Discover Kavala City, Private Day Trip from Thessaloniki

The Archaeological Museum of Kavala is considered one of the most important museums of its kind in Greece. It hosts representative finds from the broader area of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace.
Your tour begins in the Neolithic period with the finds from the site of Dikili Tash. The largest section of the museum is dedicated to the permanent exhibition with the title “Neapolis – Christoupolis – Kavala”, the subject of which is the diachronic presence of the town through its monuments.

The house of Mohammed Ali is today a museum and transports the visitor back to the Kavala of the 18th century, where the future ruler of Egypt was born and lived until the age of thirty.
The building, which was constructed approximately between 1780 and 1790, covers an area of 330 sq. m and was the largest house in the town of Kavala in that period and is considered one of the finest surviving examples of 18th-century Ottoman architecture in Greece. Repairs and reconstruction work to the original building, garden and surrounding areas were carried out in the late 19th century, with funding from the state of Egypt and with the support of the Egyptian royal family.

The Archaeological Museum of Philippi contains two exhibition units in which the finds from the excavations in the ancient city are on permanent display:

Unit A: This unit takes up the whole of the ground floor and has a surface area of 380 sq. m. It contains the archaeological (inscriptions, sculptures, vases, coins, jewellery), historical and visual material of the city of Philippi and its region from the prehistoric period until the end of Roman antiquity.

Unit B: This unit occupies the first floor of the building, with a surface area of 205 sq. m. In here there is a presentation of the Christian city (inscriptions, architectural members, mosaics, vases, coins) from the Early Christian period of its rise until its decline in the seventh century AD, and its complete abandonment after the Turkish conquest of the late 14th century.

The uniqueness of the Museum lies in the fact that not only does it contain an exhibition on the processing of Oriental tobaccos (which are not found in any other museum in the world), but also in the fact that it is a museum that showcases economic and social history as well as the history of technology in Kavala and Eastern Macedonia and Thrace more broadly.

The collection of the Kavala Tobacco Museum is exceptionally rich. It includes objects used to grow tobacco, machines used to process it commercially, photographs, rare documents (documents of the Ottoman tobacco monopoly the Régie, statutes of associations, bank documents, etc.). It also contains books on tobacco, publications of the Greek Tobacco Organization, the archive of the Tobacco Merchants Association, private documents, tobacco maps and blueprints, the furniture of tobacco merchants, etc.

The museum is temporarily housed in the ground floor of the building of the National Tobacco Association. This is an industrial building that was constructed between 1957 and 1962.

In the Waxworks Museum you will come face-to-face with some of the greatest figures from Greece and abroad. Odysseus Elytis, Yiannis Tsarouchis, Maria Callas, Mimis Plessas, Aliki Vougiouklaki, Tzenny Karezi, Andreas Papandreou, Constantine Karamanlis, Melina Mercouri, Michael Jackson, Madonna and other great personalities are all gathered in one place, people whom we have loved and who have made history through their life and work.

West of Peramos you will find the exotic beaches of Ammolofoi. The fine white sand in combination with the clear waters will enchant you! This is the busiest place, especially for the young of Eastern Macedonia, whose weekend parties last late into the night! Of course, if you seek more quiet corners, then you will easily discover them! You can get here by taking the long distance bus as far as Nea Peramos and from there walk or take a taxi. During the summer period the bus continues for Ammolofoi.

Bastion of a blue city
At the peak of the Old Town proudly stands the fortress, a landmark of Kavala and one of its most stunning sights.

The peak of the peninsula of Panagia is dominated by the Acropolis of Kavala, the largest part of which was built in the first quarter of the 15th century AD. It succeeded the Byzantine Acropolis of Christoupolis (an older name for Kavala), which had been destroyed in 1391, the ruins of which were incorporated into its construction. The purpose of the fortress was to control and protect the critical route of the Via Egnatia. The fortress was built on a position with excellent natural defences and in a period when wars were fought with weapons of “cold steel” and not with missile weapons of mass destruction. The Acropolis was used for the last time during the Second World War by the occupying forces. The successive repairs and intervention to its fortifications, from the Byzantines to the Venetians and the Ottomans, can be seen on this imposing building.

The entire acropolis has been built using unworked local granite blocks, mixed in with pieces of brick and marble. Entering through its central entrance, we can see that it is divided into an inner and an outer precinct by a transverse wall. The inner precinct was the most important part of the acropolis as it contained all the essential areas for its defence.

Today, the visitor can see:
The central circular tower, which was the last line of defence
The gunpowder and food store, which was later converted into a jail
The garrison, a space suitable for the quarters of the officers or guards
The water cistern
Two square and one polygonal tower can be seen in the walls of the outer precinct of the acropolis, while in its inner precinct there is an open-air theatre for cultural events and a cafe for visitors.

From the upper level of the central circular tower, a wonderful view over the whole of the town of Kavala can be enjoyed.