Halkidiki Today
 

This large peninsula of Macedonia is situated between two bays, the Thermaikos and the Strymonikos, with three smaller peninsulas: Kassandra to the west, Sithonia in the middle, between the Toroneos and the Siggitikos Gulf and Mount Athos (Coast or Athos) to the east. These three prongs contribute to Halkidiki' s unique schematic particularity, but also the biggest length of coasts (550 kms. approximately) from all the land prefectures of Greece. Halkidiki is a semi-mountainous region: the flat grounds occupy a 25% of the whole, the semi-mountainous a 51% and the mountainous a 24%. Its main mountains are: Holomontas (1.165 m. height), Stratonikon (823 m. height), Itamos (753 m. height) and Athos (2.033 m. height). There are not so many rivers, however the biggest torrents (as Havrias, Olynthios, Anthemous etc.) and scattered water biotopes maintain the flora and fauna of the region. It is a blessed place, with rare natural beauties. It combines wonderfully the light blue of the sea and the green of the land. Here the marvelous alternations of rock-creek, shore-hill, sandy beach-pine tree, bay-mountain, convulse the visitor and prompt him to remain and enjoy the dew of the transparent sea and be revived in its splendid shady forests. The permanent residents of Halkidiki are less than 100.000 (92.117 at the census of 1991), however each summer they are multiplied astonishingly. Numberless Greeks and foreigners from all over the world arrive in the summer at its roughly 440 hotels of - plenty of them almost 1.000 beds each - with totally more than 37.000 beds, its 40 organised campings, its countless rooms for rent, of many thousands of beds, its organised camps, all its coasts and a lot of regions in the inland. The Prefecture of Halkidiki has 14 municipalities. Mount Athos, with its 20 Monasteries and 1.536 resident population, is an autonomous region.