One of the first topics we covered when we started this newsletter just over a year ago was ‘Reasons to Visit Thessaloniki’. Thessaloniki is a terrific city, and we absolutely love it. So, time for a reprise because (a) there’s new stuff to add, and (b) we have ten times as many newsletter subscribers as we did back then.
Thessaloniki - Start Planning
If you do want to visit Thessaloniki in 2024 then our advice is to get planning now. Figures recently released show that Greece had a record year for tourism in 2023:
32.7 Million Travelers Chose Greece in 2023
The government is continuing to do a lot to boost tourism, and airlines are adding new flights all the time, including airlines that have never flown direct to Greece before. There are more flights than ever from the USA, so those visitor numbers look certain to grow even higher. That means if you leave it late, you might have trouble getting your desired flight and/or hotel.
When to Visit Thessaloniki?
To help with your planning we have a page on The Best Times to Visit Thessaloniki.
Why Visit Thessaloniki?
Some of our favourite cities around the world are those that are on the ocean - Barcelona, San Francisco, Nice. And Thessaloniki. They’re all places where you can enjoy the beach in the morning, visit fantastic museums in the afternoon, and then at night discover great bars and restaurants. They are cities that are all noted for their food, and that’s certainly the case in Thessaloniki.
Food
We’ve been to the city several times and on our first visit we were immediately struck by the standard of the food, from cheap eats to more high-end places. So exceptional is the food that in 2021 UNESCO made it a City of Gastronomy, the only one in Greece. The people in Athens were a bit put out! Read about it here:
Thessaloniki: City of Gastronomy
Churches
UNESCO has also singled out Thessaloniki’s Byzantine churches and in 1988 made them collectively World Heritage Monuments. In this newsletter I described my visit to the lovely, tiny church of Ossios David, but there are also huge churches, like Agios Dimitrios, dedicated to the city’s patron saint. This has mosaics going back to the 5th and 6th centuries. Read about this and Thessaloniki’s other churches - well, some of them - here:
Museums
Thessaloniki has several excellent museums, some big like the Archaeological Museum, and some smaller and specialist, including a radio museum, a children’s museum, and a cinema museum. We wrote a page all about the Museums of Thessaloniki, featuring twelve of the best, and you can read it here:
Day Trips
If you are thinking about Thessaloniki as a city break then we’d recommend you make it as long as you can. Stay for a weekend and you’ll scrape the surface and be wanting to go back. Save yourself the extra costs and stay there for a week the first time! As well as being a fantastic city you can also do lots of day trips from there.
Mount Olympus is about a 2 hr 30 mins drive from Thessaloniki. You can also do a boat tour around Mount Athos, the so-called Monks’ Republic. There are also several exceptional archaeological sites not far from the city, including Dion, Pella, and the Royal Tombs at Vergina.
Read our page on the Ten Best Day Trips from Thessaloniki.
On second thoughts, better make that first trip a two-week visit! You can also read an overview of the city on this page: Thessaloniki
Till next time
Mike and Donna