s hard to understand why it doesn’t have a 4-star rating. It’s an elegant boutique hotel with Philippe Starck-designed furnishings and Artemide lights. A five-minute walk from Aristotelus Square and terrific views from the balcony – an excellent value hotel.
Blue Bottle Boutique Hotel
Blue Bottle is a highly-rated boutique hotel in the center of Thessaloniki, only 900 meters from Aristotelous Square. The rooms have balconies and there’s a free smartphone with unlimited mobile data and free international calling. There are lots of other small touches like this (bike hire, airport shuttle, parking) that make this such a popular hotel.
Things to do in Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki is Greece’s second-largest city and a major regional university, business, culture, and entertainment hub.
One of the spiciest cities of the Balkans, Thessaloniki offers an urban texture full of life, cultural events, and amazing food.
These are some of my favorite places and things to do in Thessaloniki and why this city is very much worth a visit:
Discover Thessaloniki’s Roman History
Thessaloniki is like an open-air collection of European heritage of old. Founded in the 4th century AD and named after Alexander the Great’s half-sister, Thessaloniki has seen empires come and go ever since.
The Romans were the first, so start by discovering Thessaloniki’s Roman heritage
1. Arch of Galerius (Kamara)
The Arch of Galerius (Kamara) is one of the landmarks of the city that once formed a complex of grandiose Roman city, connecting the Rotunda with the Palace and the seafront.
The sumptuously decorated arch was built in the 4th century to commemorate Roman Emperor Galerius’ victory over the Persians.
2. Rotunda
The Rotunda was initially intended as a mausoleum for Galerius but was soon enough converted to an early Christian church, after which it became a mosque, only to be turned back to an orthodox church of Agios Georgios nowadays.
3. Roman Agora
Roman Agora is what is left of the busy city marketplace of the Romans. Some of it was excavated and can be visited.
The Palace of Galerius is built upon the remaining foundations of the Roman Palace, long gone. The ancient remains are visible around the Navarinou Square Archaeological Site (that is the hippiest square for high school youth in the city, too).
More Roman heritage sites are nearby, so you can easily check out the Roman Baths, the Roman Forum, and the Ancient city walls.
Discover Thessaloniki’s Byzantine Heritage
Thessaloniki is probably the world’s largest open-air museum of Byzantine culture, history and architecture. You can explore churches, fortifications, museums, and other sites all around the city.
The number and the exquisite state of repair made the Byzantine churches of Thessaloniki a UNESCO World Heritage site.
1. Agia Sofia Church
The single most significant Byzantine church in Thessaloniki, Agia Sophia is a scaled replica of the Constantinople (Istanbul) one.
Erected in the present state in the 7th century, it is one of the longest-standing churches in the city.
2. Acheiropoietos Church
Built in the 5th century, the Acheiropoietos is Thessaloniki’s oldest surviving church and a place of outstanding historical, architectural and religious importance.
One of its marble pillars carries a carved seal of Sultan Murad II, announcing the successful conquest of the city by the Ottomans in 1430.
3. Museum of Byzantine Culture
The star of Thessaloniki’s formal culture, this museum exhibits valuable icons, jewelry and artifacts from more than 1000 years of Byzantine history.
More Byzantine UNESCO sites are available all around the city, including:
- Agios Demetrios Church,
- Agios Panteleimonas church,
- Church of the Holy Apostles,
- Church of St. Nicholas Orphanos,
- Church of Panagia Chalkeon,
- Church of Hosios David (Latomou Monastery), and
- Vlatadon Monastery
Discover Thessaloniki’s Ottoman heritage
Ottoman Empire armies conquered Thessaloniki in 1430 and held it as recently as 1912. This had significant impact on the city, among which the White Tower became the city’s symbol.
The White Tower (Gendi Kule) is to Thessaloniki, what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, just much older and more sinister.
Built by the Ottomans in the 15th century on the lively seaside promenade, it was a garrison, a watchtower, and a jail.
Nowadays there is a museum explaining its past and offering you its rooftop for panoramic views of the city.
Bezesteni Market is a 15th century clothes market in the city center, buit in red brick and adorned with 6 small domes. A miniature scale of Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar.
Yahudi Hamam – 16th-century Ottoman baths that are now the heart of Thessaloniki’s flower shops called “louloudadika“.
Many more beautiful Ottoman structures are dotted around Thessaloniki, including Bey Hamam Baths (The “Paradissos”), Alatza Imaret, Alkazar, Yeni Hamam, and Yeni Tzami.
