Thassos
Green, Pine Covered Island Ringed By One Coast Road, With The Ancient City And Agora At Limenas, Marble Beaches And Giola Lagoon; A Summer Island For The Balkans · Limenas, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace
Thassos is the northernmost island of the Aegean, a round, green island of pine forest and marble about 10 km off the coast of Eastern Macedonia, ringed by a single coast road of roughly 95 km. Its capital, Limenas (also called Thassos Town), sits on the ancient city: an agora, a theatre above the harbour and a walk along the old walls to an acropolis with gates carved with reliefs. The island's fame is its white marble, quarried since antiquity, which gives it dazzling beaches such as Marble Beach and the old quarry at Aliki, where the sea laps against cut blocks beside ruined early Christian basilicas. Mountain villages like Panagia and Theologos keep slate roofs and plane-shaded squares, and Giola, a natural rock pool on the south coast, is its most photographed spot. The honest picture: this is a relaxed beach-and-pine island for a week, hugely popular with Bulgarian, Romanian and Serbian families who drive down, not a sightseeing heavyweight; much of it shuts from November to April, and wildfires in past summers have left scars on some slopes.
Thassos, northern Aegean; Limenas (Thassos Town) and the port of Prinos; car ferries from Keramoti (about 40 minutes) and Kavala, Limenas, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Greece
A seasonal island: most hotels, beach bars and many tavernas open roughly from May to early October and close in winter, when Limenas keeps a few places going. The ancient agora in Limenas is generally open to walk around, and the acropolis walk is a free footpath; the Archaeological Museum of Thassos follows state hours, long in summer and shorter in winter, closed on the main public holidays - confirm. Aliki and Giola are open, unstaffed places. Reach the island by car ferry from Keramoti to Limenas (about 35-40 minutes, frequent in summer) or from Kavala to Prinos (about 1 hour 15 minutes); Kavala airport is about 20 minutes from Keramoti. Car spaces on August weekend boats can queue.