The White Tower is Thessaloniki's emblem: a round stone tower on the waterfront, 34 metres tall, that has watched over the city's seafront for more than five centuries. Today it is a museum, and its roof is one of the best places to see the city from above.
Getting there
It stands on the seafront promenade, in the centre, so most visitors simply walk there. The bus stop named after it, Lefkos Pyrgos, is about 100 metres away. Driving is the hard option: the nearest public car park, about 150 metres away, has only a few spaces.
The tower
The Ottomans built the present tower in the 15th century, around 1467, probably in place of an older Byzantine fortification, as part of the city's walls. For centuries it was a garrison and a prison, and the scene of mass executions, most famously of the Janissaries who rose up under Sultan Mahmud II. The walls around it were torn down long ago; the tower is what survives of them.
Inside, you climb through six floors to the roof, with its battlements and a view over the whole waterfront and the bay.
Opening hours as we have them: November to March, every day 08:30–15:30; April to October, every day 08:00–21:00. It is usually very busy, and it is not suitable for wheelchairs. There are public toilets about 80 metres away.
Photo: Tilemachos.A, CC BY-SA 4.0
Around it
The promenade runs along the water in both directions, good for a walk before or after your visit. For another view over the sea, the Skyline café-bar is about 500 metres away.
Our take: climb it. Its history is grim, but the view from the roof, over the sea and the city, is the best first introduction Thessaloniki can give you.