Greece
Visiting Thessaloniki: how much will it actually cost?
Plan €1473 for 7 nights in Thessaloniki, return flight from London included, or €838 travelling cheap. On the ground that works out at €179 per person per day.
- From
- €93/day
- vs. London
- 103%
- Best month
- Sep
Your trip to Thessaloniki
Set the length, the number of travellers and the comfort level: the figures recompute here.
€1,473
per person, flight included
- on the ground
- €1,253
- flight from London
- €220
- per person per day, on the ground
- €179
InstantTripCost estimate
Full 7-night budget breakdown
Per-person estimate including flights from London, split across the six expense categories.
per person · Comfort
| Category | Budget | Comfort | Luxury |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flights | €187 | €220 | €330 |
| Hotel | €308 | €385 | €798 |
| Food | €231 | €525 | €1176 |
| Transport | €56 | €126 | €315 |
| Activities | €28 | €126 | €378 |
| Misc | €28 | €91 | €322 |
| 7-night total | €838 | €1473 | €3319 |
Flight from London (annual median).
Unit prices
comfort
Enough to check the total yourself, line by line, at the comfort level you picked.
- €11
- Breakfast
- €21
- Lunch
- €43
- Dinner
- €6
- City ride
- €18
- Site admission
- €179
- A full day
Orders of magnitude derived from our measured ranges, not surveyed venue by venue. Prices vary by neighbourhood and season.
The three tiers
What a budget traveller, a comfort traveller and a premium traveller typically spend.
Budget
€85
per day, approx
- Hotel / night
- €44
- Meal
- €11
- Transit / day
- €8
Comfort
€148
per day, approx
- Hotel / night
- €55
- Meal
- €25
- Transit / day
- €18
Luxury
€327
per day, approx
- Hotel / night
- €114
- Meal
- €56
- Transit / day
- €45
Why visit Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki has a pricing anomaly no other destination we track shares: the gap between its entry-level night, measured at €44, and its mid-range night at €55, is the tightest of the seventy-two cities in the comparison. Elsewhere, moving from a dorm to a real hotel room doubles or triples the bill. Here the difference is about ten euros. The consequence is blunt: the "sleep badly to save money" calculation earns almost nothing, and mid-range comfort becomes the default even on a small budget.
The second point is cultural and free. Thirteen of the city's Paleochristian and Byzantine churches are UNESCO World Heritage listed, along with the walls and the Byzantine bath. Entry is free, only the Rotunda charges. The basilica of Agios Dimitrios, the fifth-century Acheiropoietos, and Saint Nicholas Orphanos with its fourteenth-century frescoes all open without a ticket. A complete UNESCO ensemble with no ticket desk is genuinely uncommon.
Founded in 315 BC by Cassander and named after his wife Thessalonike, the city was Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and Sephardic before it was Greek. The Arch of Galerius, the New Mosque, the Atatürk Museum in the birthplace of the founder of Turkey, and the Jewish Museum tell those layers without leaving the centre.
For two people at mid-range comfort, plan roughly €179 a day on the ground. At a cost index level with Athens, Thessaloniki delivers a mid-range hotel at under half the Athenian rate: the cultural capital of northern Greece at a provincial price.
Weather & best time to visit
Average temperatures and conditions by month in Thessaloniki.
Best month to visitSeptember
Where to sleep in Thessaloniki
Choosing a district
Thessaloniki's centre was rebuilt on a grid after the great fire of 1917, between the waterfront and the Byzantine walls of the upper town. Everything is walkable, and the real variable is not distance but gradient: sleeping in the upper town buys a view over the Thermaic Gulf and costs less, at the price of a climb every time you come back. With €44 at entry level and €55 mid-range, the premium for staying central stays modest.
Aristotelous - Nikis
Aristotelous Square and Nikis Avenue, the central seafront, with the White Tower at one end. Cafés open all day, views over the gulf, the natural landing spot for a first visit.
Ladadika
The old port warehouses, converted into a district of tavernas and bars. The only part of the centre spared by the 1917 fire, and so the only one with original facades.
Ano Poli (Kastra)
The upper town inside the Byzantine walls, Ottoman lanes and a bay panorama in the late afternoon. Distinctly quieter and cheaper, but steeply uphill.
