Recommended things to do in Thessaloniki

In February 2026 I flew with Roman my husband to Thessaloniki for 3 nights. We have been to Greece many times but had not yet been to Thessaloniki, so I was really excited to get there. We flew there without our daughters, something that had not happened for us yet so it was also exciting, also emotional and also a bit strange at first.
It is important to mention that I was six months pregnant, so our schedule was relaxed, flowing and adapted to a pregnant woman who cannot walk too much and not run from attraction to attraction.

Honestly it was a bit colder than I expected. The moment we landed I realized I had packed clothes that were not warm enough, so we immediately went to buy me a coat, scarf and hat, which served me throughout the whole trip. The positive thing is that there were end of season sales (February is a great month for shopping in Greece), so I bought at a great price , about half price.
Aside from the cold we only had two hours of rain on the third day, so we were completely lucky and could walk around outside a lot without limitations.

Briefly about the trip:
When : end of February 2025
Who: couple
For how long? 3 nights
Hotel: 5-star boutique Vanoro Hotel

Table of content hide

1 Food tour

2 The old city

3 Local market

4 White Tower museum White tower

5 Promenade

6 New metro station

7 Fabric market

8 The Holy Cathedral Church of Hagia Sophia

9 Shopping

10 Before the trip to Thessaloniki a few things that are important to know

11 Pin below to save on Pinterest

Food tour

We really love to eat local food in every destination we go to, and we also like to learn a bit about the history and about life in the destination. For me the best way to combine the two is to take a food tour, you taste, you hear stories, and you also reach places we probably would not have entered on our own.

I looked for food tours in Thessaloniki and honestly there was not a very big variety, but I saw really good reviews about the company Salty Soil who offer various kinds of trips and tours, including a food tour. I contacted them to join a group on one of the days we would be there, but they said they had no additional registrations at the moment, and that is how it turned out that Roman and I were on a completely private tour with the guide Pantelis (Pantelis).

Pantelis turned out to be an extremely charming guide, with rich knowledge about the history of Thessaloniki. And that was a real added value to the tour. He told us about the unique combination of cultures in the city, Greek, Ottoman and Jewish, and how all of this also influenced the local food. Thessaloniki is considered the culinary capital of Greece, and after the tour, I completely understood why.

He took us to all the local places that he himself loves, and truly every place he chose was excellent. We ate foods like Bougatsa (Bougatsa) and Koulouri (Koulouri), which we had already eaten in Greece before, but somehow, wherever he took us, it was tastier than anything we had tasted before.

We also passed through a local market, Kapani market, where there are local products of many cheeses, sausages, olives, spices and more, and in addition also stalls of clothes, shoes, toys and home accessories.

I will not tell you about all the dishes we ate on the tour, so that you will have a surprise 🙂 But it is important to know a few practical things:

The tour lasted about 3 and a half hours, the meeting point was on the promenade, about a 10 minute walk from our hotel, Vanoro Hotel. The tour was interesting, fun and very tasty. Pantelis was attentive and patient, and we walked at a slow pace that suited a pregnant woman moving slowly like me :). Beyond that, he also gave us excellent recommendations for continuing our visit in the city.
In short, I highly recommend this food tour if you are in Thessaloniki and love to combine good food with stories and real familiarity with the place. It is a perfect way to get to know the city through the plate.

The old city

One of the most successful recommendations of our guide on the food tour was to go visit the old city of Thessaloniki, which in the slang of the locals is called the castle area. When you get there you immediately understand why they call it that, ancient walls, towers, spectacular viewpoints, and a feeling of jumping back in time.

We decided to travel to the old city in the afternoon, and on that same day there was a taxi strike, so we had to take a bus there. The area is located very high, and therefore getting there on foot can be very challenging, especially during pregnancy and especially if you did not come to do a hill workout. We took line 23 from a bus stop two minutes walking distance from our hotel. You can buy tickets on the bus itself with a credit card at the machine, only the option to purchase with credit card was not working, the driver told us there was no way to pay, and so it turned out that we traveled for free.

