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The thermal springs at Loutra in the Xanthi hills, a lone figure on the rock above

Xanthi: a hillside of mansions the tobacco trade paid for

A Thracian town whose old quarter is a hillside of colourful nineteenth-century merchants’ mansions, built when tobacco made it rich, above a genuinely mixed modern city.

An at a glance card for Xanthi. The old town: Merchants' painted mansions. Who built them: Tobacco money. In the same streets: Churches and mosques. Before Lent: The north’s largest carnival. West of it: The Nestos gorge. One row is marked out as the thing that decides the visit. The conclusion reads: A hillside the tobacco trade paid for. No prices appear.
A hillside the tobacco trade paid for.

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

They were built on tobacco. Xanthi’s leaf was among the most valuable in the Ottoman empire and then in Greece, and the money went into these houses.

The old town

Steep cobbled lanes, mansions in ochre, blue and deep red, and a mix of buildings that tells the region’s history plainly: Orthodox churches and mosques within a few streets of each other, because Thrace keeps a substantial Muslim minority and Xanthi is a genuinely mixed city.

Some mansions are museums now, including the folklore museum in two adjoining houses, and the old tobacco warehouses in the lower town are large industrial buildings being slowly repurposed.

The city, and the carnival

Below the old town is an ordinary working city with a university and a large central square. Its carnival is the biggest in northern Greece, running for weeks before Lent and ending with a parade and the burning of an effigy.

Around it

  • The Nestos river and its gorge west, with a walking and cycling route along an old railway line.
  • The Pomak villages in the mountains north, a distinct community with its own language.
  • Abdera, the ancient city on the coast south, birthplace of Democritus.
  • Kavala is about 50 minutes west; Drama is north-west.

Getting there and how long

By road from Thessaloniki in about two and a half hours on the Egnatia motorway, or via Kavala airport, about an hour away.

One night, and it works as a stop on a Thrace route rather than a destination on its own.

Last checked August 2026. Museum hours change - see our editorial policy.

Common questions

What is Xanthi known for?

Its old town of colourful nineteenth-century tobacco merchants’ mansions, its mixed Christian and Muslim population, and the largest carnival in northern Greece.

Why is Xanthi’s old town so grand?

Tobacco. The leaf grown around Xanthi was among the most valuable in the region, and the merchants put the money into large town houses.

Is Xanthi worth visiting?

For the old town and as a base for the Nestos gorge, the Pomak villages and ancient Abdera. It is a stop rather than a week.

How far is Xanthi from Thessaloniki?

About two and a half hours by road on the Egnatia motorway. Kavala airport is about an hour away.

What is the Nestos gorge?

The river gorge west of Xanthi, with a walking and cycling route following an old railway line along it.

Next

Read Kavala, Drama, or Thessaloniki.