Greece · Central Macedonia

Kalochori Lagoon

Directions

Λιμνοθάλασσα Καλοχωρίου

The Kalochori lagoon is a coastal wetland only about 8 km from the centre of Thessaloniki, at the northern entrance to Axios Delta National Park. With the city on the horizon, flamingos are often only metres from the path, and fishermen’s structures stand in the water like a small floating village.

How it formed

The lagoon is young. The area was marshland before the Axios was diverted in 1934. From about the middle of the 20th century, heavy pumping of groundwater in the loose soil made the ground sink, in places by several metres, and seawater and rain filled the basin, held in by the embankment built to protect Kalochori from floods. In the hot, dry summer of 2024 much of its water disappeared, leaving a steppe-like landscape.

Nature

Flamingos stop here for the tiny shrimps that give them their colour. Dalmatian and great white pelicans, gull-billed and little terns, collared pratincoles, avocets, black-winged stilts, Kentish plovers and pygmy cormorants are among the other waterbirds, with ospreys and greater spotted eagles among the birds of prey. The delta as a whole has more than 300 bird species.

Visit

Swimming

No reliable information

Tips

Bus no. 40 runs from Thessaloniki, departing from outside the train station; get off at Miltiadou and go straight on to Kerkyras Park. From the park a flat path of about 1 km runs to the sea, good for walking and most of the way for cycling, and two circular routes of about 4 km and 8 km start in the area.

You can see birds all year, with the spring and autumn migrations the best times. There is no hide, and a telescope is useful on the open ground.