The bus ride was very crowded, and luckily because of the pregnancy someone got up so that I could sit, because it is about a forty-minute ride, depending on traffic, uphill, and again with air conditioning on heating that was suffocating. But all of that was really worth it.
The moment you reach the top you feel like you have arrived at a completely different place and not to the Thessaloniki we know from the promenade and the center. The houses there are beautiful and colorful, the alleys are narrow, everything is surrounded by an ancient wall, and there is a more magical and quieter atmosphere there. Take into account that walking around there requires more fitness, there are ups and downs and it is definitely not flat.
In this area there are several landmarks worth visiting, for example Trigonion Tower, one of the preserved towers of the Byzantine walls, and, Thessaloniki Acropolis, from which there is an amazing view of the whole city and the sea. You can also get between these points by bus if you feel less like climbing on foot.

There are various bars and restaurants there, but I want to recommend to you an excellent local restaurant that we ate at and really enjoyed, αλάϊ καφέ μεζέ. If the weather is pleasant, I definitely recommend sitting outside, especially at sunset; the view and the light there are simply perfect.

They have a menu with Greek starters, seafood and meats. We decided to order mainly from the starters because we felt like something light, and that was an excellent decision. We took potato salad, baked feta with tomatoes, hot peppers, eggplant with feta and olives, and smoked mackerel. Everything was so tasty that we did not stop eating. In addition, we ordered fresh orange juice and Coke Zero. For dessert, we received a very tasty chocolate cake on the house, and we also ordered tea. The waitress was really nice and helpful, and the whole atmosphere was very pleasant.

Local market

At first, I thought it was a tourist market, because it is located right in the center of the city of Thessaloniki, but it turns out it is completely a market of the locals- Kapani market. Although there are also tourists there, you see many locals doing their shopping there, and also restaurant owners who come to buy fresh ingredients for their restaurants. Even our guide from the food tour said that he goes there for his weekly shopping, and that is always a good sign.

The market has existed since the Ottoman period, and it has an authentic atmosphere, a bit of a Greek mess like that, smells of spices, olives, fresh fish, cheeses, and coffee ground on the spot. There are stalls of vegetables and fruits, colorful spices, sausages, local cheeses, olives of all kinds, and also small shops with products for the home.
My recommendation is to go in the middle of the week and not on the weekend, because on the weekend the place becomes very full. We were there in the middle of the week and it was really nice to walk around without excessive crowds. We were there both during the food tour and also returned there just the two of us to wander calmly, stop, taste, and feel a bit like locals.

The market is open six days a week, from Monday to Saturday; on Sunday, it is closed. It is open from the morning, and on some days it closes around four in the afternoon, and on some days it stays open until nine in the evening. I recommend checkingthe  exact hours before arrival, because it changes.

White Tower museum White tower

We planned to visit the  White Tower of Thessaloniki on the third day of our trip, and honestly, we had perfect timing. Exactly during those two hours, it rained, and that was our time in the museum, so we did not lose outdoor sightseeing time.
The tower was built during the Ottoman period in the 15th century, and over the years served both as a fortress and as a prison. Today it serves as a museum that tells the history of Thessaloniki, from the ancient period, through the Byzantine and Ottoman period and until the modern era. The cost was about 6 euros per adult.
At the entrance, it is recommended to connect to their free WiFi and then enter from your phone the museum audio guide. There is a guide in various languages, and it really adds to the understanding. On each floor, there are explanations that accompany the exhibition, and this way, the visit becomes much more interesting and not just moving between spaces.

There are six floors in the museum, and it is important to note that it is not accessible. There is no elevator, only spiral stairs. For me, six months pregnant, it was a bit challenging to go up all the stairs and also to go down, but in general, for someone without a special physical issu,e it is not too difficult, just take your time and go up at a relaxed pace.

Each floor describes a different aspect of Thessaloniki. There is a floor that tells about trade in the city and about its important port, a floor about the population and the multicultural combination that made it what it is today, a floor about daily life and the flavors of Thessaloniki, and more topics that connect history to people.

