Private tours in Thessaloniki

What does a private tour in Thessaloniki cost?

Ten tours and one rule: the price is for the vehicle and the driver, per group, and the tickets are paid at the gates; six days print no price, the Jewish heritage day, which runs by request with a licensed guide and is quoted with the guide, and the Pozar thermal baths and Edessa waterfalls day, the Vergina and Veria day, the Philippi and Kavala day, the Kassandra day to the Petralona cave and the beaches and the Sithonia day to Karydi beach, old Nikiti and the Porto Carras estate, all five run by request and quoted by the office for the party and the date. The 4-hour city tour follows the standard 4-hour rate: 300 EUR for up to three guests in a sedan and 400 EUR for four to seven in a minivan, which is 100 EUR a head for four. The two 8-hour days print a from-price each, 700 EUR for Pella and Vergina and 700 EUR for Dion and Mount Olympus, and the 11-hour Meteora day takes the same table from 700 EUR; the office confirms the figure for your party by email before anything is paid. The tickets are the Ministry’s, read on its portal with the date: 8 EUR (checked 14 Oct 2026, hh.gr) at the White Tower, 10 EUR (checked 14 Oct 2026, hh.gr) at the Rotunda, 10 EUR (checked 14 Oct 2026, hh.gr) at the Heptapyrgion, 10 EUR (checked 14 Oct 2026, hh.gr) at the site of Pella with the same figure again on its museum’s own page, 20 EUR (checked 14 Oct 2026, hh.gr) at the Polycentric Museum of Aigai on either Vergina day, 10 EUR (checked 14 Oct 2026, hh.gr) at the park of Dion with the museum’s own line beside it, and 10 EUR (checked 27 Oct 2026, hh.gr) at the site of Philippi with its museum’s own line at the same figure. No official page prints a ticket for the church of Agios Dimitrios, so none is printed here; the Jewish Museum on the Jewish heritage day asks 8 EUR (checked 27 Oct 2026, jmth.gr), read on the museum’s own site, the open-air pools at Pozar 4 EUR (checked 27 Oct 2026, loutrapozar.com.gr) a head, read on the operator’s, the fortress of Kavala 4.50 EUR (checked 27 Oct 2026, visitkavala.gr) in summer, read on the city’s tourism site, and the Porto Carras estate on the Sithonia day 9 EUR (checked 27 Oct 2026, domaineportocarras.com) a person for its entry tasting package, read on the estate’s own site. The price guide has the whole rate card and the fees guide every ticket we know.

Driver or licensed guide in the museums of Macedonia?

Every ticketed stop on the three Macedonian days belongs to the Ministry of Culture, from the White Tower to the royal tombs at Vergina, and inside a site or a museum guiding is reserved to state-licensed guides by Law 5121/2024; the monasteries of Meteora are the Church’s, and the same law covers their frescoes. Our driver drives, waits at each gate with the vehicle and gives practical orientation on the way in: where the desk is, how the site is laid out, where to meet again. The driver does not walk you through the exhibition floors of the White Tower or round the golden larnax at Aigai, and we never present a driver as a guide. A licensed guide is booked ahead on request and quoted with the day, and the day trips to the sites are where the question matters most, with four museums between Pella, Aigai, Dion and Philippi and the tombs told on both Vergina days; on the Jewish heritage day the guide is part of the day and quoted with it, since a synagogue and a museum are told, not seen. The driver-or-guide guide explains the rule and what it changes in the price.

The city, Pella and Vergina, Dion and Olympus, or Meteora: which day?

