Hotels in Thessaloniki

Hi there

In this post I will give you some information and suggestions for hotels in Thessaloniki. You have two choices for the locations of the hotel. Either at the city centre or at Panorama (which is where the wedding will take place and it's just 20-30 min drive from the centre). If you stay at the centre you have easy access to the bars, restaurants, shops etc (everything in walking distance) but you need to book a taxi to come to the wedding (it costs around 10-15 euros). Panorama, which is the "posh" suburb of Thessaloniki, has few shops, restaurants and bars ( most people go to the centre if they want to go out), but it will be more convinient for the wedding. Of course all the historical monuments and museums are in the centre of the city(there will be a post very soon about them).

If you want to book a hotel in Panorama I would suggest two hotels: Hotel Nepheli (http://www.nepheli.gr/default.aspx) or hotel Panorama ( http://www.hotelpanorama.gr/eng/ ). Both of them have a good reputation but I think the first is cheaper. Another hotel that is propably very cheap, but don't know how good it is, is hotel Pefka. They don't have a website but they are located in the centre of Panorama. This is a 2 star hotel, whereas the other two are 3-4 stars. I would suggest the first one.

In the the city of Thessaloniki you have more choices. If you want to spend lots of money I have 2 suggestion: Electra Palace ( http://www.electrahotels.gr/electra-thessaloniki// ) or Makedonia Palace ( http://www.lux-hotels.com/makedoniapalace ). Both of them have great views with the first being in the heart of the city (Aristotle square) and facing the sea. Both of them are quite expensive (~200E/night). For more realistic suggestion hotel Luxembourg is a good choice ( http://www.hotelluxembourg.gr/). It is located in the city centre, seconds away from all the good stuff (shoping, bars, restaurants, seafront) and in a reasonable price. Friends have told me that it's a good choice. More choices in the city centre are Zaliki Hotel ( http://zalikihotel.gr/hotel.html ) , abc hotel ( http://www.hotelabc.gr/ ), Plaza art hotel ( http://www.hotelplaza.gr/main_uk.htm), Park hotel ( www.parkhotel.com.gr/index_en.html ), Tourist hotel (http://www.touristhotel.gr/maineng.htm ). These are only some that I can remember. From a quick web search I found the following link which provides information and cheaper booking offers for hotels in thessaloniki:

http://www.booking.com/searchresults.html?city=-829252&error_url=http://www.booking.com/city/gr/thessaloniki.html%3Faid%3D303948;label%3Dthessaloniki-MsloHTus6RURmqfmCvRJ1wS899361981;sid%3Ddb0a28b7eb0875fa2c51925d7e3f0b9e;&aid=303948&label=thessaloniki-MsloHTus6RURmqfmCvRJ1wS899361981&sid=db0a28b7eb0875fa2c51925d7e3f0b9e&checkin_monthday=20&checkin_year_month=2009-8&checkout_monthday=23&checkout_year_month=2009-8

You can have a look at the hotels and check which one you like. However before you pick one just send me (or Phyllis) an email so I can check the location of the hotel. There are no really dangerous areas in Thessaloniki, however some hotels are in really boring areas and a bit far from the main attractions of the city.

I will try to find some more information about hotels and will post more information soon.

That's all for now!

Flights to Greece

Hi again!

I will give you some information for flights to Thessaloniki. From UK there are british airways  and easyjet that fly from Gatwick, however there is an issue for the outbound trip. Both flights are really early in the morning (easyjet 6.55 and BA 08.30) which means you need to fly to Gatwick the night before and spent a night at the airport...(I know that's crap!). easyjet is by far .  However especially from the UK there are charter flights. Sites like http://www.travelrepublic.co.uk/ and http://www.flydeals.co.uk can give you choices for cheaper or more convinient charter flights (around £150-200 return flight). Another choice is to flight through Zurich to Thessaloniki, however I do not know how much this might cost. For sure the cheapest choice is with easyjet through london, but you need to wait for a few hours in the airport (6-7hrs) 

 The alternative is to fly to Athens and either get a connecting flight to Thessaloniki or get the train or the bus to the north (the trip is 45min by air, 5hrs by train or 6-7hrs by bus). For flights to Athens you have more choices. There is BA (expensive but the best service), easyjet (cheap), olympic air and aegean airlines. The last two are greek companies. If you are planning to fly to Athens check aegean airlines. They fly from Stansted and have very good deals with full service. Olympic has flights from Gatwick and Heathrow. They are under new ownership so they might have some good offers (it's our national airline, notorious for delays-however the past years they have improved. On the other hand because they have cancelled their flights to Thessaloniki I will never use them again...bastards!!). KLM and olympic airlines also flies from Amsterdam to Athens. They used to fly to Thessaloniki but cancelled the flight a few years ago (bastards again!!!).  

If you are flying through Athens to Thessaloniki I would suggest to use aegean or olympic, because they are the two main carriers for internal flights. Internal flights if booked seperately from your ticket to Greece might be really expensive (50-150 euros) so try to book everything together. 

The train from Athens to Thessaloniki is quite nice but can be a bit expensive. If you get the intercity it costs from 30 euros to around 50 if you get the really fast one (4hrs). The problem is that you can not book online. If you get the slower train it can be even cheaper. There is an overnight train in which you can book a bed and sleep throught the trip, which is cheap as well (if you don't mind a few farts and the smell of garlic...) If you actually want to use the train please contact me so I can give you more information. The bus is the cheapest way to travel but it's a long trip and can be quite tiring. As with the train please contact me so I can help you book tickets for the bus. 

Aegean and Olympic are quite handy if you are flying from Italy ( and Alitalia of course). I think it is easier to flight from Italy to Thessaloniki than UK. 

That's all for now...I will try to post some more information soon about the city of Thessaloniki and accomodation. 

It's official we are getting married!

Hi everyone! 

Four years ago, in exotic Glasgow, I had the luck to meet a sweet, warm hearted and beautiful Taiwanese girl. She had the best smile in the world. What can I do I fell for her! We enjoyed two very happy years living in the cosmopolitan Townhead area of Glasgow, however the visa monster eventually won and the past year and a half we have 15000 miles to separate us. This torture couldn't last forever so we decided he had enough! it's time to get married! This Christmas trying to be romantic...but failing miserably I popped the question and sweet Yi-Huei (aka Phyllis, Susanna...) said yes!!!!

All is set and the date for the glorious event is 21st of August in my home city (and best city in Greece) Thessaloniki!

For her bad luck however she left the organization of the event to the host...(that's me!).She is already on the verge of a stroke...Notorious for my amazing organisational  skills I created this blog to provide information for our friends from around the world that will honour us by attending our wedding. In due time I will post various information and news relating the event and most importantly information regarding travelling to Thessaloniki, hotels, flights and amazing beaches nearby. Of course if more information or help is needed me and Phyllis are happy to help!

That's all for now. I hope to see as many of you as possible at our wedding.