Greek Macedonia: Vergina, Edessa and the Prespa lakes

Route description

Leave Thessaloniki west on the old road to Pella, about 40 km, the capital of ancient Macedon and birthplace of Alexander the Great, where fine pebble mosaics fill the museum and the excavated houses. Then drive south-west via Veria to Vergina, about 60 km. Its museum is built inside the great burial mound, and the royal tombs, including that of Philip II, are shown in the dark.

From Vergina, drive north through Naoussa to Edessa, about 60 km, a town built on the edge of a plateau where streams pour over the cliff in several waterfalls. The largest, Karanos, drops about 70 metres, and a path leads behind it. The A2 Egnatia motorway, with tolls, runs further south if you want to move faster between these areas.

North-west of Edessa, the Pozar thermal baths near Loutraki have warm pools and a steaming river at the foot of Mount Kaimaktsalan, open all year. Continue west via Florina and over the Pisoderi pass to the Prespa lakes, a long half-day drive. Near the isthmus between the two lakes, a long floating footbridge leads from the shore onto the island of Agios Achilleios.

Finish at Kastoria, about an hour’s drive south, on a peninsula in its own lake, with Byzantine churches and old mansions of fur traders. The mountain roads are good and easy for motorhomes, with little traffic. The Prespa area is a protected wetland famous for pelicans, so keep to marked parking places. Spring and autumn are best; winters are cold and snowy at this altitude.