We recently visited Thessaloniki with our kids for a few days and came back with plenty to recommend!
Where to stay
Make sure you pick a hotel near the sea, preferrably around Aristotelous Square. This way, you won’t need the car and all major attractions will be steps away. We stayed at COLORS Urban Hotel, which has its own restaurant for breakfast, amazing brunch and great dinner. It’s also located on the shopping district and 2 minutes away from 2 food districts. Just 80 metres from the sea and 100 metres from Aristotelous.
See more accommodation options in Thessaloniki
Where to eat
Definitely the foodie capital of Greece, Thessaloniki offers many budget friendly creative cuisine options. Book ahead, bring color books and enjoy!
Food districts
Ladadika is the famous car free neighborhood steps from the sea, where everybody and their mother come to dine. It’s cozy and quaint and some of the best restaurants in the city are here, as well as one of our family friendly hotels. It’s also 100 meters away from where we stayed.
Where Pavlou Mela str. and Germanou str. cross paths, you’ll find several cozy “Paris style” restaurants. It’s more upscale here than in Ladadika, but they’re all on the street, so not safe for kids to play outside. It’s lovely though, so remember the color books!
Gounari is a long car free road that leads to the sea, with lots of pizza joints, which locals adore. Some may have tables and chairs outside, but most are street food only.
We loved our brunch and dinner at The Garden Bar, the restaurant of our hotel. The food is amazing, there is a car free road right outside AND they have color books!
Outside from the city center, you’ll also find family friendly Ergon Agora for some farm to table experience.
What to do
1. Shopping: probably the easiest city in Greece to navigate yourself among the stores. They’re all close by, most on Tsimiski avenue, where we stayed.
2. Sunsets: take a stroll in the marina. Start an hour before sunset from the Pier (earlier if you want to visit the museums or an exhibit), reach the White Tower right on time for the color candy sky and then the Umbrellas installation just in time to see the sun set behind Mount Olympus.
3. Dine like a local: see more about that in the section above.
4. Take the round tour (not easy with a stroller) from Aristotelous square all the way up to the playground and the Roman Agora, the church of Saint Dimitrios, the Rotonda de Galerio and then head down through the Arc to the White Tower and the sea.
5. Visit Ano Poli (Upper Town), enjoy the view to the city and the sea from the 7 Towers, explore Yendi Coule and stroll back in time (you’ll need to drive there if you’re traveling with little kids). Otherwise, it’s a 2,3 kilometers uphill from the sea to here).
6. Visit the Seih Sou mountain for a stroll.
7. Take the Tiki boat for drinks and views of the city. It’s a half hour boat tour along the marina.
8. Visit the Dinosaur Park (car required).
9. Don’t leave before you try some Trigona Panoramatos, the triangle local dessert, as well as some bougatsa, sweet or savor pastry.
10. Wake up early for a morning run along the marina (8 kilometres). The colors are stunning!
Where to go from here
So many options. If you’re during the summer, you’ll head to Chalkidiki for the amazing sandy beaches. If you’re here any other month, you can head to the mountains. Pelion, Agrafa, Kaimaktsalan, Kastoria and Grevena, Zagori and Tzoumerka are all easy road trips from here. Another great experience is Nestos river, at the east of Thessaloniki.