Diagram by Greece Trips. Free to reuse with credit - CC BY 4.0.
It is also the nearest town to Thermopylae, which is why anyone with an interest in the battle ends up here.
The town
Lamia is built around three linked squares, which is unusual and gives the centre its character: Parkou, Laou and Eleftherias, each with a different function and all busy in the evening.
Above them stands the castle, occupied since antiquity and rebuilt by Catalans, Franks and Ottomans in turn. It holds the archaeological museum in a nineteenth-century barracks inside the walls, and the view runs across the plain to the mountains.
Thermopylae
About twenty minutes east is the pass where a small Greek force under Leonidas held the Persian army in 480 BC before being outflanked.
Be prepared for the geography rather than the monument. The coastline has moved: silt from the Spercheios river has pushed the sea several kilometres away, so the narrow pass between mountain and water is now a broad plain with a motorway across it. Standing there requires imagination.
What is present: the modern monument to Leonidas beside the road, the hill of Kolonos where the last stand is thought to have happened, with its inscribed epitaph, and a modern information centre with a film.
The hot springs that give the pass its name still run, sulphurous and very warm, into open pools by the road that anyone can use.
Around it
- Mount Oiti national park above the town, with walking and the site where Heracles is said to have died.
- Karpenisi and the Evrytania mountains, about two hours west.
- Delphi, about an hour and a half south-west.
Getting there and how long
On the Athens to Thessaloniki motorway and rail line, about two and a half hours from Athens.
One night, usually as a break in a longer journey.
Last checked August 2026. Site and museum hours change - see our editorial policy.
Common questions
Is Lamia near Thermopylae?
Yes, about twenty minutes west of the pass, which makes it the usual base for visiting.
Why does Thermopylae not look like a narrow pass?
Silt from the Spercheios river has pushed the coastline several kilometres out since 480 BC, so what was a narrow gap between mountain and sea is now a broad plain.
What is there to see at Thermopylae?
The Leonidas monument, the hill of Kolonos with its epitaph, an information centre with a film, and the hot springs that give the pass its name.
Can you bathe in the Thermopylae springs?
The sulphurous hot water runs into open pools beside the road and people use them freely.
What is in Lamia itself?
Three linked central squares, a castle occupied since antiquity, and the archaeological museum inside its walls.