A Week In Halkidiki Greece – Afytos Town

Ready to discover a laid-back way of life over a week in Halkidiki, Greece? We found this easy-to-reach mainland destination perfect for a relaxed Greek getaway, offering beautiful beaches, charming towns, and a slower pace than some of the islands.

Choose Afytos Town as an ideal base for exploring the Halkidiki peninsula. It’s a small town with cobbled streets, sea-view restaurants, and undeniable Agean charm. It’s the perfect spot to rent a car and explore Halkidiki’s stunning coastline.

Drawing on our time in Afytos and years of exploring Greece, we’ve created this Week in Halkidiki Guide. We hope it inspires you to experience this Mediterranean gem for yourself—pretty villages, crystal-clear waters, and Greek life at its best.

Helpful Trip Planning Tools

Practical Trips (transport, weather, currency)

Skip this section if you want to go straight to our Halkidiki itinerary section. But if like us, you want to check a few essentials up front, here they are:

Weather: Check Average Weather for typical temperatures.

Getting Here: Fly to Thessaloniki International Airport on mainland Greece. This is the closest airport to Halkidiki and our destination of Afytos, 90km away. Read more in our Getting to Halkidiki section.

Currency: Greece is in the EU so uses the Euro currency.

Visas: No visa required for visits of up to 90 days for most passports, including U.S., EU, UK, and Canadian citizens.

Why choose Afytos?

Afytos, which is also knows as Athitos or even Athytos, is located about half way down the Kassandra peninsula of Halkidiki. Built on a rock of 75m, it offers incredible views over the Gulf of Toroneos. It’s a very traditional hilltop stone built village with lots of natural beauty.

It’s very well set up for tourists, with plenty of great restaurants, bars, tavernas, and gift stores in this village yet it has a wonderful relaxed feel to it.

3 Top Things to Do In Afytos Town

During your week in Afytos, we suggest you do these three activities.

Explore Cobbled Streets and Visit the Folklore Museum

Afytos has so many pretty cobbled streets, stone houses, and small boutiques that you can easily spend several hours browsing in.

There’s a central square where many cafes and restaurants are but make sure you head up the side streets too so you don’t miss anything out.

You’ll find small fountains, traditional houses, and beautiful churches. Take a look inside historic Agios Demetrios church built in 1858. It’s open daily.

In the evening, visit the Folklore Museum of Afytos for a glimpse into local history. It’s open daily from 7pm – 11pm with entrance payable of €2.

If you like pottering around the souvenir shops, there are lots of things to browse. Olive wood items, painted bowls, soaps, tea-towels, mugs, jewellery, bags, etc.

Swim and Snorkel at Afytos Beach

There are 2 beaches in Afytos so choose from Athytos Beach or  Varkes Beach. You can walk to them from the village. They are well signposted and although aneasy walk down, it but will take around 10-20 minutes to walk back up the hill. If you have a car and drive there, parking is free.

Known for its clear turquoise water and pebbled shore, both are ideal for swimming and snorkeling, especially in the morning when the sea is calm.

If you are looking for seclusion and peace without beach bars, head to Athytos Beach. Bring your own snacks and water. It’s where we went and a lovely spot.

However, you may prefer to have the option of easy access to beach cafes and restaurants. If so, walk a little further to Varkas Beach.

Here you can also choose to hire a sun lounger. However, it’s expensive – in high season expect to pay around €40 for two beds and a parasol for the day.

Take a Cliff Top Stroll and Enjoy Sunset Cocktails & Dinner

The beauty of Afytos is its location and when you take a walk along the clifftop paths that run above the Toroneos Gulf, you’ll really appreciate just how beautiful it is. It’s not a long walk and the route is mostly flat but for sunset photos it’s perfect.

From here it’s an easy transition from walking to dining with several excellent restaurants right on the edge of the cliffs.

Tables overlook the water and with good wine, fresh seafood and salads, it’s the perfect dining spot. The local souvlaki is also delicious.

In peak season, getting specific tables overlooking the sea, can be difficult so book in advance.

In other parts of the village, you are spoiled for choice for tavernas and restaurants in Afytos. Expect to pay around €50 for two delicious main courses; a shared Greek salad and a 500ml carafe of wine. 

