We’re still buzzing from our Greek adventure and our next stop is the stunning region of Halkidiki. We flew from Crete to Thessaloniki, and took a scenic drive to this seaside paradise. Check out our video below or keep reading to learn more!

Halkidiki is made up of beautiful small seaside towns and villages, and we’re kicking off our stay in the town of Neos Marmaras, on what’s called “the second leg” of the Halkidiki peninsulas, Sithonia. 

We fell in love with Neos Marmaras almost immediately. The town is so beautiful and welcoming. The water is some of the clearest that we’ve ever seen and the blue hues sparkle endlessly in the bright sunshine.  The town itself is postcard perfect, filled with Greece’s iconic whitestone and blue trimmed buildings. The streets are lined with cute shops, local specialty stores and some incredible restaurants. 

We learned that nearby Thessalinoki has been deemed a UNESCO city of gastronomy, and the culinary excellence of that nearby city definitely trickles down into the seasides of Halkidiki. We arrived very hungry from our travels, and our first meal was at Okyalos Seafood Restaurant.

This restaurant has a beautiful, large rooftop terrace with a panoramic sea view that we’re still dreaming about. We kicked things off with some olives and tomato fritters. What was amazing about these olives was how juicy and packed with flavor each bite was, they were unlike most olives that we can get back home.

And the tomato fritters? They achieved crispy perfection, even with something as watery as a tomato. What a way to start our meal!

On to the mains, I had a bowl of fresh mussels in risotto. The risotto was pure comfort food, creamy and filling and the fresh mussels added a briny, yet fresh element to the dish. Mehmet opted for the seasonal specialty of lamb wrapped in grape leaves. The blend of the earthy grape leaves and warm spices gave off an aroma that was just out of this world. The lamb was incredibly tender and flavorful, which was perfectly complemented by the slightly tart grape leaves.

This meal was the perfect start to our time in this region. Everyone at the restaurant was so warm and welcoming, making us feel right at home. In true Greek fashion, we were offered a generous dessert of a variety of chocolate cakes to end our meal.  

Strangely, we still had a sweet tooth calling, so we headed across the street to Fregio for some gelato. As a bit of an ice cream connoisseur, I was blown away by the unique flavors here and how delicious and creamy our gelatos were. They also had some great looking pastries, which I hope we’ll be back to try in the future.

If you keep walking along the same road, you’ll come to another great restaurant called Ta Kymata. Here, they specialize in seafood and have tables right on the sand. Unfortunately, it was pretty chilly during our visit, so we ate in the covered area, but the atmosphere was still lovely. 

We started off with some roasted red peppers, which had a great balance of smokiness and sweetness and were topped with great local olive oil and herbs. To follow, a plate of stuffed grape leaves, an all time favorite of ours, that was perfect in every bite.

I enjoyed a really large plate of calamari. It was super crispy on the outside, and the squid itself was so tender. Mehmet, who leans more towards land, opted for a juicy steak. It was another fantastic meal that solidified our belief that Greece has some of the best food on the planet! And once again, another round of complimentary desserts! This is a custom that we’re really going to miss when we leave Greece!

There was one Greek dish that we were really excited to try on this trip, the legendary Greek pastry called bougatsa that we have heard so much about. The next morning, we stopped at the local bakery to pick up some freshly baked bougatsa and headed over to the beach to give it a try. Bougatsa often comes in both sweet and savory forms, today we opted for the sweet one. And oh my goodness, wow, this was just so good.

The outside was super flakey, a little bit greasy but in like the best way, and filled with a vanilla custard that had just a touch of sweetness and topped with cinnamon which really upped the flavor. We loved this bougatsa so much that we’re going to try to re-create it when we get back home, so stay tuned for that recipe!

We’ve been so distracted by the food that we haven’t even told you about the main attraction of this area yet, which are of course its beautiful beaches!

Halkidiki has tons and tons of beaches, and Neos Marmaras has two particularly gorgeous sandy beaches that sandwich the town.   On the Southern end of the city is Neos Marmaras beach, a large sand beach with plenty of space to bring your own beach gear and spread out, as well as organized beach clubs where you can rent a lounger and umbrella for the day.

Although it was a bit chilly for sunbathing during our visit, we still enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the Fratelli Beach Club, complete with some refreshing freddo cappuccino. They have a beautiful set up and it would be the perfect place to lounge away an entire day in the sun. 

We honestly fell in love with Neos Marmaras and were genuinely sad to leave, but we were excited to explore Kassandra, the first leg of Halkidiki, and check out some of the beach villages on that side of the region.

Luckily, we weren’t sad for too long as we found plenty of great spots here as well. Our first stop was Polychrono, a town with a long stretch of sandy beach.

After settling in, we headed to Nefeli Garden for lunch. Mehmet was in the mood for something different today, so he went with a pizza, while I felt like I needed something fresh, and opted for a nice salad. Here we also tried a version of cheese croquettes that was different from those we had tasted so far in Greece. These were rolled in sliced almonds and topped with a slightly sweet jam, creating a delightful combination of nutty, sweet and salty flavors. We also loved the dessert here, which was phyllo dough filled with creamy ice cream and drizzled with a deliciously sweet honey.  

For dinner, we were craving something more casual and grabbed gyros at a beachside spot called Elia. My gyro was overflowing with juicy, seasoned meat and I also love that somehow they managed to stuff french fries in here too! Mehmet devoured some perfectly grilled beef kebabs. Of course, we also got a Greek salad to share, for you know, balance.

One thing we loved about driving between towns was that every town seemed to have a large bakery right on the side of the road, making it hard to resist stopping in for a sweet treat. These bakeries always had such an amazing variety of pastries and other goodies.

We’ll link the details to the ones we stopped in below, but we have to give a special shoutout to one called Dramis Bakery, where we had the most delicious pistachio pastry. It was basically a huge piece of baklava topped with pistachio cream. This was unlike anything we’ve ever had before and it was mind blowingly good!

We spent our last few nights of the trip in a town called Siviri, and just when we thought we couldn’t love this area any more, Siviri showed us that there was still more to take in. The beach here was probably the most stunning one that we saw on our entire trip. It had the nicest, finest sand and shallow still water.

Given the chilly weather, we spent most of our time enjoying the view from the seafront restaurants. We spent one afternoon at a spot called Akri sipping Aperol Spritzes, contemplating life and consuming an absolutely amazing treat called loukoumas. These freshly fried balls of dough were topped with honey and tahini creating a delightful warm and gooey treat. These were absolutely amazing, and if we had more time here I would have had a plate of these every single day.  

After so many great meals throughout Greece, we didn’t think anything could top what we had already had, but our last night absolutely took the cake. We ate at a local favorite in Siviri called Sto Kyma. The restaurant was just Greek hospitality at its best. Amazing food, the best possible service and the most welcoming atmosphere. Mehmet had a melt in your mouth lamb dish slow cooked in a rich tomato sauce. I opted for the mussels in tomato sauce and this dish was jam packed with mussels and sooo tasty.

And we can’t forget the fried zucchini that we devoured as our starter! It was sliced super thin and lightly fried for the perfect amount of crunch.

This incredible meal, coupled with the warm Siviri atmosphere, made leaving incredibly difficult.

In Greece, you never dine alone, because you are always surrounded by the street cats who will patiently wait for you to share a bite of your meal. We also encountered a few really sweet dogs and even a wild peacock which we thought was really cool!

Between the incredible food, the breathtaking beaches and the wonderful people, Halkidiki truly captured our hearts. We can’t wait to come back and explore more of this amazing region.