What is the Thessaloniki outdoor escape game?
The Thessaloniki outdoor escape game moves the escape room out among the ruins and the squares: your smartphone hands you a puzzle at each of the 10 stops, and you answer it by reading the monument in front of you and following the logic. Reckon on roughly 2 hours, 53 minutes of it walking across 4.3 km.
The puzzles hang on places like the Arch of Galerius, the Rotunda, the Roman Forum, Aristotelous Square, Hagia Sophia and the White Tower, and none of them depends on the one before, since there is no storyline to follow. Three levels of hints are there if a puzzle holds you up. Thessaloniki carries Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and modern Greek layers within a few streets of each other, which gives every puzzle a different backdrop.
- Durationabout 2 hours
- Walkingabout 53 min · 4.3 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Greek
What you do on the escape game
Decode
Each stop sets one puzzle you solve on the spot, using your eyes and some clear thinking. No history lessons needed.
Study the stone
Reliefs, columns, inscriptions and the layout of a square carry the clues, so take a slow lap before you answer.
Keep moving
Google Maps leads you from one puzzle to the next: 53 minutes on foot over 4.3 km.
Stop when you like
No countdown is running. Take a hint, break for a coffee or a bougatsa, and come back to the game later or another day.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who it suits
Friends
Half the fun is the wrong answers somebody insists on. Nobody needs to have been to the city before.
Couples
A shared puzzle that ends up on the waterfront, with no timer pushing you between stops.
Team building
Up to 5 players per team, each on their own phone, so colleagues can split into groups along the same route.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- Best started in daylight, so you can see the details the puzzles ask about.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
Puzzle route: from the Arch of Galerius to the National Resistance Monument
10 stops · about 53 min walking · start: Arch of Galerius · finish: National Resistance Monument
Puzzle one is at the Arch of Galerius on Egnatia Street, and the route then takes in the Rotunda, the Roman Forum, the statue of Eleftherios Venizelos, Aristotelous Square, Hagia Sophia and the Thessaloniki History Centre. From there it reaches the sea at the White Tower, continues along the promenade past the statue of Alexander the Great and closes at the National Resistance Monument. Starting in daylight makes sense, because all the puzzles are solved outdoors and summer heat or rain changes the pace. Google Maps covers the navigation, the order can be changed in the app, and no entry ticket is needed anywhere.
Open the route map ↗
1Arch of GaleriusStart
The Arch of Galerius, known locally as Kamara, was built around AD 300 to celebrate Emperor Galerius' victory over the Persians. Only part of the original structure survives, but its marble reliefs still show battle scenes, the emperor and his soldiers, right beside busy Egnatia Street.
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2Rotunda
The massive round Rotunda was built by Emperor Galerius in the early 4th century, possibly as a temple or as his mausoleum. It later became a church decorated with fine mosaics and then a mosque under Ottoman rule, and its minaret still stands beside it.
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3Roman Forum
The Roman Forum was the public centre of the city in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. Its remains were uncovered in the 1960s, when work began on a new courthouse here, and today you can see the paved square, colonnades and a small odeon used for performances.
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4Statue of Eleftherios Venizelos
This statue honours Eleftherios Venizelos (1864–1936), the Cretan-born statesman who was Prime Minister when Thessaloniki became part of Greece in 1912. In 1916 he set up a rival provisional government in the city, which brought Greece into the First World War on the side of the Allies.
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5Aristotelous Square
After the Great Fire of 1917 the French architect Ernest Hébrard redesigned the city centre, and Aristotelous Square became its grand axis, opening onto the sea. Its arcaded buildings mix Byzantine and European styles, and touching the toe of the statue of Aristotle at its upper end is said to bring luck.
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6Church of Hagia Sophia
Built in the 8th century, the Church of Hagia Sophia takes its name and domed design from the great church in Constantinople. Inside, a 9th-century mosaic of the Ascension of Christ fills the dome, and the church is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Early Christian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki.
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7Thessaloniki History Centre
The Thessaloniki History Centre is run by the municipality and collects documents, photographs and maps about the city's past, which it presents in exhibitions. It is a good reminder of how many layers, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and modern, lie on top of each other in the streets you walk through.
8White Tower
The White Tower was built by the Ottomans as part of the sea walls after they took the city in 1430. Once a prison known as the Tower of Blood, it was whitewashed in the late 19th century, according to legend by a prisoner in exchange for his freedom. Today it is the symbol of Thessaloniki and houses a museum about the city.
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9Alexander the Great Statue
This large bronze statue on the seafront shows Alexander the Great on his horse Bucephalus, looking out over the Thermaic Gulf. It is the work of the sculptor Evangelos Moustakas and was unveiled in the 1970s, and it is one of the most photographed places in the city.
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10National Resistance MonumentFinish
This monument honours the Greeks who resisted the occupation of the Second World War. Thessaloniki was held by German forces from April 1941 to October 1944, and in 1943 most of the city's large Jewish community was deported and murdered.
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Excellent
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Kyra– United States –
Collected on GetYourGuide
It was great! Super easy to use the app. Definitely a lot of walking but it was nice to go at our own pace!
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Fanden es langweilig
louchard anne– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Circuit complet qui pousse les enfants à examiner les monuments, et rythme la visite de la ville, nous avons adoré Les énigmes ne sont pas toujours toutes très compréhensibles, cela aurait mérité des explicatifs de la réponse attendue. Le circuit peut être démarrer à n’importe quel arrêt.
Tessa– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Witzige Art und Weise die Stadt zu erkunden. Wir hätten zuvor die Anleitung ein bisschen genauer lesen sollen, um nicht unabsichtlich Tipps zu nehmen wo wir gar keine gebraucht hätten.
David– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Die Informationen zu den Sehenswürdigkeiten waren gut aufbereitet und die Rätsel abwechslungsreich. Bei einem Rätsel (Historisches Museum) glauben wir, dass die Lösung nicht rauszufinden ist, da beim Übersetzen der Zahlen – zumindest ins Deutsche – eine andere Lösung ausgegeben wird als die App verlangt. (Wir hatten den richtigen Lösungsweg haben aber, durch die Übersetzung, falsche Zahlen eingegeben und somit das Rätsel nicht geschafft.) Das ist aber wirklich nur ein kleiner Negativ-Punkt! Die Tour sonst hat wirklich viel Spaß gemacht und wir haben die Stadt gut kennengelernt.