Our summer vacation in northern Greece begins in the Halkidiki Peninsula. This is an area in Greece that I heard about many years ago but never got a chance to visit. It was even on my and Jonathan’s honeymoon destination list, and somehow it always felt like there were other more beautiful places.
How wrong I was. Halkidiki is a spectacular area in its beauty, with lush nature, beautiful beaches with transparent turquoise sea water opposite to a bright white stone, and with picturesque and sweet towns. The people in Halkidiki, and in Greece in general, are very kind and nice, always smiling and immediately ready to help – that, by the way, is a consensus.
Halkidiki is a hand-shaped peninsula with 3 fingers sent into the Aegean Sea, about an hour southeast of Thessaloniki.
The first, southwestern finger – Kassandra, is considered the most popular of the three, due to its proximity to Thessaloniki. In the second finger – Sithonia, you can find resorts and beaches in picturesque locations that don’t fall short of the beauty of tropical islands. And the third finger, northeast – Athos, is mostly a nature reserve that has no accommodation at all, and it belongs to an autonomous monastic state, Athos.
The Halkidiki Peninsula is well preserved and its price levels are higher than other areas in northern Greece, such as Pelion, but lower than the southern islands of the country.
How to get to the Halkidiki Peninsula
The nearest airport is in Thessaloniki – about an hour drive from the Halkidiki Peninsula. To get to Halkidiki and in general, for a trip in northern Greece, it is recommended to rent a car for convenient mobility. In my introductory post on Northern Greece, you will find helpful tips for booking flights, hotels and cars.
Where to sleep in Halkidiki
Mid-price range
Blue Bay Halkidiki Hotel – Located on the first finger, Kassandra, near the town of Afitos. It is a really good option when looking for a hotel in a medium price range. The hotel is located on a cliff above the sea and overlooks a relaxing blue landscape. You can watch spectacular sunrises – something we got to see on the first day when we arrived right at dawn in the area.
The hotel has two pools, one large and central facing the sea and one smaller in the more private part of the hotel. Access to the beach below is via stairs leading from the hotel down or you can just take the car around, mainly to save the hike back up.
Other facilities of the hotel include a spa, not impressive in its design, but the treatments are professional and pleasant. Gym, overlooking the pool. A children’s slide in a remote area of the hotel.
A rich breakfast buffet is served in the restaurant located right on the edge of the cliff. Adjacent to the restaurant is the bar-restaurant which also serves a varied and delicious evening menu.
High-price range
Ekies All Senses Resort – basically I had intentions to stay at this resort, but as I wrote I booked hotels for our summer trip in northern Greece later than recommended – about a month in advance, and by this point, the hotel was already fully booked. We only got to peek at it from a distance from the sea on our private boat trip (more about that below). But if you want to read more about this resort, you can do so in the extensive post on Tamar’s the Hedonistit blog. If the prices of this hotel are expensive for your budget but you would still like to stay in it, it is worth considering getting there outside of the tourist season, around May or September, when the weather is great and the prices are significantly lower.
What to do in Halkidiki
The town of Afitos
A small picturesque town within which there is an Old City. In Afitos you can wander in the evening between many shops decorated in a sweet local style and enjoy street performances. It has many restaurants, bars, and ice cream parlors. There are also several areas with amusement park facilities for the little ones and an arcade games area for older children. Bars are playing live music and you can sit at the end of the day, drink Ouzo and watch a band playing.
The town of Afitos is a great place to spend a nice evening. The places are open until late, so you can also eat at 11 pm or midnight.
Try not to enter restaurants where a person is standing outside the restaurant and invites you inside. Most often these will be lower-level restaurants. Afitos has many good restaurants – check out TripAdvisor.
Sailing in the Aegean Sea
In the Halkidiki area, there are many ways to go sailing and visit more beaches or find hidden coves. The options are: a full day organized cruise (65 euros per person), a two-hour sunset cruise (34 euros per person), or rent a boat and sail it on your own (about 120 euros per boat). Most of the options can be booked through the hotel.
We chose a private boat.
Boat rental
On the Halkidiki Peninsula, there are several places where you can rent a motorized boat and go on a private cruise. On the Kassandra Peninsula (first finger) you can find boats for rent in the town of Pefkochori.
