The squid-shaped peninsula of Halkidhikí begins at a perforated edge of shallow lakes east of Thessaloníki, then extends into three prongs of land - Kassándhra, Sithonía and Athos - trailing like tentacles into the Aegean Sea. Mount Athos , the easternmost peninsula, is in all ways separate, a "Holy Mountain", whose monastic population, semi-autonomous within the Greek state, excludes all women - even as visitors. The most that women can do is to glimpse the buildings from offshore cruise kaïkia sailing from the two small resorts on the periphery of the peninsula - Ierissós and Ouranoúpoli - on the "secular" part of the Athos peninsula.

 

Kassándhra and Sithonía , by contrast, host some of the most overblown holiday resorts in Greece. Up until the late 1980s these were popular mainly with Greeks, but they've since been fairly comprehensively developed, with most European package-tour companies maintaining a presence at often monstrously huge complexes. On Kassándhra especially, almost any reasonable beach is accompanied by a crop of villas or several hotel developments, while huge billboards advertise campsite complexes miles in advance. Still larger signs at the entrance to each peninsula of Halkidhikí remind you that camping outside authorized sites is strictly prohibited, although in theory it's possible, as most beaches here are equipped with free freshwater showers. You should have no trouble getting accommodation outside the busy midsummer period (mid-July to mid-August). The beaches themselves consist of white sand, ranging in consistency from powder to coarse-grained; less appealing are the fortunately stingless jellyfish which drift about nearly everywhere.

Both Kassándhra and Sithonía are connected to Thessaloníki by a four-lane expressway which ends at Néa Moudhaniá, from where a network of fast two-lane roads extend around their coastlines. Buses run frequently to all the larger resorts. In spite of this, neither peninsula is that easy to travel around if you are dependent on public transport . You really have to pick a place and stay there, perhaps renting a motorbike or car for excursions.