Things to do in Thessaloniki, Greece

Thessaloniki has a special place in my heart. It is the city I’ve lived in for four months during my Erasmus student exchange.

When they told me at my university that all the spots for Spain are taken, I had 5min to decide where I will go to study abroad. The woman who worked there asked me “Did you consider Greece?”. The answer was no. I didn’t really think of any other country because I didn’t think that the spots could be taken. Now I had 5min to google Thessaloniki. I made the decision to go there as soon as I saw that it’s a big city on the sea side. So now I had to call my family and tell them that what I had planed for a few years was not happening and that I am going to Greece. Since then I had many people ask me why Greece? The last time someone went there from my university was about ten years ago. With that being said, I didn’t have anyone to ask for information. Plus I didn’t know any Croatian people who were going there either!

Today I can only say that Thessaloniki is the best decision I could have ever done! The people I met there are now family and the things we did and the memories we collected will forever stay in our hearts! I decided that I would like to share some of my favorite sunset spots, tavernas, what to see and what to do for people who would like to visit this amazing place.

Sunset Spots of Thessaloniki 

Thessaloniki or Thess as we liked to call it, is a city with some of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen! I can’t count the number of sunsets we enjoyed while sitting at the seafront. Those days will forever be carved in my mind! We would sit there for hours drinking beer until it got so cold that we had to go home. I came there in February and since then until June the weather was amazing! Most of the time it was so sunny that you could just be in your T-shirt and a hoodie! Our second spot was Ano-Poli where we almost always went by foot.

Ano-Poli is the old town. It is the highest part of the city with a stunning view of Thessaloniki and the gulf. Sunsests from there looked like the sky was on fire! All you wanted to do is just take picures of every second of it! This is a spot I would recommend to everyone visiting the city! Even though you can take a bus (22&23) to go up the hill, I would recommend walking. That way you can enjoy all the cute little houses and narrow streets. The view that you can see from every corner is worth the walk.

Where to eat?

About every week we would go to this one Taverna called Nostos that we just loved! The food was amazing, the owners were incredible and the atmosphere was great! Every time we would go there we would be a group of at least ten people. That being said, going on the weekends was a bit of a mission impossible. That’s why we would mostly go during the week when there were less people. The owners would always give us something for free! Sometimes it was wine and sometimes desserts! They were always so nice and would drink with us as we yelled our favorite Greek word Coupa (Which means you have to drink the whole glass at once)! In Nostos I would highly recommend eating Buyurdi and Fried Feta!!! 

Another place I really liked was a little square with a few tavernas called Bit Bazaar. This place is so full of energy and so cute! Especially in the night time with all the lights and the design! Looking at pictures and videos from that place makes me want to go back so badly! There you have a few tavernas to choose from and they are all one next to eachother.

Kitchen Bar is a restaurant right on the seafront with an amazing view of the city! Both the food & the design of the restaurant are amazing! It is a nice place even if you just want to grab a drink and gaze at the sea!

And PLEASE wherever you go just eat a GYROS! The first few times I ate it I loved it! But I wasn’t a fan of the fries inside of it. I started ordering without it and I am so glad I did because they give you extra meat! Plus it doesn’t make you as full as when you eat it with fries. I would go back there just to eat a gyros haha!

Coffee time!

Coffee time is Thessaloniki is all the time, I have never seen people with more passion for coffee then there! The cafe shops are always full of people! The most common drink is the Greek frappe, a frothy iced coffee called freddo cappuccino or freddo espresso! I loved this coffee although you have to be careful with the amount of sugar you order. Keep in mind that medium is very sweet! But Greeks don’t like just their coffees to be sweet, they like everything sweet!

Dessert time!

Some of the desserts that you must try while visiting are the bougatsa, trigona and profiteroles! The best bougatsa (Thessaloniki’s favorite breakfast) that was recommended to me is the Bougatsa Giannis and I stand by it! It works until pretty late and trust me it’s hard to say no to yourself if you’re near it! The next one is Trigona from Panorama. You can find it uphill in the northern suburb of Thessaloniki. It is a place where Thessalonians go especially on Sundays. Since it has been working for over fifty years and is a place where locals go, you know it is the place to be! When I got the recommendation to go there of course I couldn’t pass it! The pretty long bus ride uphill this really was worth it! The cream inside the crisp sheet is just amazing!! Writing this really makes me want to get one!

