Thessaloniki's Christmas season starts with the lighting of the city tree on Aristotelous Square, usually in the first week of December, and ends on 6 January; the 2026 programme has not been announced yet (as of mid-October 2026). In the last edition, the Municipality of Thessaloniki lit the tree on Wednesday 3 December 2025, at a free concert that started at 20:00, and closed the year with a free New Year's Eve party at the White Tower from 20:00 on 31 December to 03:00. Expect a similar shape for 2026–27, and check the municipality's website (thessaloniki.gr) for the dates from November.
Thessaloniki does Christmas in its own way. There is no big German-style market running for six weeks. Instead, the season is built around the decorated centre, a string of free concerts and events put on by the municipality, the food markets in the old commercial district, and a large free New Year's Eve party on the waterfront. This guide covers each of them, what happened in recent years, and how to get there.
Aristotelous Square: the tree and the lights
Aristotelous Square, the wide square that opens onto the sea in the middle of the waterfront, is the centre of Christmas in Thessaloniki. The municipality puts up the city's main tree here and lights it at a free evening event that opens the season.
The city tree on Aristotelous Square, being finished in late November. Image: Annatsach, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Recent tree lightings have followed the same pattern:
- 2025: Wednesday 3 December, from 20:00, with Christmas music and carols (kalanta) by the Thessaloniki Municipal Philharmonic Orchestra, the lighting by the mayor and a concert.
- 2024: planned for Saturday 30 November, then postponed because of severe weather and held on Wednesday 4 December at 18:00.
- 2023: Thursday 7 December. That year the tree was 17 metres tall, brought from Palaiochori in Halkidiki, and hung with 100,000 low-energy lights.
The lighting nights are crowded and free. The decorations stay up through the holidays: in 2024 the municipality said they would run from 4 December to 6 January, spreading from the square into the streets of the centre.
The Aristotelous Square tree at night in early January, with a carousel at its base. Image: Cgiannoutsou, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Is there a Christmas market in Thessaloniki?
Yes, but its form and location change from year to year, so check before you plan a trip around it.
- 2023: the municipality reported a Christmas market running through the holiday season on Ancient Agora Square (Plateia Archaias Agoras), next to the Roman forum, in cooperation with the Thessaloniki Commercial Association.
- 2024: the municipality held a one-day Christmas market of local and organic producers in the foyer of the Town Hall on Sunday 8 December, from 10:00 to 18:00, with tastings, cooking workshops and the municipal Philharmonic.
- 2025: the municipality's published Christmas programme did not list a market of its own.
For 2026, look for the municipality's Christmas programme on thessaloniki.gr, usually published in late November or early December. Greek news sites also cover the plans each year, but the dates and locations they report before the official announcement sometimes change.
What's on in Thessaloniki over Christmas?
The municipality publishes a programme of free and low-cost events each year. The 2025 programme gives an idea of what to expect:
- 19 December: a Christmas concert by the municipal conservatories in the Town Hall foyer, free entry.
- 21 and 23 December: a concert of Harry Potter film music at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall (Megaron).
- 27 and 28 December, 12:30: a children's Christmas show on Aristotelous Square.
- 28 December, 15:00: popular Greek songs with a bouzouki band in the Kapani market.
- 30 December, 20:30: a festive concert by the municipal Symphony Orchestra in the ceremony hall of the Aristotle University, free entry.
Churches hold services on Christmas Eve night and on Christmas morning, and on the eves of 25 December, 1 January and 6 January children go door to door and through the cafés singing the kalanta. On 6 January, Epiphany, the Orthodox Church blesses the waters; in a port city like Thessaloniki the ceremony is held by the sea.
The Rotunda, one of Thessaloniki's Roman and Byzantine monuments a short walk from the centre. Image: Annatsach, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
New Year's Eve at the White Tower
Thessaloniki's big public New Year's Eve party is on the waterfront around the White Tower, the city's landmark. For 2025–26 the municipality held it on Wednesday 31 December from 20:00 to 03:00, with DJs, laser lighting across the sky and a laser show from the top of the tower at midnight. Entry was free.
The White Tower at night, where the city's New Year's Eve party is held. Image: macrolepis, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Get there early if you want to be close to the stage, dress for a cold night by the sea and plan your way home: the metro runs later on Friday and Saturday nights than during the week (see below), and taxis are hard to find after midnight. New Year's Day is a public holiday, and many shops and cafés open late or not at all.
