Pella (Greece)

Pella is a municipality in Central Macedonia, Greece, about 40 km west of Thessaloniki.

Understand

The municipality is named after Ancient Pella, which is famous for being the birthplace of Alexander the Great. Ancient Pella contains an archaeological site with a museum, and is adjacent to a small village named Pella. The largest population center in the Pella municipality is not the Pella village, but a town named Giannitsa.

Get in

By bus

You can take a bus from Thessaloniki to Giannitsa. A two way ticket is about €10 and the trip takes about 1 hour. Ask the bus driver to drop you off at an 1 impromptu bus stop next to the main road, 10 minutes on foot from the Archaeological site.

There's a bus about every hour. Check the schedule.

On the way back you might be able to catch the bus directly to Thessaloniki at the same stop or you might need to take a local bus to 2 Giannitsa in which case you need to go to a 3 local bus stop. Ask the people working at the Museum for further assistance, including local bus schedules, stops and where to buy the ticket.

By car

Take Greek National Road 2 (EO2). The sights are a few kilometers from the Pella exit.

Get around

Pella village is a small village where everything is within walking distance, although not flat.

See

Ancient Pella

Aerial photograph and plan of the House of Dionysos, Ancient Pella, near Giannitsa

The wealthy capital of the kingdom of Macedon in the time of Alexander the Great.

• 1 Ancient Pella Museum (western end of the village), ☏ +30 23820 31160, pella.museum@gmail.com. 08:00 - 17:00. €8 combined ticket for both the Museum and the archaeological site. (updated Nov 2020)
• 2 Ancient Pella archeological site (just before reaching the village from the national road). 08:00 - 17:00. Ruins of the ancient city of Pella. €8 combined ticket with the museum. (updated Nov 2020)

Eat

There are a few restaurants in the center.

Sleep

There are no professional lodging options in Pella village, given its size. But there are usually a couple of Airbnb rooms available at not very cheap nightly rates.

Most people visiting stay in either Thessaloniki or Giannitsa.

Go next

• Vergina - Burial site of the kings of Macedon
• Thessaloniki - The second largest city in Greece.