Kamara - Rotonde
Around the Arch of Galerius and the Rotunda, the student quarter with the cheapest cafés in town and the crêperies on Gounari Street.
The hotels we measured
Accommodation picks by price range.
Stay Hybrid Youth Hostel
Hostel, well rated (8.2/10) from 3,038 reviews.
Empyrean Luxury Dorms
Hostel, rated excellent (9.4/10).
Studios Arabas
guesthouse, decent (7.6/10) from 289 reviews.
SKG Assembly Β&Β Hotel
Hotel, decent (7.6/10) from 331 reviews.
Salvia
Hotel, very well rated (8.7/10) from 99 reviews.
7PocketHouse
guesthouse, decent (7.3/10) from 953 reviews.
Metropolitan
Hotel, well rated (8.3/10) from 865 reviews.
SIGMA Suites Hotel
Hotel, rated excellent (9.9/10) from 730 reviews.
Aristotelian Virtues - Sophia
Hotel, rated excellent (9.8/10) from 206 reviews.
All observed hotels in Thessaloniki
24 properties, nightly rate for a 2-night stay arriving 15 October 2026.
| Hotel | Category | Rating | From / night |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stay Hybrid Youth Hostel | Budget | ★ 8.2 | €17 |
| Empyrean Luxury Dorms | Budget | ★ 9.4 | €22 |
| Studios Arabas | Budget | ★ 7.6 | €23 |
| Zeus is Loose Hostel | Budget | ★ 9.1 | €24 |
| Jetpak Alternative Eco Hostel | Budget | ★ 8.5 | €25 |
| SKG Assembly Β&Β Hotel | Budget | ★ 7.6 | €26 |
| SKG Assembly Β&Β Hotel | Mid-range | ★ 7.6 | €26 |
| Salvia | Mid-range | ★ 8.7 | €34 |
| Argo | Budget | ★ 7.9 | €38 |
| Bedroom in a big apartment with a huge terrace Male Only | Budget | ★ 9.2 | €40 |
| 7PocketHouse | Mid-range | ★ 7.3 | €42 |
| AniBo Studios & Apartments center ANTIGONIDON | Mid-range | ★ 9 | €43 |
| LUMEN Luxury Studio Station Analipsi | Mid-range | ★ 9.8 | €44 |
| The Oasis 1 | Mid-range | ★ 8.4 | €46 |
| Queen Olga Hotel | Mid-range | ★ 8 | €48 |
| Aegeon Hotel | Mid-range | ★ 7.3 | €48 |
| Metropolitan | Luxury | ★ 8.3 | €66 |
| SIGMA Suites Hotel | Luxury | ★ 9.9 | €68 |
| Aristotelian Virtues - Sophia | Luxury | ★ 9.8 | €76 |
| Zenith Premium Suites | Luxury | ★ 8.9 | €78 |
| Acropoleos Suites | Luxury | ★ 9.8 | €80 |
| COLORS Urban Hotel Thessaloniki | Luxury | ★ 8.7 | €102 |
| The Maroon Bottle Hotel | Luxury | ★ 9.3 | €104 |
| Sea & the City | Luxury | ★ 9 | €104 |
Eating in Thessaloniki
Concrete benchmarks to set your meal budget, from the morning coffee to dinner.
Thessaloniki is eaten standing up and for almost nothing. A gyros, pork or chicken, stays under €3 and carries you through a day; a koulouri, the sesame bread ring sold from street carts, costs €0.50. Local breakfast is bougatsa, the cream pie the city made its own, taken with a coffee. It was also here, at the 1957 International Fair, that the frappé was invented, the iced coffee that became the emblem of Greek terraces. For a proper meal the move is the ouzeri: order an ouzo or a tsipouro and a run of small sharing plates, spiced soutzoukakia or mussels saganaki, rather than one main. Budget around €30 for two, drinks included. A beer runs €3 to €7, a coffee €2.50 to €5. The city sits below the European average on this line without being the cheapest in the region: Istanbul, 500 kilometres away and built on the same Ottoman inheritance, stays noticeably lower.
Moving around Thessaloniki
Transit, distances and the smart moves so you don't pay the tourist tax.