It turns on how much road you want. The 4-hour city tour stays inside the city and drives 19 minutes in all: 50 minutes at the White Tower, 45 at the Rotunda and the Arch of Galerius, 40 at the church of Agios Dimitrios and an hour in Ano Poli at the Heptapyrgion and the walls. The Pella and Vergina day heads west: 44 min and 46 km from the White Tower to Pella, routed on OpenStreetMap without traffic, where the portal itself counts 45 to 60 minutes from the city, then across the plain to the Polycentric Museum of Aigai at Vergina, 1 h 3 min and 69 km from the city direct and an hour by the portal; 173 minutes at the wheel and 260 at the two sites, lunch included. The Dion and Mount Olympus day heads south: 1 h 8 min and 91 km to the Archaeological Park of Dion at the northern foothills of Olympus, as the portal places it, two hours there, 15 minutes on to Litochoro for lunch and a walk, and the mountain road as far as the time allows; 154 minutes of driving, the loosest of the four days. The Meteora day is the long one, 11 hours: 2 h 43 min and 233 km from the White Tower to the Great Meteoron across the plain of Thessaly, up to three monasteries chosen by their closing days, lunch in Kalabaka and 337 minutes at the wheel in all. The Jewish heritage day stays in the city like the city tour, five hours with a licensed guide: 3 min and 2 km from the White Tower to the Jewish Museum, then the Holocaust Memorial, the Monastirioton Synagogue, the campus monument and the villas of Vasilissis Olgas, 32 minutes of driving in all, quoted by the office. The Pozar and Edessa day heads north-west: 1 h 40 min and 112 km from the White Tower to the thermal baths at the foot of Mount Voras, 30 min and 32 km on to the waterfalls of Edessa, which lie 1 h 23 min and 91 km from the city on the way back; 215 minutes of driving, two and a half hours in the pools and as long in Edessa with lunch, quoted by the office. The Vergina and Veria day takes the Aigai road without Pella: the royal tombs first, then 19 min and 14 km on to the Bema of the Apostle Paul in the centre of Veria, which lies 53 min and 73 km from the White Tower on the way back, for an afternoon on foot in Barbouta and Kyriotissa with lunch; 140 minutes of driving, quoted by the office. The Philippi and Kavala day is the longest road of the ten, 11 hours east: 2 h 7 min and 157 km from the White Tower to the site of Philippi, 29 min and 18 km on to the old town of Kavala, which lies 1 h 59 min and 156 km from the city, then Ammolofi beach for the late afternoon in summer; 301 minutes of driving, quoted by the office. The table compares the eight day trips from their routed itineraries, and each tour page prints its route strip with every leg. The Kassandra day heads south-east to the first finger of Halkidiki: 53 min and 52 km from the White Tower to the Petralona cave, then Nea Fokea, Afytos for lunch and the cape of Possidi, ten hours by request. The Sithonia day takes the second finger, eleven hours: 1 h 51 min and 114 km from the White Tower to Karydi beach at Vourvourou, then old Nikiti for lunch on the way back and the Porto Carras estate above Neos Marmaras for a two-hour tasting, by request.

When are the White Tower, the Rotunda and the sites open?

The eight ticketed stops of the Ministry keep its pattern with exceptions of their own, and the White Tower is the odd one out: open every day of the week, 08:00 to 21:00 from May to the end of October and 08:30 to 15:30 in April and from November to March, with free days that leave out the winter Sundays the other sites have. The Rotunda and the Heptapyrgion close every Tuesday all year, by the portal’s tables; the Rotunda keeps 08:00 to 20:00 from April to September, and the Heptapyrgion opens only 10:00 to 17:00 from June to October, which is why the city tour ends there. Pella and Aigai open at noon on summer Tuesdays and close on winter Tuesdays; Dion keeps 08:30 to 15:30 on summer Tuesdays and closes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in winter. Everywhere the last admission is 20 minutes before closing, and every site closes on 1 January, 25 March, 1 May, Easter Sunday and 25 and 26 December. The two tables below are the White Tower’s and the Rotunda’s, as the portal prints them; the Heptapyrgion’s is on the city tour page, Aigai’s on the Pella day and on the Vergina and Veria day, and Dion’s on the Olympus day. Philippi, the far end of the Philippi and Kavala day, opens every day of the year, 08:00 to 20:00 in high summer and 08:00 to 15:30 in winter, while its museum closes from Monday to Thursday from November to March, by the portal; both tables are on that day’s page. The Petralona cave, the first stop of the Kassandra day, keeps 08:00 to 20:00 through August, steps down through the autumn and closes on winter Tuesdays, by the portal; its table is on that page. Four ticketed stops are outside the Ministry: the Jewish Museum keeps 09:00 to 14:00 from Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 14:00 on Sunday and a second opening on Wednesday evening, closed on Saturdays and on the Jewish and state holidays it lists, by its own site; its table is on the Jewish heritage day’s page. The thermal baths at Pozar are the municipal operator’s and keep no closing day: the open-air pools 08:00 to 22:45 every day of the year and the waterfall pools from seven in the morning, by the operator’s own site, with the table on the Pozar and Edessa day’s page. The fortress of Kavala is the municipality’s and opens every day too, 08:00 to 21:00 from May to September and 08:00 to 16:00 in winter, by the city’s tourism site, with its table on the Philippi and Kavala day’s page. The Porto Carras estate on the Sithonia day opens every day, 10:00 to 18:30, by its own contact page, and asks for its tasting to be reserved 48 hours ahead; its table is on that day’s page.