Gastronomy
Thessaloniki is the Greek capital of food, gastronomy, and culinary culture – from the humble bread and olives to the most innovative molecular cuisine, Thessaloniki has fought its way to become UNESCO’s city of gastronomy as of 2021.
This means its history is not only visible in its buildings, but palatable on every corner serving frappe/freddo coffee, spicy appetizers with drinks or wine, pastry and syrup sweets and all kinds of nuts.
These are the must-try Thessaloniki delicacies, restaurants and markets:
Koulouri Thessalonikis – bagel-like sesame-topped pastry sold on the street as well as in bakeries.
Bougatsa – locals’ breakfast favorite, a phyllo pastry filled with sweet custard crème, sprinkled with powder sugar and cinnamon. Head to Bougatsa Giannis at 106 Mitropoleos str.
Trigona Panoramatos – one of Thessaloniki’s finest syrupy sweets was brought to the city by the Greek Asia minor refugees. Trigona Elenidis at 13 Dim. Gounari is the place to go to.
Ergon
Super creative mix of old-style village grocery store cum restaurant serving traditional food with a twist.
Diagonio
The grand dame of the grill restaurants of Thessaloniki. Best soutzoukakia and gyros in town.
Iliopetra
One of the most innovative restaurants in Thessaloniki, off the touristy trail and serving modern Greek food with only the freshest produce of the day.
Modiano
Old food hall built in white marble in 1920s got refurbished and reopened in 2023. Its tiny stalls house a plethora of snack restaurants and specialty food shops.
Kapani open-air market
The guts of Thessaloniki, Kapani is a window into the city’s gastronomic past.
Selling everything from the plants, spices, olives to the lamb offal, seafood, and cheese, Kapani will surely put your senses to the test.
TIP: Make a stop in the exquisite market restaurant called Stou Mitsou
Museums
There’s more to Thessaloniki’s culture than its gastronomy. Do not miss:
1. Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum
One of Greece’s largest museums full of exquisite ancient Greek works of art and craftsmanship on display.
2. Thessaloniki Science Center and Technology Museum
Set on the outskirts of the city, this museum is great for families due to its interactive approach to explaining the history of technology and ancient science as well as a large astronomical section.
3. Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki
Centrally located museum explaining the lively history of Thessaloniki’s Jewish population that ended tragically during the WW2.
Enjoy the Thessaloniki lifestyle
Thessaloniki belongs to its citizens and this means you will always see people enjoying the outdoors – squares, parks but above everything its cafes and a lively waterfront. Soak up the locals’ vibe around these areas:
1. Leoforos Nikis – the old waterfront
The “5th Avenue” of Thessaloniki, this is as waterfront as it gets – the very center of the city and across the street from the Aegean Sea. There are ovely cafes all along the waterfront.
2. The new waterfront
After the White Tower, the old waterfront ends and the new begins. Locals love jogging along the water to the statue of Alexander the Great and later in the afternoon, put on their best and go out for a drink in Omilos bar.
Recently the HS Velos D-16 Museum Ship has been on display at the far end of the new waterfront.
3. Aristotle Square
Aristotle Square is the central square of Thessaloniki stretching from Roman Agora to the waterfront.
Full of life, especially around Terkenlis pastry shop, one of Thessaloniki’s finest. Tsimiski Street next to the square is the city’s main shopping avenue.
4. Ladadika
The old restaurant district is very close to the waterfront offering a great variety of traditional restaurants. Some of them have been owned by the same family for more than a century.
Try Aristos cod shop and Sintrofi for modern Greek food.
5. Valaoritou district
The bars, galleries, and hip vibe of the Valaoritou district of Thessaloniki is just a 5-minute walk from Aristotle Square.
Υpsilon, Beetroot, and Coq au Zen are worth checking out. Great nightlife scene, too.
6. Ano Poli
Thessaloniki’s old town, with medieval streets and a completely different vibe to it. Visit the famous tavern Tsinari (open since 1885) and a more modern one called Stasi.
Visit the nearby beaches
Thessaloniki, although being a waterfront city, does not have city beaches.
The best ones start some odd 15mi away from the city and the best ones are around the Halkidiki area, a trident-shaped set of 3 peninsulas 55mi away from Thessaloniki.
The verdict – is Thessaloniki worth visiting?
Is Thessaloniki worth visiting? Sure it is! An inexpensive UNESCO city whose rhythm is based on the locals’ needs, is full of history, culture, delicious Greek food and has an active lifestyle is always a great choice.
So next time you’re headed to Athens or the Greek Islands, plan to visit Thessaloniki for at least a weekend and enjoy its charms now before it becomes another European weekend break destination.