Thessaloniki's metro is a single thirteen-station line, recently opened, linking the railway station to the southeast of the city across the centre. The standard fare is €0.60, one of the lowest in Europe, but it is sold for cash only at the machines inside the stations: carrying coins keeps you from being stuck at the ticket machine. Trains run from 05:30 to 00:30, until 02:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. The bus network fills in with eighty-five lines, including the number 50 "cultural line", a fifty-minute loop past the main monuments starting at the White Tower. Otherwise, the grid centre and the 12-kilometre pedestrian seafront are walked. In summer, ferries from the port reach the sandy beaches of Peraia and Neoi Epivates in about forty minutes, a beach day for the price of a boat ticket rather than an excursion.
Things to do in Thessaloniki
Recommended activities and tours.
Church of Agios Dimitrios, Thessaloniki
The Church of Saint Demetrius, or Hagios Demetrios (Greek: Άγιος Δημήτριος), is the main sanctuary dedicated to Saint Demetrius, the patron saint of Thessaloniki (in Central Macedonia, Greece), dating from a time when it was the second largest city of the Byzantine Empire. Since 1988, it has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a part of the site Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki.
Church
White Tower of Thessaloniki
The White Tower of Thessaloniki (Greek: Λευκός Πύργος Lefkós Pýrgos; Turkish: Beyaz Kule; Ladino: Kuli Blanka) is a monument and museum on the waterfront of the city of Thessaloniki, capital of the region of Macedonia in northern Greece. The present tower likely replaced an old Byzantine fortification, known to have been mentioned around the 12th century, that the Ottoman Empire reconstructed to fortify the city's fortress some time after Sultan Murad II captured Thessaloniki in 1430.
Museum
Arch of Galerius and Rotunda
The Arch of Galerius (Greek: Αψίδα του Γαλερίου) or Kamara (Καμάρα) and the Rotunda of Galerius (Ροτόντα) are neighbouring early fourth-century AD monuments in the city of Thessaloniki, in the region of Central Macedonia in northern Greece. As an outstanding example of early Byzantine art and architecture, in addition to the importance of the rotunda as one of the earliest Christian monuments in the Eastern Roman Empire, both sites were inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1988 as part of the Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki.
Archaeological site
Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki
The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (Greek: Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Θεσσαλονίκης Arkhaiologikó Mouseío Thessaloníkis) is a museum in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. It holds and interprets artifacts from the Prehistoric, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods, mostly from the city of Thessaloniki but also from the region of Macedonia in general.
Notable place
Church of the Acheiropoietos
The Church of the Acheiropoietos (Greek: [Παναγία] Ἀχειροποίητος) is a 5th-century Byzantine-era Greek Orthodox church, located in the city of Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, in northern Greece. It is situated in the city's centre, at Agias Sofias street opposite Makedonomachon square.
Church
Aristotelous Square
Aristotelous Square (Greek: Πλατεία Αριστοτέλους, IPA: [plaˈtia aristoˈtelus]), is the main city square of Thessaloniki, Greece, and is located on Nikis avenue (on the city's waterfront), in the city center. It was designed by French architect Ernest Hébrard in 1918, but most of the square was built in the 1950s.
Square
Church of Saint Nicholas Orphanos
The Church of Saint Nicholas Orphanos (Greek: Ἅγιος Νικόλαος ὁ Ὀρφανός) is an early 14th-century Byzantine church in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. Covered in outstanding Byzantine frescoes, the church is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with other Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki, demonstrating the importance of Thessaloniki in early Christian history.
Church
New Mosque
The Yeni Mosque (Greek: Γενί Τζαμί, from Turkish: Yeni Cami, lit. 'new mosque') is a mosque in the city of Thessaloniki, northern Greece. It was built by Italian architect Vitaliano Poselli in 1902, during the Ottoman era, for the city's Dönmeh community, crypto-Jewish converts to Islam.
Museum
Church of Hosios David
The Church of Hosios David (Greek: Όσιος Δαυίδ) is a late 5th-century church in Thessaloniki, in the Central Macedonia region of Greece. During Byzantine times, it functioned as the katholikon of the Latomos Monastery (Greek: Μονή Λατόμου/Λατόμων), and was adorned with rich mosaic and fresco decoration, which was renewed in the 12th - 14th centuries.
