Thessaloniki & Chalkidiki

From 700€

Discover unforgettable journeys and immersive experiences tailored for you.

Day 1: Arrival in Thessaloniki

Arrival at Thessaloniki airport, welcome and transfer by private taxi to the hotel. Enjoy Thessaloniki is a kind and generous city that is both old and avant-garde, suitable for a city break or layover and a fascinating blend of holiday experiences in northern Greece. Greece's second largest city is unlike any other in the country. Thessaloniki is a large metropolitan hub as well as a cultural melting pot, where ambitions, ideas, visions, and trends collide in an alternative, avant-garde atmosphere. Its history is written all about you, with ancient monuments (Greek and Roman) nestled amid structures that depict the tale of the city's more recent Byzantine, Ottoman, and Jewish influences.

Day 2: Explore Thessaloniki

Free day to explore the city. The Palace, Triumphal Arch, and Rotunda (which served as the city's administrative and religious core under Emperor Galerius Maximilianos' rule in the early 4th century AD) are the city's most illustrious Roman legacies. Don't miss the old residence of Kemal Ataturk, the creator of modern Turkey, which is an architectural relic of the Ottoman Empire. You'll enjoy an interactive museum tour in the White Tower (one of Thessaloniki's symbols) by the waterfront, with each floor dedicated to a different face of the city - cultural, commercial, culinary, and intellectual - before emerging on the rooftop and being treated to a 360-degree view of the Thermaic Gulf and the city landscape. In the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, you may learn about the region's Macedonian culture via relics like the Petralona Hoard (a collection of bronze implements dating from the third millennium BC) and the gold wreaths that the Macedonians were famous for. Optional: Guided tour, walking tour.

Day 3: "Macedonian Treasures" Vergina-Veria-Lefkadia

A day that combines Hellenistic Period of conquerors and prosperity with the most important pilgrim route of Greece! Today you have an early start, heading towards the ancient Vergina or "Aegae" as per its ancient name, the first capital of the Ancient Macedonia. There, you will have the opportunity to enter into the tomb of King Philip the II, father of Alexander the Great, which excavated in 1977, protected by UNESCO and considered one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century. Next you'll visit Veria, a town well known for its wealthy religious history as St. Paul preached there in his 2nd tour. Moving on to the ancient city of Mieza, the school of the great philosopher Aristotle. Night in Thessaloniki

Day 4: From Thessaloniki to Halkidiki

Today you change area and hotel, moving to Halkidiki. Mountain or beach? Is it a beach bar or a secluded cove? Traditional villages or five-star resorts? Halkidiki, in northern Greece, has something for everyone. Prepare to be enchanted by its three magnificent peninsulas: Kassandra, Sithonia, and the third finger, which includes the beach town of Ouranoupoli and the famed monastic state of Mount Athos. Turquoise water, deep pine trees, lovely hotels, little coves with fish tavernas and cafés, beach bars, archaeological monuments, mediaeval towns, and Kassandra's famed Petralona Cave: a magical microcosm. Designed to be explored with all of your senses.

Day 5 & 6: Explore Halkidiki

What to do? - Discover Petralona Cave and the 700,000-year-old man - Beach-hopping: Kavourotripes, Mikro (small) and Megalo (large) Karidi, Kalogria, Kriopigi, Agios Mamas, Sani… - Indulge in five-star luxury and a wealth of experiences - Admire the advanced city planning of Ancient Olynthos - Travel to Aristotle’s hometown and test his theories - The traditional villages of Arnaia and Afitos - The Potidaia Canal, dating back thousands of years

Day 7: Cruise to see Mount Athos

The biggest and most significant monastic state in the Orthodox East, often known as "the Garden of the Virgin Mary," boasts one of the greatest cultural excursions in northern Greece. The monastic monastery of Athos, which covers the easternmost and wildest 'leg' of the three-pronged Halkidiki peninsula, is the second-most significant religious pilgrimage site for the world's more than 300 million Orthodox Christians, behind Jerusalem. Mount Athos, which now has 20 monasteries, is an independent area within the Greek state, spiritually under the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Despite the fact that it is devoted to the Virgin Mary, all ladies are not permitted to enter. However, regardless of faith or country, any adult man (or under-18-year-olds escorted by their father) may visit the Holy Mountain by acquiring a permission.

Day 8: Goodbye Greece

Free time until transfer time to the airport. Transfer: 1h