Pozar thermal baths and Edessa waterfalls private day trip from Thessaloniki (9 hours)

What fits in nine hours?

Two stops and 215 minutes at the wheel, routed on OpenStreetMap without traffic: from the White Tower 100 min and 112.1 km north-west across the plain of Pella to the thermal baths at Pozar, at the foot of Mount Voras, for 150 minutes in the waterfall pools and on the paths of the gorge; 30 min and 31.9 km south to Edessa for 150 minutes, lunch first, then the waterfalls park, the open-air water museum and the Varosi quarter on foot; 85 min and 90.5 km back to the seafront. Twenty-five minutes stay loose for a coffee at the baths or a longer look at the falls. The baths set no hour, open every day of the year from eight in the morning for the open-air pools and from seven for the waterfall pools, so a start at nine has you in the water before eleven and in Edessa for a late lunch. The Thessaloniki page sets this day beside the Pella and Vergina day, which takes the same road west as far as Pella, and the other day trips.

Pozar thermal baths: the waterfall pools and the gorge

Loutra Pozar, Loutra Loutrakiou on the maps, lies 13 km from Aridaia and 100 km from Thessaloniki on the operator’s own count, 72 stremmata of gorge where the Thermopotamos comes down from springs at 360 to 390 metres: rain that went deep into the mountain, warmed and came back up with its minerals, as the operator describes it. The water keeps 37 degrees all year, and the spa is run by the municipal company of Almopia, licensed by the Ministry of Tourism and certified as a thermal therapy unit since 2019. The open air is what the day is for: two natural thermal waterfalls with their pools beside the river and a large pool of Olympic size, no reservation needed, by the operator’s page. The ticket to the three open-air pools is 4 EUR (checked 27 Oct 2026, loutrapozar.com.gr) a head and a reduced ticket 2 EUR (checked 27 Oct 2026, loutrapozar.com.gr) for visitors with a disability, large families and pupils; a day ticket with two entries exists, the large pool has a ticket of its own with a children’s ticket for six to twelve and free entry under six, and towels are rented at the reception. Indoors, the Alexandreio holds 11 private pools with artificial waterfalls for up to six people, booked for 30 minutes by the number of bathers, by phone for the same day from 07:30, at the desks prepaid or online; the old hydrotherapy centre has two larger pools, two hammam-type pools and individual tubs, by appointment; the operator refunds nothing on a cancellation and moves no booking, so say in the request if you want a private pool and the office tells you how to book it. The operator’s medical advice is 20 minutes in the water, and it forbids bathing with high blood pressure, heart disease, varicose veins, diabetes, fever, a recent operation or open wounds, severe neurological disease, some skin diseases, gastroenteritis, and after a meal, alcohol or sedatives. Laid paths beyond the big pool lead up the gorge to the great waterfall, 22 metres high at 400 metres, the walk of the morning after the bath; the 15 caves of the gorge are closed by order of the Ephorate of Antiquities, and the small folklore museum opens Wednesday to Sunday, 09:00 to 16:00. The hours as the operator prints them:

• All year: the open-air pools (the open hydrotherapy centre), every day, 08:00 to 22:45
• All year: the first waterfall pool, every day, 07:00 to 02:00
• All year: the second waterfall pool, every day, 07:00 to 21:00
• All year: the Alexandreio and the old hydrotherapy centre (the private indoor pools), every day, 07:00 to 02:00

Checked 27 Oct 2026, loutrapozar.com.gr.

Edessa: the waterfalls park, the water museum and Varosi

Half an hour south, Edessa stands on the edge of a rock above the plain, and its waterfalls fall from the middle of the town, which the tourist office’s own page counts as twelve falls in a geopark called the brow of the town, two of them large, visible and visited. The geopark covers more than 100,000 square metres along a route of 1.1 km on the rock, from the Xenia and the Varosi quarter past the water museum and the park to Ano Estia; steps lead to the viewpoints and under the waterfall itself, where the spray throws a rainbow on a sunny afternoon, and every evening the falls are lit. The water comes from the springs of the Agras wetland, fed by the snows of Kaimaktsalan, and its flow is set by the Public Power Corporation, which runs two plants on it, so the falls run all year. In the park, the old water-powered quarter known as the Mills is the open-air water museum: a mill with an exhibition of the five senses, an aquarium and reptile house, a botanical garden of aromatic plants and a sundial, each open 10:00 to 16:00 by the museum’s table, with the Information Centre selling tickets for the exhibitions and for its guided walk to the falls, and The Mill café beside them. The Varosi quarter above the park keeps the houses of Macedonian architecture and the Byzantine churches the office’s page lists, walked on cobbles. No official page we read prints a ticket for the park or the falls, so none prints here; the driver parks at the park’s car park and the walk takes the 150 minutes with lunch.

Driver, not guide, and why the day is quoted

Neither stop is a site or a museum in the law’s sense, so this is a day for the driver alone: our driver drives, waits with the vehicle at the baths and at the park, and gives the practical orientation, where the desk is, where the changing rooms are, where to meet again; a licensed guide is booked on request and quoted with the day, as the driver-or-guide guide explains, though there is little here a guide would add. The day is run by request, so no figure prints: you ask for it with the form beside the title, and the office answers by email with one price for the vehicle and the driver, for your party and your date; nothing is paid on the site. A bath at Pozar alone, or Edessa with the lake villages, is a day of its own through the custom tour form.

Steps, shade, toilets and lunch

Lunch is in Edessa after the baths, within the 150 minutes planned there, at a taverna of the town or at The Mill café in the park, at your own expense, the driver waiting; the baths have a café-restaurant and a market of local products at the entrance for a coffee or honey to take home. The baths have places to change and to store your things, by the operator’s page, which is where the toilets are; no page we read lists toilets at the park, so the nearest are the driver’s orientation. Steps and shade no official page counts, so no figure is printed: the pools lie a short walk from the car park, the path up the gorge to the 22-metre waterfall is a climb you can skip, the park at Edessa is walked on paths and steps along the rock with steps down to the viewpoints under the falls, and the Varosi quarter is cobbled; the gorge and the park are wooded, the plain between them is not. Bring swimwear and a towel or rent one at the reception; in winter the water is as warm and the air is not.

What does it cost for our group?

One figure from the office, per group, for the vehicle and the driver, answered by email within the time the contact page promises; the total is for the party, not per person, so the more of you ride, the less each pays. The baths’ ticket, 4 EUR (checked 27 Oct 2026, loutrapozar.com.gr) with the date it was checked, is paid at the desk and is the only ticket of the day, a private pool apart; the fees guide lists every ticket we print. A booking cancels free of charge up to 72 hours before the start.

Where do we meet the driver?

At the door of your hotel in Thessaloniki at the agreed time, and back to it. The figures above start at the White Tower, 3 minutes by car from Aristotelous Square by the Ministry’s portal, and the first and the last leg follow your address. A start at nine reaches the pools before eleven; a start at ten keeps the whole day inside the light in winter, when the baths are busiest. The Thessaloniki page prints the hours of every ticketed stop we drive to from the city.