We wanted to sail around Diaporos island located in front of the town of Fteroti on the Sithonia Peninsula (the middle finger), so we drove to Ormos – a town with a boat dock. Ormos has several boat rental agencies. After making the reservation at a travel agency you should drive to the beach in Fteroti, which is about 10 minutes from Ormos, to pick up the boat and go out on a cruise right in front of the small islands.
The company where we rented the boat is called Deep Blue Rent a Boat. You can contact them by email at deepblue.vour@gmail.com.
After collecting the boat you can sail around the island, reach small and beautiful beaches or just throw an anchor in a location a bit far from the shore and jump into the water.
In the boat, you get a cooler with ice and it’s good to bring food and drink and have a picnic in the heart of the sea.
Beaches
Punta Beach – the beach below the Blue Bay Halkidiki hotel. A narrow and beautiful beach strip is arranged with sunbeds and umbrellas. Along the beach, there are bars and restaurants.
Orange (Kavourotriupes) Beach – On one of the days we drove to the middle Peninsula for a day trip. As part of the trip, we wanted to get to Orange Beach. This is a beautiful beach between white rocks. The beach has a bar (Orange Beach Bar) that serves food and drinks. Music, quite loud, plays all the time. A short distance from the shore, in the middle of the sea there is a small rock that everyone swims to, climbs on, and jumps into the water.
We arrived at the beach on a Friday afternoon and it was full of people, and yet, there was no feeling of a busy beach. Everyone is busy in their own space and does not disturb the surroundings and despite the number of people there was still something pleasant in this beach.
If you want to experience Orange Beach a little more calmly, I would recommend getting there early in the morning.
Aristoteles Beach – A beautiful beach, the entrance to it through the Aristoteles Hotel, and the access to the beach itself is by an elevator!
Other things we did not do
The town of Kallithea – another recreation area of the Halkidiki peninsula. Located on the first finger, Kassandra, not far from the town of Afitos. The town has many restaurants, bars, local stalls, and more.
Porto Carras Beach – A nice lagoon with restaurants and bars in the area of resorts. You can go to a restaurant in the evening and walk around the area.
8-hour cruise – departing from the village of Ormos on a large ship.
Lagonisi Beach – A beach with two small islands in the center, with dedicated parking space, sunbeds and umbrellas.
Kalamitsi – A calm and detached beach. You can rent a house by the sea.
Holy Mountain / Athos Reserve – This is a closed autonomous community of male monks. The reserve has several monasteries that you can visit and walk in nature that is almost not destroyed.
Please note, a visit to Mount Athos requires preparation and reservations in advance, and may not be suitable for all types of travelers. Getting there and getting around Mount Athos is without a car, the car must be left in the town of Ouranoupolis or Nea Roda, and the entrance to the reserve and getting around inside is by monasteries shuttles or on foot.
Also, one must register in advance and apply for an entry visa to the reserve because the community reduces the number of visitors as much as possible to minimize the disruption to the religious life of the monks.
More details about the area, arrival, and visas can be found at these sites: https://www.visitmountathos.eu/ , https://www.christian-pilgrimage-journeys.com/mount-athos/
Where to eat on the Halkidiki Peninsula
Rementzo – Restaurant on Punta Beach, below the Blue Bay Hotel, is considered one of the best restaurants in the area. This was our first Greek meal on this trip. The dishes were very tasty. The waiter had a pleasant conversation with us while he opened and cleaned the fish of bones for us.
The restaurant was calm and quiet relative to the full occupancy in the area.
The hotel’s Blue Bay Halkidiki restaurant – the restaurant serves a variety of refreshing and delicious dishes. As a restaurant belonging to a hotel, the prices are not higher than in other restaurants in the area. Live music evenings are held on Sundays at the resto-bar.
A variety of restaurants in towns like Afitos, Kallithea, Porto Carras, which I mentioned above. I recommend using TripAdvisor for finding a good restaurant.
Did this post make you want to go to Halkidiki? You should read the introductory post with all my tips for getting organized for a trip to northern Greece.
And do not forget to share the post and pin in Pinterest until your next vacation
