One Day in Thessaloniki

One day in Thessaloniki means choosing. The city holds seventeen centuries of monuments in a few square kilometres, and they do not fit into eight hours.

The good news is that most of them sit on one line: from the centre down to the sea, with a climb in the middle. The route below is about four kilometres and is walked end to end. You will not need a car, and you would not want one.

Morning: the heart of the centre

Start with bougatsa. This is not a tourist line: it is what the city has for breakfast, eaten standing up and cut with scissors.

From there, Aristotelous Square is the natural starting point — the axis Ernest Hébrard opened after the fire of 1917 so the city would face the water. Walk north and ten minutes later you are at the Roman Forum, and immediately after at the Church of Saint Demetrios.

Saint Demetrios earns whatever time you give it. It is the largest church in the city, a UNESCO monument, and underneath it lies the crypt with the Roman baths where tradition places the saint's martyrdom. Entry to both is free.

Midday: the markets

Head down to the covered markets, Modiano and Kapani. They are the belly of the city and the easiest lunch you will eat here: meze at the counter, tsipouro if the day allows it, no reservation and no menu in four languages.

If you want something faster, a koulouri is sold on every corner and costs about as much as a bus ticket.

Afternoon: the Roman city and the sea

East of the centre stands the fourth-century Roman complex: the Arch of Galerius, which everyone calls Kamara, and a hundred metres above it the Rotunda — the oldest building in the city still standing, and in turn a Roman mausoleum, a church, a mosque and a church again.

From Kamara you walk straight down to the sea and the White Tower. Finish along the waterfront towards Zongolopoulos's "Umbrellas". In summer you reach them around sunset, which is why locals make this walk at all.

What you are leaving out

In one day you will not manage the Upper Town, and you will not manage a museum. That is not a failure of the plan; it is its arithmetic.

If you must add one of the two, choose the Upper Town and give up the markets: the Byzantine walls and the view from up there are not something you will find elsewhere, whereas meze you can eat in another city. The Archaeological Museum and the Museum of Byzantine Culture stand side by side near the White Tower and will wait for next time.

Practical

• Distance: roughly 4 km in total, with one climb on the stretch up to Saint Demetrios.
• Museums and archaeological sites have a weekly closing day and seasonal hours that change. Check on the day you go; we do not publish times that are not true all year.
• Metro: arriving by train, the New Railway Station stop puts you on the line; for the centre get off at Venizelou or Agia Sofia.
• Luggage: if you are passing through for the day, leave it at the station first. The route has steps and a hill.

If you have one more day

Then you do not have to give anything up: see the two-day plan, which puts the Upper Town and a museum on the second day.