Port Kavala, Greece – the place where you can see an ancient castle and get on a ferry to Thassos Island in a single day!

We spent a few days in Greece this summer enjoying their beaches and decided to visit Kavala. Kavala is located right across the island of Thassos and is has the second biggest port in Macedonia area. The city has ancient history – it was founded in 7th century B.C.

Kavala – ancient city

We arrived in Kavala by car from Asprovalta taking the highway between Thessaloniki and Kavala, the two biggest cities in Northern Greece. The highway is in good shape, but keep in mind that there are several toll points.

On arrival, the first thing that caught our attention was the ancient fortress on the hill overlooking Kavala port. The fotress was built by the Byzantines around 6th century AD and later fortified by Ottoman rulers. Fortunately, it’s in good shape today and is the main attraction of the city.

We reached the fortress by car, but I would not recommend you to try that. The roads are paved, very narrow and steep. It’s best to park below the hill, somewhere around the arcs and clinb your way up. There are taxis that will get you almost all the way up as well, you can try that if the climb is not to your liking.

When we got there, we were surprised that there are occupied houses right next to the fortress walls – people still live there and the place is very well maintained. As I mentioned, the streets are narrow and charming, the place brings out the European spirit of Kavala.

The fortress is on the top of the hill and is easily seen from the sea. There is a residential district around the fortress.

Inside the walls of the fortress. There’s a scene for various performances and a cafe.

The view from the top of the fortress tower. You can see the whole city and the port.

The tower of the fortress.

Trip to Thassos island

Before we visited the fortress, we took the ferry to Thassos and had our afteroon coffee on the island. The ferries from Kavala to Thassos leave every hour or so and the last one is in the early afternoon. We were unhappy to learn that we have less than an hour on Thassos before the last ferry at 18:00 h. We haven’t booked a hotel in advance so we had to go back.

The ferry from Kavala will take you to Skala Prinos on Thassos, which is a small port town with a good beach where you can relax. The ferry ride takes a little over an hour, which surprised me as you can see Thassos right across the sea from Kavala.

You can see the ferry schedules and prices from Kavala to Thassos and from Keramoti to Thassos here. We paid 5 EUR per person. You can also get on board the ferry with your car if you’re spending more than a day on the island.

I haven’t been on a ship before so the ferry ride was curious for me. Our ferry was comfortable enough and very large – it fits at least 50 vehicles and has seats for more than 150 people.

View from the ferry overlooking port of Kavala

This is the port of Skala Prinos on Thassos

Unfortunately we could not spend much time on Thassos. Hopefully on our next visit to Greece we will be able to see the beautiful beaches of Thassos and tell you all about it!