The opening hours for large commercial stores and shopping malls are 09:00-21:00 (Monday to Friday) and 09:00-20:00 (on Saturdays). Super Markets open one hour earlier, at 8:00am. However, some shopping malls may open after 10:00am. On Sundays all stores are usually closed except on the following occasions: the last two Sundays before Christmas, the last Sunday of the year, the Sunday before Orthodox Easter and the first Sunday of every sales period (usually in January, May, July and November). The opening hours during Sundays are 11:00 to 18:00.
Some smaller shops may close earlier on Mondays and Wednesdays (at 17:00), and on Saturdays (at 15:00). On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, smaller shops may also be closed between 14:00 to 17:00.
Thessaloniki’s public holidays on standard dates are: January 1st, January 6th (Epiphany), March 25th (Greek Revolution of 1821), May 1st (Labor Day), August 15th (Assumption of Mary), October 26th (Saint Demetrius and the Liberation of Thessaloniki), October 28th (National Anniversary of “OXI”) and December 25-26th (Christmas).
Thessaloniki’s public holidays on movable dates (depending on the Orthodox Easter Sunday) are Clean (or Ash) Monday (48 days before Easter), Easter Sunday, Easter Monday and Monday of the Holy Spirit (50 days after Easter).
Keep in mind that the Greek Orthodox Easter is usually on a different date than the Catholic Easter.
Eastern European Time (EET), UTC+02:00. The Daylight Saving Time (UTC+03:00) is applied from the last Sunday of March until the last Sunday of October.
Most citizens of Thessaloniki, especially those under the age of 40, can speak English sufficiently. More languages are spoken by fewer people and especially by certain professionals of the tourist industry.
Thessaloniki has approximately 285 days of sunshine during the whole day or at least for some hours. In Spring and in Autumn, the temperature is usually ideal for walking and dining outdoors. You should, however, expect the occasional rainfall at a more or less normal rate (some storms in May, frequent rainfall in November) and some cold in March and November. Winter days can be really cold but, generally, the Winter is usually milder when compared with the countries of Central Europe.
During the Summer, even though the temperature is a little bit lower than that of the Southern Greece, the humidity is usually high (beware of the storms in June). In combination with Chalkidiki, however, Summer is a great time to visit the city. If you are interested in the monuments, the museums and the city itself, however, it would be better to plan your visit during the cooler months.
During the warmest month of the year (July) the average high temperature is 32°C and the average low is 21°C. During the coldest month of the year (January) the average high temperature is 10°C and the average low is 2°C.
The form of a typical landline number in Thessaloniki is +30 2310 XXXXXX. The prefix +30 stands for the country code of Greece and the prefix 2310 for the area code of Thessaloniki (the last digit “0” can be replaced by other numbers). The form of a typical mobile number is +30 69 XXXXXXXX. The prefix 69 is the standard prefix for all the mobile phone numbers in Greece.
The emergency numbers* in Greece are:
European emergency number: 112
Ambulance: 166
Police: 100
Fire Department: 199
Forest Fire Department: 191
Coast Guard: 108
Tourist Police: 171
International Phone Assistance: 139
*no prefixes are needed
The power plugs and sockets that are used in Greece are type C and F. The standard voltage is 230 V and the standard frequency is 50 Hz. If you are having a device that operates in a different system you will need an adaptor.
The official currency in Greece is the Euro.
The official, international name of the city is “Thessaloniki”, equivalent to the original Greek name “Θεσσαλονίκη” that is still used until today unchanged. Throughout the centuries, however, the city was and still is known with many different variations of the original name, depending on the country and the language:
- In English: Thessalonika (or Thessalonica), Thessalonike, Salonika (or Salonica) and Saloniki,
- In French: Thessalonique or Salonique,
- In Italian: Tessalonica or Salonicco,
- In Turkish: Selanik,
- In the South Slavic languages: Solun.
According to the Census of 2011, the population of Thessaloniki is 788.191 citizens in its Urban Area (consisting of 8 Municipalities) and 1.012.013 citizens in its Metropolitan area. The population of the Municipality of Thessaloniki itself, including the Historical Center, is 324.766 citizens. Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece after Athens.