 Our recommendations and where we went :

• Amazing Seafood – Strouboulis
• Great for Families – Soboro
• Ocean Sunset Views – Christos Taverna
• Sunset Cocktails – Notos Cafe Bar

Ideas for Day Trips From Afytos Town

With a destination like Afytos, it is all too easy just to be lazy and chill by the pool or beach during the day and then wander into the village in the evening. Most days, we did just that and you know what, that’s ok!  

However, if you’re like us, we still wanted to see a bit more of Halkidiki.  So, we rented a car and took ourselves off on some days trips.

🔍 Click Here to Book Car Hire

At a glance, here are some easy and fun things to do from Afytos during your week in Halkidiki.

Day Trip 1 : Explore Beaches – Hroussou, Neo Skioni, Possidi, Siviri

We visited these four beaches in one day which is quite doable. The total distance on a round trip to include all four is 90km. However, if you want to spend longer at each beach, split this into two days. Visit Hroussou and Neo Skioni together and then Possidi and Siviri.

Hroussou Beach

Starting in Afytos Town, we headed south travelling through the various resort areas.  Only five minutes from Afytos is Kalithea, a popular spot with tourists. You might want to stop but to be honest, driving through, it felt busy, larger, and more commercial than Afytos so we kept going.

The coast road runs slightly inland so although you are driving parallel to the sea, you don’t see much of the coastline but it’s still a nice, easy drive.

Our first beach stop, 30km from Afytos was at Hroussou which is almost at the bottom part of the peninsula. . This beach is set around a very lovely bay with great swimming and water sports available. There is an area where you can rent parasols and luxury sunbeds for around €30.

Alternatively, bring your towel and enjoy the beach a few metres further away.  Car parking here is free.  We strolled along the beach to where a local fisherman tended to his boat.  It was the perfect point to enjoy beautiful views back across the bay.

Nea Skioni Beach

Moving south west, we drove another 20km (around 20 minutes) to the pretty village of Nea Skioni Beach. Here you will find another sandy beach which also has a lovely promenade to walk along and it’s a good stop for lunch.

The sunbeds are free if you buy a drink from one of the beachside tavernas.  Alternatively, just potter around the village – there’s some souvenir shops to browse in and that’s always fun!

Possidi and Siviri Beaches

Continuing on the coast road, we drove on to Possidi Beach. This was a journey of another 20 minutes to cover the 16km. We almost didn’t bother with Possidi as it had been a long day, but it was sort of on the way back.

I’m really glad we visited Possidi for this was a very pretty spot and we parked just outside the village for €3. There are a couple of cafes for refreshments and if you buy a drink, some include use of their sun loungers.

The beach is very long so you can head to different spots. If you are looking for dramatic scenery, drive to Possidi Cape and walk amongst the dunes. Go to the tip of the sands and you will be rewarded with sea views on both sides of the water. 

12km on, our final coastal tour stop was Siviri Beach which was a lovely spot to have a drink and watch the sunset.  Like the rest of this coast, it had a very relaxed vibe with some little shops and tavernas along the seafront.  

From there it was only 10km back east across the peninsula to Afytos.   Visiting different beaches and exploring beyond our hotel was absolutely worth a day or two of our week in Halkidiki.

Day Trip 2: Book A Boat Trip

There’s so much else to do in undiscovered Halkidiki such as local boat trips – the main departure point for this being Nea Fokea.

Our hotel recommended  Sven Schneider for sailing trips. Some guests had been and raved about Sailing with Sven. 

Day Trip 3 : Snorkelling in Sithonia

🔍 Click here to book your Snorkelling Adventure in Sithonia

If you want to visit one of the other peninsulas of Halkidiki, then head to Sithonia.

Choose to go independently or book the tour. Wilder and more unspoilt than Kassandra, it is well worth a full day.

Beaches like Kavourotrypes (Orange Beach), Kalamitsi, and Lagomandra are excellent for snorkelling thanks to crystal-clear water and rocky coves.

If you’d rather be on the water, take a boat trip from Neos Marmaras, stopping at hidden bays for swimming and snorkelling.

Day Trip 4 : Nea Moudania Market

25km from Afytos, you will find the town of Nea Moudania. Head here on a Wednesday and you will find the yourself at The Nea Moudania market. It is one of the liveliest in Halkidiki and a great insight into everyday Greek life.

