Xanthi
At eight in the morning, in the old town of Xanthi, the wooden gates of the merchants' houses are already ajar, and the air mixes...
Updated 10 July 2026
Xanthi
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The story
The story of Xanthi
From Thracian origins to the tobacco boom
The area of Xanthi was inhabited since antiquity by Thracian populations, but the city as we know it today developed mainly in the Byzantine and Ottoman eras, when it became an important agricultural and commercial center of Western Thrace. It was between the end of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth, however, that Xanthi experienced its period of greatest economic splendor, thanks to the cultivation and processing of oriental tobacco, particularly prized and in demand on European markets. The profits of that season financed the construction of the great bourgeois houses of the old town, while the labor force needed to process the leaves attracted diverse populations, contributing to the ethnic mosaic that still characterizes the province today.
The old town and the tobacco merchants' houses
The historic quarter of Xanthi, declared a protected area, develops on a hillside with narrow, cobbled alleys climbing upward, flanked by dozens of nineteenth-century residences that belonged to tobacco merchant families. The façades, often in neoclassical style with local influences, hide interiors rich in pictorial decorations, while some buildings today house museums, including the Folklore Museum, which tells the story of the city's link to tobacco, with period machinery, photographs and reconstructions of the processing workshops.
The old bazaar
At the foot of the old town lies the old bazaar of Xanthi, a network of commercial lanes that, since Ottoman times, has continued to be the beating heart of city life: shops selling spices, fabrics, Turkish sweets and local products follow one another under the signs of stores often run by the same family for generations. It is here that the multicultural character of the city is most immediately felt, with Greek, Turkish and Pomak customers and shopkeepers mingling in the same street, in a commercial atmosphere that has resisted almost intact the standardization of modern shopping malls.
The Muslim and Pomak minority of the Rhodope Mountains
The province of Xanthi hosts one of the most substantial Muslim communities in Greece, spread between the city and above all the mountain villages of the Rhodopes, home to the Pomak population, an ethnic group of Slavic language and Muslim religion settled in these mountains for centuries. Thanks to the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which excluded Western Thrace from the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, this community has remained in the territory to this day, preserving language, traditions and a village architecture that can still be observed almost intact in mountain centers such as Echinos.
The Xanthi Carnival
Every year, between late February and early March, according to the Orthodox calendar, the old town of Xanthi transforms into the stage of one of the most heartfelt carnivals in northern Greece: masked processions, live music, drum bands and street parties enliven the cobbled alleys for days, drawing visitors from across the region. The event, which is rooted in older folk traditions, is today also an important economic occasion for the city, capable of bringing life and tourist visibility back to the historic center even outside the summer season.
The Rhodope Mountains and the border villages
North of the city, the terrain rises quickly toward the Rhodope Mountains, a wooded range that marks the border with Bulgaria and which, in the province of Xanthi, preserves some of the most untouched forests in mainland Greece. Villages such as Echinos, Oreo and Myki, inhabited mainly by Pomak communities, dot these valleys with stone and wood architecture very different from that of the plain, while scenic roads make it possible to reach high altitudes among beech and fir forests, in a landscape that is covered in snow during winter.
The plain and the agricultural hinterland
South of the city, the province's territory slopes down toward the plain of Western Thrace, historically devoted to tobacco cultivation and today diversified toward cereals, cotton and other intensive crops. This flatter part, less visited than the old town or the mountain villages, nonetheless offers glimpses of traditional rural life and connects Xanthi to the coast, where there are wetlands and lagoons of naturalistic interest that act as a hinge toward the sea and the nearby provinces of Kavala and Rodopi.
Flavors between Greece and the Orient
The cuisine of Xanthi blends Greek and Ottoman flavors seamlessly: in the restaurants of the old town, grilled meat dishes can be found alongside specialties such as börek, honey-and-syrup sweets typical of Turkish tradition, and small pastries linked to the Pomak community of the mountain villages. The old bazaar remains the best place to sample local street food, from simple kebab sandwiches to sweets sold at candy stalls, while in the historic cafés of the old town one can still sip a Greek coffee prepared according to tradition.
When to visit Xanthi
The Carnival period, between late winter and early spring, is probably the liveliest time to visit the city, but the summer months also offer a good compromise between pleasant weather and the chance to combine the visit with the nearby coasts of Kavala and Thassos. Autumn, with the colors of the Rhodope forests, is the ideal season for those who want to combine a visit to the old town with excursions to the mountain villages, when milder temperatures also make the scenic roads toward the Bulgarian border pleasant.
- Stroll among the tobacco merchants' houses in the old town
- Get lost among the shops of the old bazaar
- Visit the Folklore Museum dedicated to the history of tobacco
- Climb up to the Pomak villages of the Rhodopes such as Echinos
- Attend the Xanthi Carnival between late February and March
- Taste the sweets of Ottoman tradition in the bazaar
FAQ
Quanto tempo serve per visitare Xanthi?
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Qual è il momento migliore per visitare la città?
Dove si parcheggia per visitare la città vecchia?
Xanthi è adatta a una visita con bambini?
Getting there
- Aeroporto di Kavala Alexander the Great (KVA), circa 55 km da Xanthi
- Stazione ferroviaria di Xanthi sulla linea OSE Salonicco-Alexandroupoli
- L'Egnatia Odos (autostrada A2) attraversa la provincia e collega Xanthi in circa un'ora a Kavala e in poco più di un'ora a Komotini.
- Per raggiungere i villaggi pomacchi dei Rodopi conviene noleggiare un'auto: le strade di montagna non sono servite da trasporti pubblici frequenti.
Perfect for
Le case dei mercanti nella città vecchia raccontano l'epoca d'oro del commercio del tabacco.
La convivenza tra comunità greca, turca e pomacca si respira nel bazar e nei villaggi montani.
I Rodopi offrono foreste e villaggi tradizionali a poca distanza dalla città.
Il Carnevale di Xanthi è uno degli eventi popolari più sentiti della Grecia del nord.
To see
What to see in Xanthi
Routes · Trovido Route
