Get to know Ouranoupoli, Mount Athos - Greece • Eat, Sleep, Wander

Ouranoupoli is the last frontier before entering Mount Athos, the Holly mountain if you ask the Greeks. Small city that is offering relaxation and peaceful holiday, which is rare in the Chalkidiki peninsula. The city is not a popular one among the young tourists because of its quiet nights, but this doesn’t meat that there aren’t any, there are many young travelers staying here for exploring the holly mountain.

Beach:

Yellow sand beach with few beach bars.

Sky blue water
Small round rocks can be found in the shallow part of the sea (depends on which part of the beach you are, the northern part of the Ouranoupoli beah.
The sun beds and umbrellas are free of charge if you buy a drink.

Before sunset it gets windy so small waves may occur.

Budget:

The beach bars have the same prices like everywhere on the Chalkidiki peninsula, which means expensive.

Restaurants have decent prices slightly lower that the other small peninsulas like Kassandra and Sithonia.
Accommodation is very cheap if compared with other parts of Greece (30euro – 35euro – 40euro) if you can barging, don’t expect to go lower than 35euro for a nice room with a sea view.

What i like:

The staff in the restaurants and the bars are extra polite, most of them speak good English (which is rare thing in Greece)
Wi Fi can be found everywhere for free
Sun beds are free of charge if you buy a drink

Clean city

What i don’t like:

Domestic beer is 4euro!

With coffee you don’t get small bottle of water for free (this is a first time for me, i’ve been all around Greece and every beach bar that i have visited brings a small bottle of “Nero” with the coffee without charging).
They are trying to lure the Russian tourists, so in many bars you will hear Russian music playing.
There are few super markets (poorly equipped)

What to do:

This is a city living in the shadow of the popular Mount Athos, so everything here is related to Christianity. Main attraction here is to go on a boat tour for Mout Athos with an English speaking guide and get familiar with the culture and history, the price is 20euro per person for 3 hours.

I recommend:

Hotel “Elleni” at the end of the main road of the city, sea view studios for 30/35euros per night. Very clean and cozy. The owners are very polite and will try do to everything to make your stay there unforgettable.
Tavern “Zorbas”, owned by Macedonian born in Greece. The prices are low and the food is always fresh! Try grilled kalamari.
Use the beach in front of the Elleni hotel, there is a beach bar called “Heavens Door” which offers free sun beds and umbrellas with if you purchase a drink.