The White Tower:

• 1 Apr to 30 Apr: 08:30 to 15:30, last entry 15:10
• 1 May to 31 Oct: 08:00 to 21:00, last entry 20:40
• 1 Nov to 31 Mar: 08:30 to 15:30, last entry 15:10

Checked 14 Oct 2026, hh.gr.

The Rotunda:

• 1 Apr to 30 Sep: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 08:00 to 20:00, last entry 19:40
• 1 Oct to 15 Oct: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 08:00 to 19:00, last entry 18:40
• 16 Oct to 31 Oct: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 08:00 to 18:00, last entry 17:40
• 1 Nov to 31 Mar: Monday, 08:30 to 15:30, last entry 15:10
• 1 Nov to 31 Mar: Wednesday, 08:30 to 15:30, last entry 15:10
• 1 Nov to 31 Mar: Thursday, 08:30 to 15:30, last entry 15:10
• 1 Nov to 31 Mar: Friday, 08:30 to 15:30, last entry 15:10
• 1 Nov to 31 Mar: Saturday, 08:30 to 15:30, last entry 15:10
• 1 Nov to 31 Mar: Sunday, 08:30 to 15:30, last entry 15:10

Checked 14 Oct 2026, hh.gr.

Where does the driver meet us in Thessaloniki?

At the door of your hotel at the agreed time, anywhere in the city or its suburbs, and the first and the last leg follow the address. The route strips of the ten tours start at the White Tower, which the portal puts 3 minutes by car from Aristotelous Square, so a hotel in the centre adds almost nothing to the figures on the cards; from a hotel further out the office names the difference when it confirms. There is no cruise page for Thessaloniki yet: a cruise guest with a call here sends the ship’s times through the custom tour form, and the office answers with a day that fits the call and its price. The Heptapyrgion is 6 min and 4 km above the White Tower by road, Litochoro 1 h 8 min and 91 km away, so the city tour needs no early start and the day trips leave at breakfast.

Private driver or tour guide for a party of six?

Both have a price on these pages, and for six the arithmetic is plain. Six guests travel in a minivan for four to seven, so the city tour is 400 EUR for the group, 67 EUR a head, and a day trip is 800 EUR for the group on the 8-hour table, 133 EUR a head. That buys the vehicle, the driver, the pickup and the practical orientation at every stop; it does not buy guiding inside the White Tower, Aigai or Dion, which the law keeps for licensed guides. A guide on top is quoted with the day on request; if you want one guide and not two, the museums of the day trips are where a guide earns the fee, since the stories there are in the cases. Say which you want in the request and the office answers with both figures.

What changes with the season in Macedonia?

The hours and the Tuesdays, and the light. From May to October the White Tower stays open to 21:00 and the Rotunda to 20:00 until the end of September, so a city tour can run into the evening, and the day trips find the sites open to 20:00 through August, stepping down to 18:00 by late October. From November to March every site but the White Tower closes at 15:30, Aigai at 17:00; the Rotunda and the Heptapyrgion keep their Tuesday closure, Pella and Aigai add one, and Dion closes on Wednesdays too, so a winter day trip starts early and the city tour keeps the church and the walk along the walls, which no table closes, for the afternoon. The month table below gives the climate normals of the Thessaloniki station of the Hellenic National Meteorological Service for 1991 to 2020 and the sunset on the 15th, with its sources.

How does a day with Greece Private Tours work here?

You send the date, the party size and the hotel; the site takes no payment. The office confirms by email, you pay the driver on the day and the tickets at the desks, where the Ministry’s reduced and free categories apply as its pages state them. The vehicle follows the party: a sedan for up to three, a minivan for four to seven, a minibus or a coach above that, a child seat on request at no charge. The order of the stops is yours to change on the road, within the hours of the sites. A booking cancels free of charge up to 72 hours before the start. For a day of your own, the custom tour form takes any list of stops in Macedonia and a number of hours, and the office answers with a price from the same rate card; the day builder sets every stop of our Thessaloniki days in any order with the routed legs between them. Greece Private Tours has run private days since 1995; what a private tour is has a page of its own.