Fortification · Byzantine (4th–15th c.)

Byzantine Walls of Thessaloniki

Mis à jour 2026Vérifié à piedRinging the upper town and the eastern edge of the centre

Long stretches of the city's late-Roman and Byzantine fortifications still stand, climbing the hillside around Ano Poli and offering some of the finest views in Thessaloniki. The walls are among the UNESCO-listed Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki.

Byzantine stone walls and tower above Thessaloniki — Byzantine Walls of Thessaloniki · Byzantine (4th–15th c.)

Période

Byzantine (4th–15th c.)

Emplacement

Ano Poli, 15–20 min uphill from the centre

Entrée

Free (open site)

Horaires

Always open

Temps Nécessaire

1 hour combined with an Ano Poli walk

Note

4.5★ · 43 avis

Horaires et prix vérifiés pour la dernière fois en 2026 — ils changent, alors confirmez le jour même.

Histoire

Comment c'est né

The walls took their surviving form in the late 4th century and were repaired and rebuilt through the Byzantine and Ottoman periods. They once enclosed the entire city in a near-continuous ~8 km circuit of land and sea walls, 10–12 m high; the seaward stretch was pulled down in the 1870s to expand the port, but about 4 km of the land walls survive remarkably intact.

Ce Que Vous Verrez

Lors d'une visite

Walk the upper ramparts past towers and gates, with the whole city, the gulf, and Olympus laid out below — especially around the Trigonion Tower and the Eptapyrgio.

Comment Visiter

Reachable on foot through Ano Poli or by city bus toward the upper town. The hillside paths are steep and uneven in places.

Meilleur Moment

Golden hour, when the walls and the gulf glow

Galerie

S'y Rendre

Emplacement

Ano Poli, 15–20 min uphill from the centre · Ringing the upper town and the eastern edge of the centre

Itinéraire

Ouvrir dans Google Maps

Bon à Savoir

Yes. The walls are an open monument woven through the streets of the upper town, free to walk along at any time.

The stretch around the Trigonion (Chain) Tower at the northeastern corner gives the classic panorama over the rooftops to the sea.

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Sites à Proximité

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Byzantine (14th c.)

Vlatadon Monastery

Founded in the later 14th century by the brothers Dorotheos and Markos Vlatades, disciples of Gregory Palamas, it is the only Byzantine monastery in the city still active — set in gardens high in the upper town with a small church, peacocks, and a commanding view of the gulf.

Late Byzantine (late 13th–early 14th c.)

Byzantine Bath

A rare survivor from around the late 12th–13th century — the only Byzantine bath left in Thessaloniki, and the largest and most complete in Greece — a small brick-and-stone building in Ano Poli that stayed in use as a public bath until 1940, some seven centuries. Restored and reopened as a museum in 2015, it is one of the city's UNESCO-listed Byzantine monuments.

Byzantine (early 14th c.)

Church of Agios Nikolaos Orfanos

A small church of around 1310–1320 in the upper town whose interior is covered, almost wall to wall, with exceptionally well-preserved Palaiologan frescoes — spared because, unusually among the city's Byzantine churches, it was never turned into a mosque under Ottoman rule, so its walls were never plastered over.