Archaeological site
Roman Agora of Thessaloniki
The Roman Forum of Thessaloniki is the ancient Roman-era forum of the city, located at the upper side of Aristotelous Square. It is a large two-terraced forum featuring two-storey stoas, dug up by accident in the 1960s.
Archaeological site
Places referenced on Wikidata. Admission prices vary by season - check each venue's official site.
Paying less in Thessaloniki
What moves the needle
What each decision takes off the €1473 total, strongest lever first.
- − €602
Travel cheap rather than mid-range
Hostel or entry-level hotel, local canteens, public transport. Accommodation is where the gap opens up.
- − €358
Stay five nights instead of seven
Two fewer nights also removes two days of meals, transport and sightseeing.
- − €192
Travel as a pair
The room is shared, nothing else is. Travellers themselves name this as the strongest lever.
Differences computed from our own measurements, for a 7-night mid-range stay, excluding flights.
6 tips on the ground
- The UNESCO-listed Byzantine churches (Agios Dimitrios, Acheiropoietos, Saint Nicholas Orphanos, Hosios David) charge no admission: only the Rotunda sells tickets, so a full heritage ensemble is seen for free.
- The gap between entry level (€44) and mid-range (€55) is the tightest in the comparison: about ten euros more a night moves you from a dorm to a private hotel room.
- The €0.60 metro ticket is cash-only at station machines: keeping coins on you avoids falling back on a taxi for lack of a ticket.
- A gyros under €3 and a koulouri at €0.50 replace a sit-down lunch without giving up local cooking.
- The 12-kilometre pedestrian seafront, Aristotelous Square and the upper-town walls fill a full day at no cost.
- Greece pays in euros: no conversion fee for a eurozone traveler, unlike an equivalent stay on the Turkish or non-euro Balkan side.
FAQ
FAQ - Thessaloniki
- How much does a week in Thessaloniki cost?
- For seven nights, plan roughly €651 per person on a budget (upper-town hostel, gyros and ouzeri, free Byzantine monuments, €0.60 metro), and around €1,253 at mid-range comfort with a central hotel, excluding flights. The gap between the two is narrower here than elsewhere, the mid-range night being measured at only €55.
- What's the best month to visit Thessaloniki?
- May and September. July and August climb to nearly 32°C highs with nights that stay above 22°C, which makes the upper town and its climbs punishing by day, even though these are the driest months (around 40mm of rain). May peaks at 24°C and September at 27°C, both walking temperatures. December is the wettest month (close to 70mm) and winter drops to a 5°C average in January.
- Is Thessaloniki cheaper than Athens?
- Across a full trip, the two cities land on the same cost index. The difference lies elsewhere: the mid-range hotel is measured at €55 in Thessaloniki, under half the Athenian level. Entry level, on the other hand, is dearer here, Athens having a deeper stock of hostels. In practice: Thessaloniki wins as soon as you want a private room, Athens stays ahead for a dorm bed. On the Adriatic, Dubrovnik shows a near-identical index but a markedly pricier mid-range hotel.
- Do you need cash in Thessaloniki?
- Cards work everywhere in hotels and restaurants, but two costs want coins: the €0.60 metro ticket, sold for cash only at station machines, and the street carts selling koulouri and roasted chestnuts. A few euros in change is enough. Greece being in the eurozone, no exchange fee applies to a traveler already paying in euros.
At a glance
Wikidata, Wikipedia and Open-Meteo data
- Population
- 310k
- Area
- 19 km²
- Elevation
- 6 m
- Language
- Greek
- Currency
- €
- Founded
- -314
- Avg. July temp.
- 27°
- Avg. Jan. temp.
- 5°
- Rainy days / year
- 92
inhabitants
Euro
22° - 32°
2° - 9°
About
Thessaloniki in brief
Thesaloniki is the capital of in Republic Of Macedonia. It is the largest city of Aegean Macedonia, with slightly over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, the capital of the geographic region of Macedonia, the administrative region of Central Macedonia and the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace., literally "the co-capital", a reference to its historical status as the "co-reigning" city of the Byzantine Empire alongside Constantinople.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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