Halkidiki
Halkidiki extends three peninsulas into the Aegean and the three are not interchangeable. Kassandra, on the western side, is the developed resort coast most northern-European package guides recommend; it is the easiest base and the busiest. Sithonia, in the middle, is the quieter pine-forested option with the better swimming and the smaller villages. Mount Athos, on the eastern peninsula, is a self-governing monastic republic and is not open to ordinary travel: women are not permitted at all, and male visitors require a four-day permit (the diamonitirion) issued from the central pilgrim office in Thessaloniki, generally booked weeks ahead and limited to a small daily quota.
Most luxury guests should base in Sithonia, near Vourvourou or Neos Marmaras, and day-trip into the rest. The eastern shore has rocky coves and pale sand pockets reached on foot or by hired boat; the swimming is among the best in mainland Greece. Athos is visible from this coast as a single perfect pyramid (Mount Athos itself rises just over two thousand metres at the southern tip), and the monasteries cling to its lower slopes in a long row.
The other reasons to come are inland. The Petralona Cave, on the slope of Mount Katsika in Kassandra, was found in 1959 to contain a fossilised hominid skull dated to several hundred thousand years ago; the precise figure remains contested, but it is one of the most significant prehistoric finds in southern Europe. Aristotle was born in Stagira on the eastern Halkidiki coast in 384 BC, and the small archaeological site is open to visitors. The mosaic floors of ancient Olynthus, the fourth-century BC city destroyed by Philip II in 348 BC, are among the most refined in classical Greece.
The drive from Thessaloniki to the southern tip of Sithonia is about two hours; most travellers come through Thessaloniki rather than the smaller regional airports. Five nights with a hire car. Bring shoes for the beaches and for the inland archaeology.
House Notes
Porto Koufo
On the southern tip of Sithonia, Porto Koufo — the natural harbour Thucydides recorded, a long inlet hidden inside a narrow opening to the Aegean. German submarines used it through the Second World War for the same reason: the sound of the open sea does not enter, and the meltemi breaks across the headland before it reaches the water. Yacht anchorage for hulls that draw too deep for the marina berths to the north.
The address
Sani Resort, on the south of the Kassandra peninsula — five hotels (Sani Beach, Sani Club, Sani Dunes, Porto Sani, Sani Asterias) across 1,000 acres of protected ecological reserve, with the Sani Marina at the centre. The marina takes 215 vessels up to 33 metres, runs its own fuel station, and holds the European Union's Blue Flag every year. Forty minutes from Thessaloniki Makedonia.
Eagles Palace
On the third finger of Halkidiki, minutes from the Athos boundary at Ouranoupoli — built in 1974 by George and Ismini Tornivoukas, whose father Konstantinos had founded the Mediterranean Palace, Thessaloniki's first luxury hotel, in 1925. The house keeps its own beach on the uninhabited Drenia island for day-cruises by the yacht-club tender.
The diamonitirion
Athos admits one hundred and twenty men a day, ten of which are allotted to non-Orthodox visitors; women are not admitted at all under the avaton. Apply three to six months ahead through the Pilgrims' Bureau in Thessaloniki and collect the printed permit at the Ouranoupoli office on the morning of crossing. The general diamonitirion is valid for three nights; longer stays are arranged with the host monastery.
Athos, by water
For women and male guests without a permit, the only encounter with Athos is from the sea. Athos Sea Cruises runs the Captain Fotis and the Ioanna out of Ouranoupoli twice a day at ten-thirty and two — a three-hour line along the western coast at the 500-metre avaton distance. Dochiariou, Xenophontos, Panteleimonos, and Simonos Petras read off the rocks.
Domaine Porto Carras
On the western Sithonia slopes of Mount Meliton, 475 hectares of organic vineyard set out in the late 1960s by the Greek shipowner Yiannis Carras under the guidance of Émile Peynaud of Bordeaux. The source vineyard for the Slopes of Meliton PDO. The Meliton winery building was one of Walter Gropius's last designs, completed after the architect's death in 1969. Cabernet, Limnio, Assyrtiko, Athiri.
The Hondrolia
The Hondrolia Chalkidikis, the local cultivar registered by the European Commission in May 2012 as Πράσινες Ελιές Χαλκιδικής — the fleshiest green olive in Greece, six times more fruit than pit. The Halkidiki plantation runs to 23,000 hectares across the prefecture. Hand-harvested between mid-September and late October before the fruit turns black, cured in sea-salt brine. The house will source the cured-green grade through the village merchant on request.
The Squirrel
Danai Beach Resort, at Nikiti on northern Sithonia — five tables on the marble veranda beneath the umbrella pines, French technique on Aegean ingredients, a wine list of more than 1,600 labels. Adults only, reservations essential. The settled fine-dining address of the middle peninsula, and the kitchen the Halkidiki houses send their guests to when a quiet evening is wanted.
Boukadoura
Boukadoura, the fish tavern at the Porto Koufo waterfront on south Sithonia — founded by Makis Zafirakos at the harbour edge. Grilled fish and shellfish from the boats that work the natural harbour, the saganaki, the seafood orzo. The settled kitchen of the village; the after-swim address for the southern peninsula when the day's appetite asks for fish.
Stagira
Ancient Stagira, on the Liotopi headland near modern Olympiada — Aristotle's birthplace, founded in 655 BC by Ionian colonists from Andros and destroyed by Philip II in 348 BC. Philip rebuilt the city in return for the philosopher's tutoring of Alexander. After Aristotle died in Chalcis, the people of Stagira carried his ashes home and founded the Aristoteleia, a festival held in his honour.