On the sixth floor, there is an exit to a balcony with a 360-degree panoramic view of the city and the sea. Exactly when we went up, the rain stopped, so we could go out and take some photos. On the other hand, the visibility was not amazing because of the winter weather, so the pictures did not turn out perfect, but it was still nice.

Promenade

The promenade of Thessaloniki is long, about 5 kilometers in length. It is wide, well-maintained, and perfect for a relaxed walk, a light run or just sitting by the sea.
Along it, there are restaurants and cafes, benches, lawns, and even areas with facilities for children. And there are also quite a few beautiful spots for photos.
I especially loved the umbrella area, The Umbrellas by Zongolopoulos, an artistic installation of umbrellas on poles by the sea, which has become one of the most photographed symbols of the city.

In addition, from the promenade, near White Tower of Thessaloniki, there is a pirate ship cruise. The cruise itself does not cost money, but is conditioned on buying a drink on board, and it lasts about half an hour. We were surprised to discover that it operated even in February, despite the cold. It is a nice way to see the coastline from the sea, without committing to an expensive or long attraction.

New metro station

Yes, I know a metro station does not sound especially exciting, but this station is truly very special.
The metro of Thessaloniki was inaugurated only recently, after many years of delays, and there are those who say it took almost a hundred years until the idea became reality. During the excavations for building the stations, impressive archaeological findings from the Byzantine and Hellenistic period were discovered, literally an entire city under the city.

One of the most impressive stations is Venizelou Metro Station. Instead of removing the findings and transferring them to a museum, they decided to integrate them into the station itself. So it turned out that when you go down to the platfor,m you see before your eyes a Byzantine street hundreds of years old, preserved and presented impressively, with signage and explanations.

So, beyond the fact that you can get around by metro if you wish, which by the way is a relatively convenient and quick way to bypass traffic jams in the city, you can also simply enter the station and walk around it as if you were in a small museum underground. Even if you do not have a real need to travel, it is worth stopping by to see. The truth is that we arrived there just to walk around on the recommendation of our guide, and we did not end up riding the metro.

Fabric market

Bedesten of Thessaloniki is a very small market with only a few shops inside, but it really feels like going back in time.
The structure itself was built during the Ottoman period in the 15th century, and served as a covered market for trade in fabrics, jewellery, and valuable goods. Today, mainly fabric shops, curtains, tablecloths and home textiles remain there, and it is less a must-visit shopping site and more an experience of atmosphere, and you can also take cool and colorful photos there.

The Holy Cathedral Church of Hagia Sophia

We went into the Holy Cathedral Church of Hagia Sophia while walking around the city and it was impressive. It is a very ancient church from the 7th century, one of the most important in Thessaloniki, with a large dome and mosaics from the Byzantine period. Inside there is a quiet and pleasant atmosphere, less crowded with tourists compared to other attractions, and it is simply nice to step in for a few minutes and take a look.

It is not a place where you spend hours, but if you are already in the city center it is worth popping in, walking around a bit and then continuing on.

Shopping

Usually on our trips I do not get to do shopping, but this time, as I mentioned at the beginning, I arrived not prepared for the weather which was colder than I expected, and that is how I found myself on an unplanned shopping trip for a coat, scarf and hat.

Tsimiski Street is the main shopping street in, Thessaloniki. It is a long and central street, with many shops, restaurants and cafes, and we passed through it quite a few times during the trip when we made our way from place to place.
You can find there well known fashion brands like Bershka, H&M, Zara and more, alongside Greek fashion brands like BSB, Ale and additional local brands. There are also well known shops like Sephora, Flying Tiger, shoe shops, accessories, cosmetics and more.

I also recommend walking in the side alleys that go down towards the sea, there are beautiful buildings in them, small cafes and cute corners.
And a small bonus, if you are arriving in winter, especially during the sales period, you can find really good prices, like in my case, where the cold turned into an opportunity.

