A Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki takes you south to the mountain of the Greek gods. You visit the ancient city of Dion and the slopes of Olympus. This page covers the road, the sights, the tour types and the season. The homepage lists more Greece Tours like this one.
Each tour card below opens a live GetYourGuide booking. Dates, pickups and group sizes are shown there.
What is a Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki?
A Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki takes one day by road. It reaches the highest mountain in Greece and Dion, an ancient Macedonian city at its foot. The day adds a gorge walk and a village stop.
Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece. Its top peak, Mytikas (or Pantheon), reaches about 2,918 metres, and the name means “nose”. The massif has 52 peaks and deep gorges. A Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki brings this mountain into view in a single day.
If you plan to cross into Turkey as well, the homepage also lists Turkey tours.
The mountain stands on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia. It lies between the regional units of Larissa and Pieria. Dion, the ancient city on the day’s route, sits at the foot of the slopes.
In Greek mythology, Olympus is the home of the Greek gods. The name belonged to the home of the Twelve Olympian gods. In Homeric Greek, Olympus was the seat of the gods and was not tied to one specific peak.
Dion was a holy city of the Macedonians, dedicated to Zeus and the twelve gods. The city owes its name to the chief Macedonian sanctuary of Zeus. On the massif, Agios Antonios is known to have been the site of a sanctuary of Zeus in antiquity.
Dion lies at the foot of Mount Olympus. A Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki can therefore join both places in one day. Much of the old city is visible in the Archaeological Park of Dion. Octavian later founded a Roman colony on the same site.
Itineraries for a Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki differ on the mountain half of the day. Two of them list a walk in the Enipeas gorge. Both also stop in Litochoro village, where lunch can be bought.
The day suits people who like history and nature, since it mixes an ancient city with a mountain forest. A Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki also suits visitors without a car, because transport is part of the tour. One small-group tour travels by van, and another runs by bus.
The mountain behind a Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki is itself a national park, the first in Greece. The park has been expanded to 24,000 hectares. Olympus is also a World Biosphere Reserve. The park holds about 1,700 species and subspecies of plants, about 25% of Greek flora.
Thirty-two mammal species have been recorded there, including the Balkan chamois. Mytikas is not the only high point. Stefani, also called the Throne of Zeus, reaches 2,911.11 metres.
Two Swiss men, Frédéric Boissonnas and Daniel Baud-Bovy, made the first modern ascent of Mytikas on 2 August nineteen thirteen. They were aided by Christos Kakkalos, a hunter of wild goats from Litochoro. Kakkalos was the first of the three to climb Mytikas.
Which road does a Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki take?
The A1 motorway, the main road through Pieria, carries a Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki south. Dion and Litochoro both lie about 90 kilometres from the city. The drive to Dion takes between one hour and one and a half hours.
The A1, part of European route E75, is the road that a Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki follows. The A1 is a toll motorway. The mountain itself stands in the southern part of Pieria.
The Thermaic Gulf lies to the east of Pieria. Thessaloniki sits at the northeastern tip of that gulf. From the city, the drive to Dion goes south on the A1 and E75.
Distances shape any Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki. The ancient site of Dion is 90 kilometres from the city. Litochoro is also 90 kilometres away and lies 22 kilometres south of Katerini. Exits 70A and 71 of the A1 serve Litochoro.
Coach schedules give about one hour for the drive to Dion. The small-group van schedule gives 70 minutes. Drivers can plan on one to one and a half hours on the A1.
The coach version of a Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki meets at 8am in front of the Venizelos statue. The spot is Aristotelous Square and Egnatia Street. The small-group van version collects guests from their hotels and drops them back there.
One coach schedule fills the day like this:
- 8am departure from Thessaloniki, then one hour to Dion
- 90 minutes at the Dion archaeological park
- 90 minutes on the trail to the waterfall, with a swim
- 30 minutes at the National Park Information Centre
- 90 minutes for lunch and rest at the Stavros refuge
- Two hours back to Thessaloniki
On the van, the Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki counts the day in other blocks. It gives 90 minutes at Dion and a 45-minute transfer to the start of the hike. The hike lasts about 90 minutes. A 30-minute drive to Litochoro follows, with free time in the village, and the return takes 75 minutes.
The coach tour and the small-group van tour are each listed at eight hours. The van version is limited to six participants.
Drivers who go on their own need parking. The archaeological park at Dion has plenty of parking spaces, shaded ones among them. The museum in the village centre has fewer.
Rail travellers join the Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki at the Thessaloniki Railway Station. Arrival at the station is due at least 30 minutes before the train leaves. After the stops, a van drives them to Katerini, where they board the train back. Train tickets are included.
