Halkidhikí , easily reached by bus from Thessaloníki, is the clear highlight of Macedonia's eastern half. Its first two peninsulas, Kassándhra and Sithonía, shelter the north's main concentration of beaches; the third, Athos , the country's finest, though most secretive, monasteries.

 

Further east, there are a few more good beaches en route to Kavála , but little of interest inland, with a scattering of small market towns serving a population that - as in neighbouring Thrace - produces the main Greek tobacco crop.