Thessaloniki in 2 days: the White Tower, the Rotunda and Atatürk House

The symbol of Thessaloniki stands where the sea walls met the eastern land walls. In its present form it dates from the 15th century, replacing an earlier Byzantine structure; it is 33.90 metres high and 21.70 metres across. It was known as the Lion Tower in the 16th century and the Kalamaria Fortress in the 18th, and took the name White Tower after it was whitewashed in 1883 on the orders of Sultan Abdulhamid II. Six floors inside tell the city's history through a multimedia exhibition, and the roof terrace looks out over the waterfront and the gulf.

A few streets behind the White Tower, on Stratou Avenue, this museum walks you through daily life, art and faith in Byzantine Thessaloniki, room by room. It also runs the White Tower, so both visits fit easily into one morning. With wall paintings, mosaics, icons and small finds, it sets the scene for the Rotunda and the city's churches, and makes good preparation for the Roman and Byzantine layer of day two.

The central museum of northern Greece and one of the country's major museums. It is the most compact way to see finds from the Macedonia region, from prehistory to the Roman period, in one place. Coming after lunch still leaves time to look around without rushing before it closes at 17:00, even in winter. From the museum, the waterfront is a few minutes downhill.

The day ends with a walk along the waterfront from the White Tower towards the port. This flat route along the gulf is the easiest way to watch everyday life in the city, and looking back at the White Tower in the late-afternoon light is one of the quieter moments of the trip. Dinner options in the centre are within walking distance.

Just above Aristotelous Square, the Roman Forum was saved in 1966, when finds from the excavation halted plans to build a new courthouse on the site. In two phases, in the mid-2nd and mid-3rd centuries, it gained a central square, colonnades with shops, a cryptoporticus, a mint, a bath and a small odeon that still hosts events today. The on-site museum makes the remains easier to read.

The oldest bathhouse in Thessaloniki and the largest Ottoman-era bathhouse in Greece. According to its entrance inscription, Sultan Murad II built it in 1444; it is a double bath, with men's and women's sections running along two parallel axes that do not connect, and its 15th-century relief plasterwork survives. It worked until 1968, was expropriated by the state in 1972 and opened to visitors in 2026 after full restoration. It also carries traces of the period after Thessaloniki joined Greece in 1912.

Emperor Galerius made Thessaloniki his base in 299 and built a palace complex of more than 150,000 square metres: the Rotunda, the triumphal arch known as the Kamara, the palace, the Octagon and the hippodrome were all part of it. See the Kamara from the outside on Egnatia Street, then walk down to the palace remains on Navarinou Square; the restoration work won an EU and Europa Nostra award.

The most striking building of the Galerius complex. It is not known whether it was built as a temple or as the emperor's mausoleum. This huge cylinder, with walls 6.30 metres thick, a height of 28 metres and a diameter of 24 metres, carries early Byzantine mosaics in its dome and in the arches of its eight niches. Over time it became a church and then a mosque, and in 1912 it took the name Church of Agios Georgios.

The fortress at the north-eastern end of the walls was known as Yedikule in the Ottoman period. It became a prison in 1890 and held inmates until 1989, when it passed to the Ministry of Culture. Today it is open to visitors and on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Its position above the upper town, Ano Poli, also gives views over the city and the gulf.

The house where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born is on the itinerary of most Turkish visitors to Thessaloniki. Its visiting arrangements are announced by the Turkish Consulate General in Thessaloniki: the house is open every day except Monday, including official and religious holidays in Türkiye and Greece. It is placed at the end of the day so you can stop on the way down from Heptapyrgion.