The waterfront and the centre in December
The waterfront promenade (Nea Paralia), running from the port past the White Tower towards the Concert Hall, is Thessaloniki's main walk. In December it is lit, quieter than in summer, and good on a clear evening. Aristotelous Square sits halfway along, and the White Tower is about a kilometre east of it.
From the square, the shopping streets of Tsimiski and Ermou run parallel to the sea and are decorated through the season. Some years have added extras, such as the open-air ice rink set up in the centre at Christmas 2009, but these are not fixed; check the year's programme.
An open-air ice rink in central Thessaloniki at Christmas 2009. Image: Tilemahos Efthimiadis, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Food markets: Kapani and Modiano
Thessaloniki's covered food markets are where locals shop for the Christmas table. Kapani (also called Vlali) is a grid of narrow lanes between Aristotelous Square and Venizelou Street, with fishmongers, butchers, spice shops and produce stalls. Modiano, the covered market building on Aristotelou Street, has reopened after restoration, with food shops and places to eat.
The covered arcade of the Kapani market. Image: Ymblanter, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In December, look for melomakarona (honey-soaked spiced biscuits) and kourabiedes (almond shortbread under icing sugar), the two Christmas sweets you will find at every bakery and pastry shop in Greece. Thessaloniki is also known for bougatsa, the filled filo pastry eaten for breakfast, and for the cream-filled trigona from Panorama.
Inside the restored Modiano market. Image: Valina Tsikalá, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Getting to Thessaloniki and around the centre
By air: Thessaloniki Airport (Makedonia) lies south-east of the city and is linked to the centre by city buses and taxis.
By train: Hellenic Train runs Intercity trains between Athens and Thessaloniki. They arrive at the New Railway Station, on the western edge of the centre.
By metro: Thessaloniki's metro line runs from the New Railway Station through the centre to the east of the city. For Aristotelous Square, get off at Venizelou or Agias Sofias; both are a few minutes' walk from the square. The metro operator lists its hours as 05:15 to 00:30 Sunday to Thursday and 05:15 to 02:00 on Friday and Saturday, so check before relying on it after the New Year's Eve party.
Venizelou metro station, where Byzantine ruins found during construction are displayed in the station. Image: Elymperis, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Venizelou station is worth a look in itself: the remains of a Byzantine street found during the works are on display inside.
Is Thessaloniki worth visiting at Christmas?
Yes, if you come for the city rather than for a market. December is low season, so hotels and flights are easier to find than in summer, and the city's Roman and Byzantine monuments (the Rotunda, the Arch of Galerius, the churches of Hagia Sophia and Agios Dimitrios) are quiet. Several of the churches are part of the city's UNESCO World Heritage listing for its Early Christian and Byzantine monuments, and they are in use for services over the holidays, so visit outside service times and dress modestly. The Upper Town (Ano Poli), with its Byzantine walls, gives the best view over the bay on a clear winter afternoon. What you will not find is a Central European-style Christmas market with weeks of stalls; Thessaloniki's season is about lights, concerts, food and the New Year's Eve party.
Tips for Christmas in Thessaloniki
- Dates: the tree lighting and the New Year's Eve party are the two fixed points. Watch thessaloniki.gr from mid-November; 2024's lighting was moved at short notice because of the weather.
- Weather: Thessaloniki is colder in winter than Athens. The north wind, the Vardaris, can make the waterfront bitter on a clear day. Bring a warm coat, a hat and gloves for evening events.
- Public holidays: 25 and 26 December, 1 January and 6 January are public holidays in Greece. Expect most shops to close on those days; state museums and archaeological sites are closed on 25 and 26 December and 1 January.
- Best time: the week before Christmas has the most events and the busiest streets. Between Christmas and New Year the centre is livelier in the evenings than during the day.
Christmas events elsewhere in northern Greece
The biggest Christmas event in the region is the Mill of the Elves (Mylos ton Xotikon) in Trikala, in Thessaly. For 2026–27 the Municipality of Trikala gives the dates as 20 November 2026 to 6 January 2027, open daily 10:00 to 22:00, with free entry, in and around the old Matsopoulos mill. Trikala is a long day trip from Thessaloniki; it is easier to combine with a visit to Meteora, just beyond it (see our guide to Meteora in winter). For customs, holidays and what's open across the country, see Christmas and New Year in Greece.
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