Halkidiki Greece Blog

Tourists from Eastern Europe are heading en masse to resorts in Greece this summer season, Greek media reported recently.

Bulgarians, whose entry into the EU in 2007, allowed them to discover the Chalkidiki Peninsula, prefer the hotels in the northern part of the country, tour operators told the daily newspaper Kathimerini.

This trend has been consistent over the past couple of years and was proved again over the Easter holidays, when over 32,000 Bulgarians went to Greece during their vacation, spending time mostly in Thessaloniki and around the Chalkidiki Peninsula.

The Kathimerini publication also wrote about the “traditionalist” Serbs who have been spending their holidays in Greece for years, but – as BalkanTravellers.com wrote in June, they are being joined by many Serbs who have turned away from Montenegro, because of its higher service prices, eco tax and poor roads, and replaced it with the Greek islands of Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, Zakynthos and the Chalkidiki Penninsula.

The “well-paying” Romanians, according to Kathimerini, don’t mind spending money while on holiday and are one of the few nationalities that leave tips – despite the low average salaries in their country.

Last Saturday dozens of residents & fishermen blocked the port of Ouranoupolis, gateway to Mount Athos on the peninsula of Halkidiki, to protest government plans to restrict activity in the European Union-protected zone.

Protesters lined up 30 boats along the dock to obstruct vessels taking monks to and from Mount Athos, complaining that the planned measures would put local fishermen out of business. Locals also allege that the monastic community has encroached upon public land.

Source: ekathimerini.com

A special ceremony will be held in downtown Thessaloniki’s Aristotelous Square on March 27 to welcome the Olympic Flame “Beijing 2008″ within the framework of a torch relay launched at the site of the ancient Olympics in Olympia, southern Greece, several months before the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games in the host country.

A number of art, sports and cultural happenings have been planned  by the Thessaloniki municipal authorities.

With the summer approaching we have completed our list with Halkidiki car rental companies. Of course our official partner “Chalkidiki Cars” is on top of this list.

For those that prefer to book their holiday car at an other company we have all the major car hire companies listed.

For all listed companies counts that they have a pick up service at the airport of Thessaloniki and that they have an online reservation system.

Check our list of Halkidiki car hire companies.

Partnership In-Chalkidiki.com & Chalkidiki-Cars.com

In-Chalkidiki.com is proud to announce a new partnership with Chalkidiki-Cars.com.

Chalkidiki-Cars.com consists of 4 rent-a-car companies with more than 100 pick up locations at Chalkidiki - Thessaloniki and surrounding areas. Chalkidiki-Cars.com offers hotel and airport delivery as well.

Visitors can make their car reservation online by clicking the Chalkidiki Cars banner on the top of our pages or click this link: Chalkidiki Cars

VIENNA - As was the case last year, Greece this year again is among the top three most popular holiday destinations for Austrians, according to a poll conducted by the Tourism Research Institute, the results of which were published on Friday.

The countries ahead of Greece are Italy and Croatia.

In 2007, one in five Austrians spent their holidays in Greece. In 2007, 600,000 Austrian tourists visited Greece and the same level is expected this year, with the prospect of an increase of 2-3%.

Source: Athens News Agency

For the camping freaks we started listing Halkidiki Campings at our site. Halkidiki counts more than 40 campsites, we have listed 8, so a lot more work to do!

Camping’s that are already listed:
Camping Areti in Neos Marmaras
Camping Melissi in Sikia
Lacara Camping in Nikiti
Camping Pitsoni in Sikia
Camping Rea in Vourvourou
Camping Armenistis in Sarti
Comitsa Camping in Nea Roda

If you stayed at one of these camping’s please write a review! Your review will be helpful for other travellers who still have to decide where to go. You can write reviews without registering.

Also, we are interested in nice photos. If you have photos of a camping in Halkidiki and you are willing to share it with our site visitors, sent them to us by using this form.

Thank you very much!

Halkidiki Travel Guide
www.in-chalkidiki.com

Very low temperatures and icy conditions in northern Greece were the main weather characteristics on Wednesday. The provincial road (Aghios Vasilios-Chortiatis) in Thessaloniki remains closed for precautionary reasons after the snowfall at New Year’s Eve.

Cars using the provincial roads in the areas of Imathia, Pella, Kilkis, Serres and Halkidiki need snow chains as well.

The snowfall in the areas of Kastoria and Florina, northwest Greece, has made snow chains imperative for cars using the local provincial road network and the national motorway in the sections between Kastoria and Florina via Nestorio, Aminteo and Vitsi.

Temperatures dropped below zero at dawn in several cities in northern Greece. Kozani had -5C, Nevrokopi -4C, Kastoria and Alexandroupolis -2C and Thessaloniki and Serres -1C.

we wish all our visitors a lot of happiness, a good health and lots of travelling for the year 2008.

2007 brought our site a lot more visitors than before and therefor we are very happy!

132.426 people visited our site, producing more than 500.000 page-views.
Most busy day was July 9 ‘07 with 1065 unique visitors.

More than 200 photos were sent during the 2007 photo contest. Mr. Donev from Bulgaria won the 150 Euro for sending the winning photo.

For us 2008 will be the year of improving our pages, update and adding information and promoting the hotel review section.

Also we are looking forward to the 2008 photo contest and all the beautiful photos that you will sent.

Thank’s again for visiting our site!

Halkidiki Travel Guide
www.in-chalkidiki.com

Proporties added to the Halkidiki Real Estate section (October 2007):

House for sale in Paliouri (Glarokavos) Halkidiki
Short description: The house has 90 sqm. and its a 2 storey house. There are two bedrooms a large living room with a chimney and a kitchen.

Houses for sale in Paliouri Halkidiki
Short description: Offering six new developments in Paliouri, Pallini municipality, Kassandra, Halkidiki. The single semi-detached family houses are all in the construction phase and should be completed by December 2007.

Luxury residence for sale in Kallithea Halkidiki
Short description: Are you looking for a luxury property located in an area with 5 star hotels? A luxury property only 120 meters from the beach?

Villa for sale in Pefkohori Halkidiki
Short description: Large and spacious villa with elements of modern design but with a touch of village architecture, located perfectly in the town of Pefkochori.

Apartments for sale in Paliouri Halkidiki
Short description: Very affordable seaside apartments for sale in Paliouri, Halkidiki.

Villas Houses and Maisonettes for sale in Pefkohori Halkidiki
Short description: NIRVANA is constructed by a popular clear blue beach.

Luxury Sea Front Villa for sale on Kassandra Halkidiki
Short description: This amazing 300 sq metre seven bedroom, four bathroom luxury villa in front of the sea with panoramic sea views has just come onto the market. The villa is set in 2000sq metres of landscaped gardens with private access to the beach.

Sea Front Maisonette to let in Gerakini Halkidiki
Short description: WHOLE SEASON LET ONLY (1st Apr - 30th Sept). Located in front of the sea this fantastic 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom maisonette with panoramic sea views is touching on paradise. The property has 1000sq metre private garden with steps leading onto the beach.

Seaside residence for sale in Nikiti Halkidiki
Short description: Located in the peaceful suberb Ag.Georgios in Nikiti, Halkidiki with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, balkonies, fireplace, parkingplace, for the moment under construction, ready in spring 2008.

Land for sale on Sithonia Halkidiki
Short description: FOR SALE 130,000 Sqm of land in front of the sea for development.