Ptolemaida is a town of 37,000 people (2011) in Kozani in West Macedonia, Greece.

Understand

Askio mountain near the city

Ptolemaida sits in the middle of the Eordaia plain, and is surrounded by the mountain slopes of Mount Askio - Siniatsiko, in the southwest and Mount Vermios in the northeast. It is built on a plateau at an altitude of 600 m.

Ptolemaida is a highly industrialized area. The four power plants in this area produce 70% of Greece's electrical power, using the large local deposits of lignite as fuel.

Climate

In winter, the temperature reaches below zero, with a strong phenomenon of rainfall and snowfall, mainly in the months of December and January. In autumn the temperature is low with frequent rainfall and intense cloudiness. In spring there is an increase in temperature mainly towards the end of May with a low frequency of rainfall. In summer the temperature can reach 38-39 °C.

Get in

Fom Thessaloniki, it is connected by road via Kastania - Vermio 150 km (old road) via the Egnatia highway (new road network), and also via Edessa, 140 km.

It is north of Kozani (which has the nearest airport) at a distance of 28 km, east of Kastoria at a distance of 55 km, south, southeast of Florina at a distance of 54 km and southwest of Edessa at a distance of about 54 km.

It has a railway station.

See

• Paleontological, Historical and Folklore Museum (Παλαιοντολογικό, Ιστορικό και Λαογραφικό Μουσείο), October 28, 1. It exhibits local clothing, old agricultural tools, household utensils and prehistoric tools, mammoth bones, ivory tusks, fossils of insects, plants and shells that prove that the area was once covered by sea. (updated Oct 2021)

Sleep

• Hotel Pantalidis, 3 Km, Ptolemaida Florina, ☏ +30 24630 53300. A very nice place to stay in town at affordable prices. €50.