Map & Synopsis: Greek Island of Thassos (N.E. Aegean)

Greek Island of Thassos

This very green round island just 10 km (6.2 miles) south of the river border between Macedonia and Thrace on the northeastern Greek mainland, used to be mainly a Greek enclave, but since the 1990s, many foreign visitors have come, and along with them, some package tourism.

Still, there are places to escape the crowds in high season, with many good beaches, and several campsites on or near beaches. Forests are responsible for the island's greenness, though ravaged by fires in the 1980s and 1990s, though recovering. Cypress, oak, chestnut, walnut, olive, poplar, and several kinds of pine trees are found on the island.

Beautiful white marble has been quarried on Thassos since ancient times, zinc, silver and antimomy mined; fish, olives, honey, nuts, and fruit are among the island's edible produce.

Limenas (also called Thassos Town) is the capital and one of the island's two ports, and retains its old fishing harbor, with ancient remains everywhere in the town, which numbers about 2600 inhabitants, many of them descendants of Asia Minor Refugees from the 1922 population exchange between Greece and Turkey.

There's plenty of accommodation in Limenas, and a beach below the town, with a small campsite at nearby Nysteri cove. The excavation site of ancient Thassos and its museum are quite fascinating, as is the Acropolis, spread across three hills, with much to see.

For those who hate crowded beaches, Makryammos, 3 km to the east of Limenas is to be avoided, with an entrance fee charged to boot. One of the nicest hill villages on the island is Panayia, overlooking Potamia Bay, with old whitewashed Macedonian style houses with carved wood and slate roofs, some with streams flowing under them. There are many rooms and tavernas here.

Potamia is a pretty place with streams, though modern architecturally; there a folk art museum here, and the starting point for hikes up Mt. Ipsari, the island's summit., below the village are fine beaches and sand dunes, with some tavernas, rooms, and a campsite.

Paradise is one of the nicest beaches, with an islet to swim to; Alyki is a very traditional village in the south (modern construction banned), which sits over a double bay and the island's best beaches, the rocky cove to the east less crowded than the other. Tavernas and rooms are found here.

The slate roofed convent of Arkhangelou Mikhail has great views; below Astris village at the island's south tip is a good beach near Cape Sapuni, with medieval towers on it. One of the island's best campsites is on Potos beach. The second port of Limenaria has old mansions, trees, and a shady beach, with plenty of tavernas and rooms. There are campsites in Skala Prinou and Skala Rahoniou, and ferry link to the mainland; Pahis Beach is the best on the northwest coast. Inland Thassos offers the interesting green hill village of Theologos, the island capital in Ottoman times, its church with 12th century icons, houses with slate roofs, walled courtyards and gardens. Maries is one of the most traditional villages on Thassos, at the top of a wooded stream valley.