Katerini is the unassuming capital of Pieria, a coastal plain in northern Greece roughly halfway between Thessaloniki and Mount Olympus. The town itself has around 60,000 people and little in the way of tourist sights — it is not a place people fly in for — but its setting is genuinely extraordinary: the snowy summits of Mount Olympus, the mythological home of Zeus and the Greek gods, rise 15 km to the west, and the long sandy beaches of the Olympian Riviera start just a few kilometres to the east.
That pairing of mountain and sea makes Katerini a useful base for three days of easy exploring. Ancient Dion, the Macedonians' great sanctuary at the foot of Mount Olympus and the place from which Alexander the Great set out to conquer the Persian Empire, lies 17 km south — the Archaeological Museum of Dion next to the site holds the world's only hydraulis water organ found in archaeological context. The trailheads for the hike up Mount Olympus — an overnight summit via the Spilios Agapitos refuge is within reach of any reasonably fit walker — start at Litochoro, another 15 minutes down the road. And in between, the beach villages of Paralia, Olympiaki Akti (Olympic Beach) and Korinos provide Blue Flag-certified sand, tavernas on the waterfront, and a cheap summer holiday atmosphere aimed mainly at Greek and Balkan visitors. Further south, Platamon Castle — a Crusader fortress where Olympus meets the sea — is one of the best-preserved medieval castles in northern Greece.