A slow drive through the far north
Eight days is enough to take the whole of Macedonia's lake country at a walking pace rather than a driving one, with two nights in most of the towns that anchor it.
- Length
- 8 days · 8 nights
- Months
- May – June, September – October
- Stops
- 5
The route on a map
1 · 1 night
Thessaloniki
Arrival night and a morning in the markets before heading west.
2 · 2 nights
Edessa
The waterfall town, with the Varosi old quarter and the Almopia vineyards nearby.
3 · 2 nights
Nymfaio
A stone mountain village in beech forest, with long forest walks from the door.
4 · 1 night
Kastoria
The lake peninsula of Byzantine churches, seen best by boat at dawn or dusk.
5 · 2 nights
Psarades, Prespa
The final stop, with boats out to the painted hermitages and the pelican colonies.
Day by day
Day 1
Arrival in Thessaloniki
Sleep · Thessaloniki
Land, settle in, and rest ahead of the drive west.
Day 2
West to Edessa
Sleep · Edessa
An hour and a half; the afternoon at the waterfall and the old silk-mill quarter of Varosi.
Day 3
Edessa's hinterland
Sleep · Edessa
A day trip into the Almopia vineyards and villages around Loutraki.
Day 4
Into the mountains
Sleep · Nymfaio
An hour to Nymfaio; the afternoon walking the beech forest paths above the village.
Day 5
The bear sanctuary
Sleep · Nymfaio
A full day at the Arcturos sanctuary and a longer walk toward the Aetos ridge.
Day 6
South to Kastoria
Sleep · Kastoria
An hour's drive; an evening walk around the lakeside churches as the light drops.
Day 7
North to Prespa
Sleep · Psarades
A morning boat on Kastoria's lake, then just over an hour north to the Prespa shore.
Day 8
Prespa and departure
Departure
A last boat to the cliff hermitages before the long drive back to Thessaloniki airport.