Where to stay in Thessaloniki

Stay in the lower town and walk

Thessaloniki is a compact city with a long waterfront and a hill behind it, and the good news for visitors is that almost everything you came for sits in a walkable strip between the sea and the upper town.

Stay anywhere in that strip and you can walk to the Roman monuments, the Byzantine churches, the markets, the waterfront and the eating. The one deliberate exception is Ano Poli, the upper town, which is up a serious hill and is a different kind of stay.

This page names areas, not hotels. We have not stayed in Thessaloniki’s hotels and will not rank them.

The areas at a glance

Ladadika and the centre

Area	Best for	Feel	Night noise	Costs
Ladadika	Eating and going out	Restored warehouses, lively	High	Mid
The waterfront	Views, walking, the White Tower	Open, breezy, central	Moderate	Mid-high
Around Aristotelous	First visits, everything central	The city’s main square	Moderate	Mid
Ano Poli	Views, quiet, Byzantine walls	Old timber houses, steep	Low	Mid
Near the station	Trains, value	Functional	Moderate	Low-mid

Ladadika is the restored warehouse district near the port - once the oil merchants’ quarter, now the densest concentration of restaurants and bars in the city. Staying here means you walk to dinner and walk home, and it means noise on the nights the city is out, which is most of them.

Around Aristotelous, the grand square that opens onto the sea, is the central choice: everything within a few minutes, the market streets behind, and the waterfront in front. For a first visit this is the easy answer.

The waterfront itself, running east toward the White Tower and beyond, is the pleasant one - the promenade is where the whole city goes in the evening, and it is one of the best urban walks in Greece.

Ano Poli, the upper town

Above the modern city, inside the Byzantine walls, is the part that survived the great fire of 1917: narrow lanes, timber-framed Ottoman-era houses, small Byzantine churches, and views straight down over the bay to Mount Olympus on a clear day.

Staying here is quieter and more atmospheric, and it is up a genuinely steep hill. You will walk down into the city easily and take a taxi or a bus back up, or accept the climb. It suits second visits and people who prioritise character over convenience.

What you are actually here for

Worth stating, because it changes where you want to be: Thessaloniki is the best eating city in Greece, by a wide margin. The food culture arrived with refugees from Asia Minor in the 1920s and never left, and it shows in the markets, the mezedopoleia and the bakeries.

The city also wears its history in the open - the Rotunda and the Arch of Galerius are Roman, standing in ordinary streets; Agios Dimitrios and a string of other churches are Byzantine and UNESCO-listed; the walls above are medieval.

None of that requires a car, and none of it is far apart.

Getting there and around

The city is walkable, and a metro finally opened after a very long construction period made longer by the archaeology found underneath it.

From Athens, the train is the sensible option and beats flying door to door more often than the timetable suggests - see Athens to Thessaloniki.

Thessaloniki is also the gateway to Halkidiki, Mount Olympus and the north, which is a different Greece from the islands most itineraries stick to.

How the areas map onto trips

• First visit, everything central: around Aristotelous.
• Eating and nightlife on the doorstep: Ladadika.
• Views and evening walks: the waterfront.
• Quiet, atmospheric, second visit: Ano Poli.
• Value and train connections: near the station.

Diagram by Greece Trips. Free to reuse with credit - CC BY 4.0.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the best area to stay in Thessaloniki?

Around Aristotelous square or the waterfront for a first visit - central, walkable and near everything. Ladadika if you want restaurants and bars on the doorstep, and Ano Poli for quiet and views if you do not mind the hill.

Is Thessaloniki walkable?

Very. The Roman and Byzantine monuments, the markets, the waterfront and the eating all sit in a compact strip between the sea and the upper town. Only Ano Poli involves a real climb.

Is Ladadika noisy at night?

Yes, in the way a restaurant and bar district is. That is the reason to stay there and the reason not to.

Is Thessaloniki worth visiting?

It is Greece’s second city and its best eating city, with Roman and Byzantine monuments standing in ordinary streets and a waterfront the whole city walks in the evening. It is also the gateway to Halkidiki and the north.

How do I get from Athens to Thessaloniki?

The train takes a little under five hours city centre to city centre and usually beats flying once airport time is counted. See Athens to Thessaloniki.

Do I need a car in Thessaloniki?

No. The city is walkable and has a metro. A car is only worth it for trips out to Halkidiki or Mount Olympus.

Next

Read the Thessaloniki travel guide and things to do in Thessaloniki, or weigh the two cities in Athens vs Thessaloniki.