Dear Mrs Jane (aka Lady Jane ),
Dear "Halkidikians",

I really need a little advice from you. I read lot of pages of the forum, and the descriptions of Halkidiki site (very good!) till I decided to write here.
I want to spend again my vacation in Greece, together with my wife and my 26 yo son, and another family. I decided to go again to Halkidiki, after more than 10 years. My first visit in Greece was in Metamorphosi. I felt in love in this country, but I must confess I quite got bored at that time, as Metamorphosi is so small and I was not by car, so I got "stocked" on a 300 m street Fortunately, we went with one of my wife's business partners from Salonic, to Neos Marmaras, where I liked a lot Porto Carras (including the casino :p). I am remembering N. Marmaras as a nice location, so I intended first to go there this year. I got some nice offers for accomodation, but reading some forums, I understood that from the center of the city there is about 0,5 km till the beach, and the beach is not fine at all, very small in width, around 5 m, near the road where cars do their "job", and more than this, there are a lot of stones in the water (not sharp, but still stones, not sand). So the city is nice, but the beach is bad. So I decided to try to choose another location. I do not know for sure if my information were correct. Anyway, at this moment, I have to decide between Dionisiou Beach and Nea Potidea. I did not find more information about them, it seems not many people went there. I looked the pictures and even little movies I found on internet, but I still need an opinion about this. Maybe it is better to tell you what I expect from this holliday: well, I love to have long evening walks, preferably along the seaside. But also in the village would be fine. The only condition is to have where. I told you about what I felt about Metamorphosi, so I hope for more streets to walk on. As I saw in the pictures, both of them have a "promenada" alley, but I do not know how long it is. So this is my first concern, to meet a loooong pavement. Give me the esplanade and nothing matters to me.

Unfortunately, my son like to swimm, so we also need a beach. As a metter of fact, this is one of the reasons we are going to Greece, right? But I hate the beaches with sharp things on them, such as stones or...sea urchins . And this is why I gave up N. Marmaras...

I also like to go, when the moon appears in the sky, to a clean taverna, enjoy a glass of tsipuro and having some calamares, while having a chat with my friends and family. Of course, some shops would be fine (for the ladies in the group). About dancing in clubs...not so sure, maybe my son, as my belly is too big for this Or maybe that's why I should be interested for. At least my wife invoke this argument...BUt who's gonna listen to her, right guys?

Am I asking too much? I guess you all like these things, so you understand what I am looking for. The problem is which of them fits better? Can you provide me some more information from your experience about these 2 villages?

Vourvourou probably will be better then these, right? But I am still waiting for some offers from there, so till then, please help me on this.

Thank you very much!

Hi Cher,

i have never been to dionysiou beach as i prefer the ones that are actually in the legs of Halkidiki rather than in the Halkidiki mainland. So i cannot advise on that. Potidea, i ve been a couple of times. Depending on where you actually stay in Potidea village you may also need to walk a little bit to get to the beach. Generally i don't like Potidea a lot, not my taste really. but again someone else may disagree.

I think the difference between the resorts in the first and the second leg is that in the second leg the resorts are quite far apart. So it is not practical to travel from metamorphosi lets say to marmaras or to sarti etc etc by taxi. you more or less need to be contained in the actual village you are in.

However in the first leg that is not actual the case. If we set Potidea aside which is about 10km (maybe more) from the other resorts , all the other village-resorts in the first leg are near to each other. so kalithea offers a sandy beach with big clubs that offer nightclubbing greek-style. then after 5km you ve got kriopigi, then after 5 km you ve got polichrono with a long beach, many restaurants quiet, then after 5 km is hanioti more lively, than after another 5 km is pefkohori something in between hanioti and polichrono and then after 5km or so you ve got the chrouso beach etc etc. The beaches are great in all of the resorts ( i do not like the kriopigi one) , the style of the village may differ though. i do not think there is one village-resort that offers everything you ask for but most of them offer most of what you ask for. if you combine them either by car or taxi then you will have everything that you ask for.

Hi Cher

Nea Potidia is where we stayed and I have to say it was very nice, we stayed at the villa oasis which has its own private beach but it is a shingle beach however a small price to pay for complete privacy. From there you can drive to Nea Potidia main village where there is a beautiful beach and fantastic tavernas on the beach, the food is fresh and lovely and you can watch the sun go down whilst you chat! I would go back there again!!!

Jane