Katerini

Katerini is the capital of Pieria, a busy provincial town on the coastal plain between Mount Olympus and the Aegean Sea. With a population of around eighty-five thousand, it is one of the larger towns of Central Macedonia, and while it is more workaday than picturesque, its position is superb: the great wall of Olympus fills the western horizon, and the sea lies only a few kilometres to the east. That makes it a comfortable and well-connected base for exploring one of northern Greece's richest corners.

The town itself centres on a large, tree-shaded main square ringed by cafes, and a long pedestrianised shopping street that fills with locals in the evening volta. There are no great monuments here, but the atmosphere is genuine and unhurried, and prices are lower than in the resorts. A municipal park and a scattering of churches provide gentle diversions between excursions.

Most visitors use Katerini as a hub. A short drive east reaches the Olympian Riviera, the string of beach resorts along the Pierian coast including Paralia, Olympic Beach and Korinos, where shallow, family-friendly waters look back towards the mountain. To the south lies the sacred archaeological park of Dion, only about twenty minutes away, and beyond it Litochoro, the gateway town for climbing Olympus. In a couple of days from Katerini it is possible to combine a beach, an ancient city and a mountain walk.

Katerini is also well placed on the main north-south routes. It sits on the E75 motorway and the railway line between Athens and Thessaloniki, and Thessaloniki itself, with its international airport, is only about seventy kilometres north, a little over an hour by car or train. Buses connect the town to the coast, to Dion and to Litochoro.

For travellers, Katerini works best as a practical, good-value base rather than a destination in its own right. Stay two or three nights, use it to reach the beaches, Dion and Olympus, and enjoy the everyday rhythm of a Greek town that lives largely for itself.