Katerini sits on the main Athens to Thessaloniki line, and even the fast Intercity trains stop there. Litochoro railway station is about 6 kilometres from the village.
What do you see on a Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki?
Two sights make up a Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki: Dion, the ancient city, and Litochoro, the village. Dion has Zeus sanctuaries, two theatres, Roman baths and mosaics. Litochoro leads to the Enipeas gorge and the road to Prionia.
Dion is the largest archaeological site in Pieria, at the northern foothills of Mount Olympus. It is the history stop on a Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki.
Kings of Macedonia came to Dion to offer sacrifices to Olympian Zeus. The Hellenistic temple of Zeus Olympios stood on a sacred grove and had a 22-metre altar. At the sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos, a sacred road lined with marble eagles led to the temple.
The Hellenistic theatre still hosts the annual Olympus Festival. The Roman theatre was built in the second century AD and had 24 rows of seats.
The Roman public baths cover about 4,000 square metres. The great baths date to the second century AD and used a hypocaust, an underfloor heating system.
The sanctuary of Isis has survived almost intact. Her worship replaced that of Artemis here. A channel in the sanctuary stands for the Nile, and the temples honour Isis Lochia, Tyche and Aphrodite Hypolympiada.
The Villa of Dionysus is the city’s key private building. Workers found a large mosaic in its atrium. It is displayed behind the museum, with a gallery above that shows it from every side.
The Dion museum stands half a kilometre west of the park. Statues of Dionysus, Isis and Aphrodite Hypolympidia fill the ground floor. The upper floor holds the hydraulis, a water organ and the first of its kind found in Greece.
From 1 November to 31 March, the park and the museum close on Tuesday and Wednesday. Plan a Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki for another day in those months. Last admission is 20 minutes before closing time.
On a Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki, Litochoro is the village at the base of the mountain. The town dates to the 14th century. From there, the peaks form a V shape, with Mytikas on the left and Stefani on the right.
A path through the Enipeas river ravine starts at Myloi, inside Litochoro, and climbs to Prionia. It covers around 9 kilometres. Wooden bridges cross the river, and the trail passes waterfalls and natural pools of icy water.
Saint Dionysios founded the old monastery in the Enipeas ravine in fifteen forty-two. German troops destroyed it in nineteen forty-three. The founder is buried in the Katholikon, the main church.
Prionia is the last point reachable by car, at over 1,000 metres. The hiking paths of Olympus National Park start there.
One itinerary adds the Orlias waterfalls just outside Dion. Read the stop list of each Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki, because the stops differ from tour to tour.
Which tour types and which months suit a Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki?
You can take a Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki by bus tour, small group, private car or train plan. One coach calendar runs from January to October, and summer opens the swim at the Agia Kori pools.
The bus tour is the plainest format. One eight-hour bus tour includes the ride and an English-speaking guide on Olympus. That guide does not cover Dion. Entry to the Dion site and museum, food and drinks are extras.
A ten-hour coach version has an official English-speaking guide, and it leaves out lunch and the Dion entry. Both bus tours sell a Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki without the Dion ticket. The second operator urges booking as early as possible.
The small-group format adds a hike. On the small-group version of the Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki, the hike can be moderate. The listing sets no age limit but adds a caution for very young children. The listing calls the tour unsuitable for travellers with mobility impairments.
A ten-hour hiking version walks from the Dion site into the dense Olympus forest. The path leads to the Agia Kori church and then to a waterfall with natural pools. Its listing names summer for a dip and spring and autumn for the scenery.
A private Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki differs in who leads. One private day tour includes a licensed guide on site and leaves lunch out. A private drive of six to eight hours lists an English-speaking driver and no tour guide. Two private listings add child seats.
The private train plan includes return train tickets from Katerini to Thessaloniki and minibus transport. Its listing names an English-speaking tour leader, not a state-licensed guide. Museum entry and meals are also left out.
The wine-tasting format joins the Dion site and museum with a family-owned winery in Pieria. One listing gives five and a half hours, with a licensed guide and entry fees included. Guests under 18 cannot join the tasting. That is shorter than a full Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki.
Thessaloniki’s summers are hot, and July and August are the hottest months. One listing asks for a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen in summer. In the foothills around Litochoro, summers are hot and dry and winters are humid and cold.
Higher up, the weather turns harder to call. The zone over 2,000 metres stays snowcapped for about nine months from September. Rain and snow are not unusual up there even in summer. Summer rain is frequent on Olympus, commonly as evening thunderstorms. Visitors need water and clothing for any weather.
Litochoro’s climate table lists December as its wettest month and August as its driest. The coach calendar named above stops in October. A full refund for cancelling at least a day ahead is listed on small-group, bus and private formats. That lets you book a Mount Olympus day trip from Thessaloniki early and still cancel the day before.