Velestino counts about 3.500 permanent residents; it lies to the northwest of the Prefecture of Magnesia and is about 20 km from Volos.
 It's a small market town, one of the bigger rural centres of Magnesia. The village is associated with Rigas Pheraios (Velestinlis) - the Fighter of the Greek War of Independence of 1821; there is a bust of Rigas Pheraios as well as the monument of National Resistance in the village approach. Twice the Germans destroyed Velestino in 1943 and in 1944.