Things to do in Sithonia

Halkidiki hangs off northern Greece as three long peninsulas, and Sithonia is the middle one. Kassandra to the west is the developed leg; Athos to the east is the monastic republic; Sithonia is the green one in between. It is pine-covered, deeply indented, and organised around a single coastal ring road that takes a comfortable day to drive. That road is the way to understand the place, so this page follows it.

The ring road, clockwise from Nikiti. It passes Kalogria, Lagomandra and the west-coast beaches, sandy and shallow; then Toroni and Porto Koufo at the southern tip; then Kavourotripes and Orange Beach on the east side; then Vourvourou in the northeast. Doing the whole loop in a day is the standard first move, and it is how you decide where to spend the rest of the week.

Porto Koufo, which is the one to stop at. A near-enclosed natural harbour at the southern tip, the deepest in Greece, that the German navy used in the Second World War. Standing at the mouth of a bay that hides an entire anchorage from the open sea explains its own history without a plaque.

Kavourotripes and Orange Beach. A run of small sculpted coves in pale rock on the east side, and the most photographed part of the peninsula. They are the reason a lot of people come to Sithonia rather than to Kassandra.

Vourvourou, and the islands offshore. A low-key resort scattered along a shallow bay in the northeast, with a cluster of small islands offshore that people take boats out to. It is the softest part of the peninsula and the one that suits a slow week.

Mount Athos, across the gulf. From the east coast the whole of Mount Athos stands across the water, and on a clear evening it is a remarkable thing to look at: a 2,000-metre pyramid rising straight out of the sea at the end of the third peninsula. That view is free and it is one of the best in northern Greece.

How you can and cannot see Athos. Athos is a self-governing monastic republic that admits only men, by permit, and no women at all. Boat trips from Ormos Panagias run along its coast at a legal distance, which is how most visitors see the monasteries. That is the honest description of the excursion: you look at them from the water, and the rule about who may land is not a formality. Mount Athos covers the permit system properly.

What Sithonia is actually like. Low-rise and family-oriented rather than glamorous. Hotels and campsites rather than resorts, tavernas at the beaches, and a long Greek domestic season, because this is where Thessaloniki goes. That last point sets the whole tone, and it is why August here feels Greek rather than international.

Getting here. Thessaloniki airport is about an hour and a half from Nikiti, and a car is essential, since the peninsula is the road. Five nights, or a week, which is how most people use it. Our Sithonia guide has the practicalities and the beaches take the ring coast by coast.