Chalkidiki

Chalkidiki (Halkidiki) - General

Halkidiki, also Chalkidiki, Chalcidice or Chalkidike , is a peninsula in northern Greece, and one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Macedonia. The autonomous Mount Athos region is part of the peninsula, but not of the regional unit. The capital of Chalkidiki is the main town of Polygyros, located in the centre of the peninsula.

The Cholomontas mountains lie in the northcentral part of Chalkidiki. Chalkidiki consists of a large peninsula in the northwestern Aegean Sea, resembling a hand with three "fingers" (though in Greek these peninsulas are often referred to as "legs") – Pallene (now Kassandra), Sithonia, and Agion Oros (the ancient Acte), which contains Mount Athos and its monasteries. Chalkidiki borders on the regional unit of Thessaloniki to the north.

There are several summer resorts on the beaches of all three fingers where other minor towns and villages are located, such as at Yerakini, Neos Marmaras , Ouranoupolis, Nikiti, Psakoudia, Kallithea , Sarti, Toroni, Vourvourou and more.

Chalkidiki - Tourism

C halkidiki has been a popular summer tourist destination since the late 1950s when people from Thessaloniki started spending their summer holidays in the coastal villages. At the beginning tourists rented rooms in the houses of locals.

Its largest towns are Nea Moudania, Nea Kallikrateia and the capital town of Polygyros.

Ancient sites to visit: Portaria, Akanthus, Olynthus, Stagira, Mekyberna, Mende, Potisea, Palaiochori, Toroni.

By the 1960s, tourists from Austria and Germany started to visit Chalkidiki more frequently. Since the start of the big tourist boom in the 1970s, the whole region has been captured by tourism.[5] In the region there is a golf course and there is a plan for other four in the future.