The last one on my list is the Profiteroles from Choureál. These chocolate filled bowls with toppings are the best dessert eveer!! So what you do is come into a small cute shop, you choose between a few different kinds of perfectly melted chocolate and then you can choose whatever toppings you want to put on it (I put strawberries!). I wish I could explain the deliciousness of it but it is impossible!! Ok, enough with the food, this is making me really hungry. 

Where to go out?

Ladadika is one of the most popular areas in the city of Thessaloniki. In fact the locals call it “the heart of entertainment”. This area is next to the port of the city, in the historic center. There you can find many restaurants, cafés and bars open till dawn. It is one of the liveliest parts of the city with people of all ages. 

Since I am a student, living in Thessaloniki was mostly on a budget. With trying not to spend too much money on paying for the entrances, we mostly went to bars where there was no entrance fee. Since I was on erasmus our go to club was 8Ball. Where every Wednesday you could find the erasmus party. If we weren’t there you could find us in the small bar called Fast Drink which is exactly what you do there, you drink fast! And then you end up going who knows where after it (It’s always in a blur).

Thessaloniki is full of bars and places to go out, so finding a great place is really not hard! It is a city full of young people who party every day of the week. You couldn’t imagine how many people enter the bus in the middle of the night to go home from a party! You are literaly cramped inside and it feels like its the middle of the day sometimes! If you are looking for a place to visit where you can discover historical places during the day but still party in the night, this is the place to be! 

How to move around Thessaloniki?

Thessaloniki is a city that is spread next to the cost. Because of that there is one very long street called Ignatia which goes from one side of the city all the way to the other. There you can find buses that come pretty often but are also pretty crowded! My advice is using buses if you are going somewhere more further away but walking if it is closer. The bus costs around 0.50 euro which is not expensive. But if you are visiting Thess in the summer, walking will be a breath of fresh air instead of the bus! The second most popular way of transport is the taxi. I only used it during night time to go home when the busses weren’t driving.

Lime zone

One more way of transport is the Lime electric scooters which you can mostly find on the sea side. You have to download their app and enter your credit card info. They will charge you for the number of minutes you drive it. This is a fun thing to do if you want to explore the coast without too much walking (the promenade is pretty long). Plus you can always have fun and race your friends. Just be careful that there are no crowds and that you are in the lime driving zone! Locals told me that the metro that they are building in Thessaloniki has been in construction since the 70s so I don’t think it will open very soon lol.

Busses

If you are arriving to the city by plane you can take the bus right in front of the airport. It will cost 2 euros and it will take around 45min to get to the city. They are running every 30min. The other option is a taxi but it will me a much more expensive way. I personally used the app called Moovit to find which bus is going where and when. It helped me a lot so I highly recommend downloading it!

Cultural heritage

Evidence of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman history remains can be found throughout the city, especially around Ano Poli, the upper town. The city is full of cultural heritage and there are a lot of things to visit when it comes to museums and churches!

The ruins of Roman Emperor Galerius’ 4th-century palace include the Rotunda that has been both a church and a mosque and is situated in the city center. But a lot of the city center didn’t survive the Great Fire in 1917. My favorite church in Thessaloniki is the Hagia Sophia. It is the largest and the most famous Byzantine church in Thessaloniki. A lot of the churches in the city have been partially destroyed while they were converted to mosques. Because of that a lot of the frescoes have been ruined with hammers. The occupants put plaster on the walls of the churches to cover all the religious signs. Archeological and Byzantine museums are definitely worth a visit if you want to find out more about the city’s history.

The White Tower is a monument that you can’t miss in the city! It is situated on the sea side and is the symbol of the city. It had many purposes during history and one of them was a prison! Today you can enter the tower and look at the amazing view from the top! Tip – if you are a student you have to show your student card and they will let you in for free! In the city you can also find The Roman Agora ruins which have been dug up by accident in 1960s!

I hope you liked my blog post about this amazing city! If you want to keep up with all the new blog posts, subscribe to my mailing list and be sure not to miss any! Make sure to live, love, laugh, travel, explore and see you in the next blog post!

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