Vergina, Veria & Pella: Royal Macedonia Day Trip

Vergina lies about an hour west of Thessaloniki and few visitors arrive knowing the name. Under a low green mound there is Aigai, the first capital of Macedon, where in 1977 archaeologists opened the tomb of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, and found it exactly as it had been sealed in 336 BC. UNESCO added the site to the World Heritage List in 1996.

Beside it stands the Palace of Aigai, the largest building in classical Greece and the place where Alexander was proclaimed king. It reopened in 2024 after sixteen years of restoration, and most tours have not caught up with it.

On the way we stop at Pella, Alexander's birthplace, and spend two hours in Veria, where the Apostle Paul once preached and a Jewish quarter still stands by the river.

Your day, step by step

1. 07:45
   White Tower: first pick-up

   Your escort is waiting on Nikis Avenue, opposite the White Tower, holding an Exit Bus sign. Please arrive five minutes early. The day covers three towns and we leave on time.

2. 08:00
   Aristotelous Square: departure

   The main pick-up, on the corner of Aristotelous and Egnatia by the Venizelos statue. Most travellers board here. Tickets are checked, water is handed out and we set off.

3. 08:15
   Bus station and out of the city

   Final pick-up at the Macedonia intercity bus station on Giannitson Street, which sits on our route anyway. We head west across the plain. Your escort runs through the timings and explains exactly which tickets are paid where.

4. 09:00
   Pella, where Alexander was born

   Forty kilometres west of Thessaloniki, on a plain that was once a lagoon open to the sea. Pella was the capital of the Macedonian kingdom and the birthplace of Alexander the Great in 356 BC. An hour is enough for the museum, whose floors of coloured river pebbles show a lion hunt and Dionysos riding a panther, and for a look at the excavated market square. Think of Pella as the complement to the day: fine in itself, but Vergina is why we came.

5. 10:45
   Veria: the Bema of the Apostle Paul

   Forty-five minutes south-west, at the foot of Mount Vermio. On Mavromichali Street a stepped marble platform covered in mosaics marks the spot where Paul preached to the people of Beroea in the first century, the visit recorded in Acts 17. It is open-air and free to enter, but it is still a place of worship for local Christians.

6. 11:10
   Barbouta, the Jewish quarter

   A few lanes downhill, on the edge of town beside the Tripotamos river. Cobbled streets, timber-framed houses with balconies hanging over the water, and the old fountain that gave the quarter its name. The synagogue of 1850 is the oldest in northern Greece. The streets are free to walk; seeing inside the synagogue needs an appointment made ahead.

7. 11:50
   Byzantine Museum of Veria

   Housed in a restored nineteenth-century flour mill. Icons, wall paintings and mosaics rescued from the seventy-odd Byzantine churches hidden in the lanes of Veria, many of them still working parish chapels. Forty minutes, EUR 5 at the door.

8. 12:30
   Lunch in the old town

   Free time to eat around Kyriotissa and the clock-tower square. Veria is noticeably cheaper than Thessaloniki and the wine comes from Naoussa, twenty-two kilometres up the road. Budget EUR 12 to 18 per person.

9. 13:45
   Vergina: the Museum of the Royal Tombs

   Only twelve kilometres from Veria. You walk inside the burial mound itself, into low light, and see the painted tomb facades standing exactly where Manolis Andronikos uncovered them in 1977. In the cases are the gold casket stamped with the Macedonian star, the ivory-and-gold shield and the iron cuirass of Philip II. The EUR 20 ticket you buy here covers the whole of Aigai.

10. 15:10
    The Palace of Aigai and the Central Museum

    Two kilometres uphill, and the coach takes you. The palace reopened in January 2024 after sixteen years of EU-funded restoration: one and a half hectares, the largest building in classical Greece, with its mosaic floors back in place. This is the courtyard where Alexander was proclaimed king in 336 BC, on the day his father was assassinated in the theatre just below. Most tours on this route have not yet added it.

11. 16:15
    Back to Thessaloniki

    Seventy-five kilometres from Vergina, roughly sixty to seventy minutes on the Egnatia motorway. We drop off first at the bus station, then at Aristotelous around 17:35 and finally at the White Tower at about 17:45.

Pick-up points

• White Tower, Nikis Avenue07:45On the pavement opposite the tower, at the bus stop.
• Aristotelous Square & Egnatia08:00Main departure point, at the Eleftherios Venizelos statue.
• City-centre hotels (Tsimiski - Egnatia - Nikis)08:05By arrangement, if the coach can stop safely on your street.
• Macedonia Intercity Bus Station, Giannitson 24408:15Last pick-up, already on our road west towards Pella and Veria.

Drop-off is at the same point where we picked you up.

Group & private pricing

Know before you go

• We never depart on a Tuesday. From 1 November to 31 March both Aigai and Pella are closed all day on Tuesdays, and in summer they open at 12:00 instead of 08:00, which leaves no room for the itinerary. The trip also does not run on 1 January, 25 March, Orthodox Easter Sunday, 1 May and 25-26 December, when the sites are shut.
• Entrance tickets are not included, and almost no operator on this route includes them. Budget EUR 20 for the combined Aigai ticket, EUR 10 for the Pella museum (or EUR 15 for the combined site, museum and palace ticket) and EUR 5 for the Byzantine Museum of Veria. That is roughly EUR 35 per adult on top of the seat price, paid in cash or by card at each gate.
• The Aigai ticket is EUR 20 full and EUR 10 reduced, not EUR 15 — the old price is still quoted on many booking sites. That single ticket admits you to the Central Museum Building, the Royal Tombs, the Necropolis, the ancient theatre and the Palace.
• Admission is free at every Greek state site for EU citizens up to the age of 25 and for non-EU visitors under 18, on production of an ID card or passport, so children pay nothing to enter. EU citizens over 65 pay half price, but only between 1 October and 31 May. On national free-admission days — 6 March, 18 April, 18 May, the last weekend of September, 28 October, and the first and third Sunday of each month from November to March — nobody pays at all.
• Winter timetable, 1 November to 31 March: Aigai closes at 17:00, Pella at 15:30, and the Necropolis stays shut for the whole season. Three stops will not fit into one day. In those months we drop Pella, keep Veria and Vergina at a comfortable pace, still leave at 08:00 and return around 16:30, so the trip runs 8.5 hours instead of 10. Your booking confirmation says which version you are on.
• Barbouta is an open quarter you can walk through freely, but the interior of the 1850 synagogue is not open to passers-by. It has to be arranged in advance through the tourism department of Veria Municipality (+30 2331 350608, tourism@veria.gr). Tell us when you book if it matters to you and we will ask, though we cannot promise it.
• There is a fair amount of walking. The parts of Aigai are up to two kilometres apart and the coach moves you between them, but inside each one there are gravel paths and slopes, and Barbouta is cobbled. Wear closed shoes, and bring a hat and water in summer. Let us know in advance about any mobility needs so we can adjust the stops.