Before the trip to Thessaloniki a few things that are important to know

Getting from the airport to the hotel

The airport of Thessaloniki is Thessaloniki Airport Makedonia.
Honestly this is something that is very important to know, and it could be that we simply had bad luck, but apparently in Thessaloniki there are quite a few taxi strikes, and I think it is quite common in Greece in general. It turned out that we landed exactly on a day when there was a strike.

We did not know this in advance, and for an hour we tried to catch a taxi through the apps Free Now and Uber, and we did not succeed. We were sure that there was simply congestion, and only later did we understand that it was a strike.
In the end ,we decided to take a bus from the airport to the hotel, which luckily stopped about 170 meters from the hotel, so it was not terrible. However, the bus fills up very quickly, and the ride to the city center took about 50 minutes. Luckily, we managed to get seats, but if you are standing, it can be a bit tough, especially with suitcases, and even more so during pregnancy. In addition, they turn onthe  heating, and with all the winter clothin,g it becomes suffocating.

The cost of the bus is 2 euros per person, very cheap, and you can buy tickets at the counter at the airport near the stop. We needed line 01X, which runs about every 20 minutes and reaches the city center.
In any case, my recommendation is to arrange a transfer through the hotel in advance. Usually, the price is similar to a regular taxi price. Our hotel offered a transfer for 33 euro, and a regular taxi costs around 26 euro. I thought it would be easy to catch a taxi and therefore did not arrange in advance, but in hindsight I understood that it is better to close in advance and not take a risk. And if there is a strike and the transfer cannot arrive, at least you will know about it in advance because they will update you.

Recommended hotel in Thessaloniki

Before the trip I looked for a central boutique hotel, and after some deliberation, I chose Vanoro Hotel, a 5-star boutique hotel in the city center, with excellent reviews and at a really good price, especially because we traveled out of season. In hindsight, it turned out that I chose excellently.

Its location is very central, the service is great, and everything felt meticulous. There is a bar restaurant in the hotel where breakfast is also served which is a la carte, not a buffet, and it was really tasty. There is a spa with treatments, jacuzzi and sauna, the entrance is by prior arrangement for 10 euros, but as guests we were entitled to a one-time free use each. There is also a free gym that is open 24 hours a day.

Our room was pleasant, clean, with a very comfortable bed. The walk from the hotel to the promenade or to the main shopping street is about 10 minutes. Near the hotel, there is an abundance of restaurants, cafes and shops.
We paid 350 euros for a couple for three nights, including breakfast, and there is no doubt that it was an excellent price for the value we received, especially at such a hotel level.
To book Vanoro Hotel andread  more reviews

Weather in Thessaloniki

We traveled in the last week of February. Before we flew, I checked and saw that it was about 14 degrees during the day and 5 at night. In reality, when we arrived, we discovered that there was a strong and cold wind that made the weather feel much less than 14 degrees, and therefore it is important to take this into account, especially if you plan a lot of walking.

Our guide on the food tour told us that we were very lucky, because all the weeks before were rainy and it even snowed. We had completely dry days, except for two hours of rain in the morning on the third day, so it really is a matter of luck.
In terms of the general average temperatures in the city
In spring, from March to May, the average ranges from 15 to 22 degrees during the day
In summer, June to August, the average ranges around 30 degrees during the day and sometimes even more, with high humidity
In autumn, September to November, the average ranges from 18 to 25 degrees at the beginning of the season and gradually decreases

In conclusion, Thessaloniki completely surprised me. It is not a huge city and not packed with must-see attractions, but it has a combination of sea, excellent food, history, markets, neighbourhoods with character and a relaxed atmosphere (more relaxed than Athens at least). You can walk around it slowly, combine beautiful viewpoints, an interesting museum, a particularly tasty food tour, a short cruise, shopping if needed, and simply enjoy its pace. For me, it is a perfect city for a short couple vacation, also in winter, also during pregnancy, and especially for anyone looking for a pleasant European destination with lots of character and good flavors.

Hope this post helped you! If so, I’d love for you to leave a comment – and if you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments or message me on the blog’s social media: Facebook or Instagram.

Pin below to save on Pinterest

Amazing Car Rental deals 🚗