Things to do
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Arch of Galerius and Rotunda
Two Roman monuments on one axis above Egnatia street. The arch carries carved panels of the emperor Galerius at war with the Persians, readable at eye level from the pavement. Uphill stands the brick Rotunda, with walls over 6 metres thick and fragments of gold mosaic in the dome. It has served as a mausoleum, a church and a mosque, and still keeps its minaret. The Rotunda is ticketed.
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Church of Saint Demetrius
The great basilica of the city's patron saint, five aisles wide and rebuilt after a fire in 1917 took its roof and most of its decoration. Six early mosaic panels survive on the piers near the altar, saints with children and donors. Steps beside the apse lead down to the crypt, a former Roman bath where the saint is said to have been held, now a small museum.
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Walls of Thessaloniki
Long stretches of Byzantine wall, built in bands of brick and rubble, still enclose the upper town. The best preserved section runs along the north side to the Heptapyrgion, a fortress on the hilltop corner that served as a prison until 1989. Its courtyard and towers are open to visitors. The upper stretches of wall look down over the city.
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White Tower
A round stone tower on the seafront, about 34 metres tall, built by the Ottomans in the fifteenth century and later used as a prison. Its six floors now hold an exhibition on the city's history, arranged by the Museum of Byzantine Culture. Entry is ticketed, and a spiral passage climbs to the roof terrace, which looks along the whole bay.
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Ano Poli
The upper town climbs the hill below the walls in steep lanes of timber-framed houses, small churches and stray cats. It is the one quarter the great fire of 1917 did not reach. Vlatadon monastery sits near the top, with a terrace looking over the rooftops to the sea. Evenings are the time to come, when the tavernas on the small upper squares open.
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Archaeological Museum
The collection of ancient Macedonia, in a low modernist building a short walk from the White Tower. The centrepiece is the Derveni krater, a bronze wine vessel covered in figures of Dionysus and his followers. Around it are gold wreaths and jewellery from tombs across the region. Later rooms hold mosaics and portrait sculpture from the Roman city that lies under the modern one.
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Hagia Sophia
An eighth century domed church set in a garden square on Agias Sofias street, a short walk from Aristotelous Square. Inside, the dome mosaic of the Ascension shows Christ seated on a rainbow, with the apostles standing among trees below him. It is part of the UNESCO listing of the city's early Christian and Byzantine monuments.
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Ladadika
The old oil merchants' quarter beside the port, a few blocks of restored warehouses with painted facades and narrow pedestrian lanes. Ground floors are now tavernas, ouzo bars and live music places set close together. The district is quiet in the daytime and busy until late at night. It lies a short walk west of Aristotelous Square, opposite the passenger port.
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Modiano Market
A covered market hall from the 1920s, glass-roofed over a cross of aisles and reopened after a long restoration with fishmongers, delicatessens and small eating counters. Around it, the open-air Kapani market fills the streets toward Aristotelous with olive barrels, spice stalls and butchers. Mornings are the liveliest time for both.
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Museum of Byzantine Culture
Next door to the Archaeological Museum, a brick building that walks through a thousand years of Byzantine life in calm, well-lit rooms. Early Christian tombs with painted walls come first, then mosaics, icons, church silver and the pots and jewellery of ordinary households. It won the Council of Europe Museum Prize in 2005.
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Royal Tombs of Aigai
At Vergina, about an hour west of the city by road, the great burial mound of the Macedonian kings now covers a museum that keeps the tombs in place under the earth. The painted facade of the tomb identified as Philip II's stands in the half dark, with his gold casket, wreaths and armour in cases nearby. The restored palace of Aigai, reopened in 2024 and also ticketed, stands on the hill above.
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The Excelsior
A small luxury hotel in a restored neoclassical building at the corner of Komninon street and Mitropoleos avenue, a few minutes on foot from Aristotelous Square. It is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World. Rooms are quiet and pared back.
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Umbrellas of Zongolopoulos
A sculpture of tall steel umbrellas rising off the ground, by George Zongolopoulos, stands on the Nea Paralia, the landscaped seafront running east from the White Tower. The promenade beside it has themed gardens, a cycle path and benches facing Mount Olympus across the gulf, visible on clear days. The walk along it is flat and lit after dark.