Stalls sell fresh fruit and vegetables, olives, honey, cheeses, clothing, and household goods. After browsing, head to the seafront promenade for lunch at a traditional taverna overlooking the water.

Where to Stay in Afytos

Our picks are based on location, safe links to transport, and overall value for money.

Achtis Hotel Review

We don’t always include such detailed reviews for hotels, but for this one, we felt it needed a bit more than a sentence or two. With rave reviews on Tripadvisor and Booking.com our recommended Halkidiki hotel has also been featured by the UK’s Jet 2 holidays as a top place to stay.

We arrived at midnight.  A high wall, an oak-paneled door, and a simple sign indicated we were there.  It had an air of mystery surrounding it as this was all you could see from the road.

Behind this, we found our oasis, a little bit of paradise – The Achtis Hotel.

Comfortable sunbeds, parasols, and sofas spaced out around the hotel offering personal space.

Only 35 rooms meant there was never a queue for anything You enter and exit the hotel via a simple card system. A back exit leads to the village center some 300m away. 

Cake and more cake – you ordered coffee, you got cake; you ordered a meal; you got cake! The on-site spa offers some excellent deals – check out deals on arrival or via their website.

Achtis Hotel Facilities

Despite the hour, our host, wonderful Kristina met us with smiles and showed us to our ‘standard’ room. She popped back with drinks and sandwiches –‘You’ll be hungry’!  

I’ve never experienced a standard room like it with attention to detail at every turn.  You will enjoy luxury toiletries and sleep well in a king-size bed.  Relax in one of the large armchairs, on your balcony that overlooks the pool.  

A pet hate of mine is poor hotel hairdryers attached to bathroom walls, or fixed to a wall nowhere near a decent mirror.  Just as annoying are those with timers that switch off after 30 seconds. You know what I’m referring to here!! 

There was no hairdryer in the bathroom – where was it?  Opening the chest of drawers (below a large mirror) lay a wonderful sight – a modern hairdryer with a range of power settings –  that made me happy!

Staff: this is a family-run hotel passed down through generations.  The staff employed here are truly exceptional and take a genuine interest in you.  They even have their hotel pets – Mr Simba the dog and Kevin the peacock!

Clean: This hotel is so clean;  COVID may have encouraged this but everything was wiped down and spotless. 

Food: Delicious breakfasts served from 8-10 am with excellent selections. I love fresh fruit, yogurts; homemade breads; muesli; and eggs – all my favourites.  They grow fruits and vegetables in the hotel garden and it was so fresh and tasty.   

Where is Halkidiki?

Because Halkidiki (known to the Greeks as Chalkidiki) may not be as well known as other areas of Greece, we’re popping a map here to guide to you to its location. It consists of three peninsulas – almost island-like in their own right.

The most popular area is the first ‘cape’ known as Kassandra. This is where you will find Afytos Town.

How to Get to Halkidiki

Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece. It’s the main hub airport to travel into Halkidiki. We flew from London Stansted, about a 3-hour flight. Check flight schedules and deals to Thessaloniki.

Book your Thessaloniki airport transfer in advance to make your journey smoother.

FAQs

Combining Halkidiki with North Macedonia

It is also possible to drive to Halkidiki from North Macedonia if you would like a longer road trip adventure.

Read our North Macedonia Post for all the details on how to do this as it’s another under the radar destination in Europe that we love. Visiting Skopje the capital is well worth time to discover.

Hire a car if you want to explore the region on your own. We recommend picking up from the airport – check car rental availability. 

Which Greek island for All-inclusive with Grown Up Kids?

If you’re traveling with older kids you might consider somewhere like Corfu, Greece which we’ve enjoyed with kids in their 20s. Check our tips and itinerary for this fun Greek Island in Corfu with Grown Up Kids post.

Another Less Crowded Greek Destination

The great thing about coming to Halkidiki Greece is that it’s affordable, generally laid back but you can be as active as you like.  

If you enjoy less crowded spots, read an alternative experience from our travels in Greece – How to Spend a Week in Lefkada, Greece.

We’re hearing more people are slowly discovering these lesser known spots and they will grow in popularity!  So get here soon!