Halkidiki - Polichrono - Spending Money and Trips?

jamesjones882

Hi All,

I have never been to Polichrono before, let alone the region of Halkidiki.

We are staying in the Royal Hotel so reading the reviews I am hoping it'll be just as nice as people are saying. I am sure it will be.

I am wondering actually what people would recommend to take spending money wise? Its myself, my partner and two children, 1 and 11, so just looking at typical advice really. I havent been away for 4 years now so I am well out of whack.

Also, I wondered what people thought of Polichrono, and if there are any places to visit not too far away.

Cheers all!

z1a

Different people will have different budgets. Some families will be happy with €100/day, some would struggle to enjoy themselves on 10 times that.

benjus

Just take a card that's free to use abroad and withdraw cash from ATMs or pay for things directly with the card (I still use cash a lot in Greece, but card acceptance is pretty good these days). There's an ATM in the baggage reclaim hall at Thessaloniki airport so you can get some while waiting for your bags. Personally I use the Santander Zero and Barclaycard Platinum Travel cards, although there are several other options - see the guide on this site and other posts on the forum for recommendations.

On my recent trip to Greece we went to Meteora which was amazing and quite unique - but probably too far to travel from Halkidiki with a small child.

jamesjones882

How much was the trip to Meteora. The great thing is that we are going away with my parents so they don't mind watching the little one for us whilst we go!

I do have a Barclaycard platinum actually so may be worth me exploring options with that also, seen as card is widely accepted!

Thanks all for the replies so far!

travellerboy

jamesjones882 wrote: »

How much was the trip to Meteora. The great thing is that we are going away with my parents so they don't mind watching the little one for us whilst we go!

Unless you are planning an overnight trip it's a no go as it's a 4hour journey each way from Halkidiki.

benjus

jamesjones882 wrote: »

How much was the trip to Meteora. The great thing is that we are going away with my parents so they don't mind watching the little one for us whilst we go!

I do have a Barclaycard platinum actually so may be worth me exploring options with that also, seen as card is widely accepted!

Thanks all for the replies so far!

Make sure it's the Barclaycard Platinum Travel - there are other versions of Barclaycard Platinum that are not free to use overseas. If yours is not you might be able to convert it - not sure.

We hired a car to drive to Meteora (about 3 hours from Thessaloniki, easy drive) which worked out well as we got to move at our own pace and saw 3 of the monasteries including a couple of the smaller ones, while I think the tours only went to a couple of the larger monasteries that are close to each other.

Day trip coach tours from Thessaloniki were about €55 per person. There was also a train-based tour which was more expensive.