Greece: Halkidiki and Thessaloniki with Kids

Hello again! After Plovdiv, Bulgaria, we drove down to northern Greece. We spent an amazing ten days in Halkidiki (also spelled Chalidiki) and three days in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second biggest city.

Halkidiki contains three finger-like peninsulas that dip into the Aegean Sea. Travel guides state that it has some of the best beaches in Greece, and we were not disappointed! It is a popular vacation destination for Greeks and for Central and Eastern Europeans. The weather and water were pleasantly warm (nice enough to swim anytime from sunrise to sunset), and the water was tranquil and a variety of beautiful colors. The beaches ranged from sandy to pebbly, and there were a lot of fish swimming around. It was a fantastic place to take young children because it was very safe for swimming.

We spent our time on the Kassandra peninsula, which is the farthest west of the three peninsulas (the middle one is less developed and the eastern one, which has many active monasteries, clings to an archaic men-only rule). We were in a little town called Fourkas, on the less touristed southern side, and spent most of our days at Possidi Cape, which is a long stretch of sand with incredibly clear waters (if you swam out a ways, you could still easily see the bottom where it was 10 or more feet deep). We had a nice little Airbnb with a big patio surrounded by olive trees, and we literally were inside only for sleeping, as we ate and played outside all day long.

Another nice place on the peninsula that we enjoyed visiting was Afytos. It is an old town with stone roads and buildings up on a small cliff overlooking the ocean. It is full of seafood restaurants, little souvenir stands, and (as we discovered) little coin-fed rides for kids. Needless to say, the kids had a blast!

We would absolutely recommend Halkidiki for anyone looking for an amazing beach vacation—we hope to go back some day!

Thessaloniki was a super lively and interesting city with a lengthy history. It has wonderful historical remains, ruins, and churches from the Romans, Byzantines, and Ottoman Empire. Everywhere you wander you come across something new and interesting, whether a Roman forum, Byzantine church, or Turkish bath. We also really enjoyed taking a bus to the top of the hill on which the city is built where there are the remains of an old fortress, and then from there we walked down through the old city, which is full of alleys, stairways and street art, making it extra fun for the kids to walk around! 

The city is also full of cafes and restaurants, and is very lively (we were told that 1 out of 4 residents are under 35 years old, and that in the city center it’s 1 out of 2 who are under 35). It also has a long history of sweets, and the sweet-shops are loaded with goodies like chocolates, pastries, and Turkish sweets dripping with honey. We made sure to take regular breaks from exploring to indulge in some tasty sweets.

It was just an overall fun city to visit and explore!

Finally, we wanted to mention that the Greek people were wonderfully hospitable, especially to our children. Our kids frequently walked out of stores with a little sweet or treat from the proprietor, who would chat them up. They got their heads ruffled all over the place. And when we got on the Thessaloniki city bus and tried to figure out how to pay, an older woman gave us two bus tickets as her welcome to the city (and refused to take any money for them no matter how hard we tried). It was definitely a great place to travel with kids!