Thessaloniki has given Greece some of its greatest musicians, artists, poets and thinkers. Thessaloniki has some of the most beautiful beaches and some of the finest hotels and best restaurants in northern Greece.

Reasons to go there

Thessaloniki or Salonica is the second largest city in the country. Especially it is a city with a continuous 3000-year history, preserving relics of its Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman past and of its formerly dominant Jewish population. Its Byzantine churches are included in UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

It also has a very active nightlife, as a 2007 New York Times article calls it “Seattle of the Balkans”.

Visit the The White Tower (Lefkos Pyrgos) is widely regarded as the symbol of Thessaloniki. The rest of the walls are in the picturesque old town (Upper Town) which offers a spectacular view over the bay, especially in the late afternoon.

Take a walk along the enormous seafront promenade. Plentiful cafés, restaurants and shops line the waterfront.

Helpful Tips

The taverns are the perfect place to experience authentic Greek cooking where an assortment of ‘mezedes’ includes coleslaw, aubergine salad, domades (stuffed vine leaves), cheese pie and lamb liver stuffed with rice and herbs.

I recommend to compare hotel prices very well in Thessaloniki. Different booking sites have totally different prices for the same hotel. Maybe this site helps you. Once you picked a hotel, this site compares more than 30 bookings sites at once.

How to get there

By car you get there from Athens about 5 hours (Highway), from Istanbul about 8 hours and from Belgrade about 7 hours.

By nighttrain from Athens (Larissa station), about 6 h. Costs 20 Euros -31 Euros (depending on the train).

Daily trains from Athens take 4h 15 min (intercity express trains), 6h (normal trains) cost about 50 Euros first class. A very good option are the 500/501/502/503 trains, delivering excellent quality of travel at a low price, costing about 14 Euros (11 for students and people up to 26) and take only 5h 45min.

When you are under 26, you get a discount for 25 % on most trains.

By plane you arrive at Thessaloniki’s International airport called “Makedonia”.The Bus 78 or at night 78N connects the airport with the bus station (”Ktel”), passing by the train station (”OSE”) and a ticket costs 0.50€ if you buy it from the kiosk (0.60 if you buy it from the automatic ticket vendor, exact change needed). It’s about a 25 minute ride.

Additional Infos

Thessaloniki is Greece’s second major economic, industrial, commercial and political centre, and a major transportation hub for the rest of southeastern Europe; its commercial port is also of great importance for Greece and its southeast European hinterland. It has been traditional for the country’s Prime Minister to set out his government’s policies for each coming year in a speech at the annual Thessaloniki International Trade Fair.

Links

Photos of Thessaloniki
Compare Hotel prices at Thessaloniki