Hotel Pefkohori Beach

Sixty Seconds From the Water, on the Kassandra Finger

Halkidiki drops three long peninsulas into the northern Aegean, and Kassandra is the first of them, the one that faces west and fills up in August. Pefkochori sits on its eastern shore, a beach village that has grown into a proper small resort without losing the habit of eating outdoors. The hotel stands on the front, close enough that the distance from bedroom to sand is measured in seconds rather than streets. Twenty two rooms, a lift, parking behind, and a bar looking at the water. It is a straightforward beach house that has been kept in good order.

Why It Works

Our reason for keeping this one is the combination of a kitchen and a welcome. The rooms have fridges and cooking facilities, which is what turns a beach hotel into somewhere you can actually spend two weeks with a dog, feeding it on its own schedule and eating in when the afternoon has been too long. The hotel states plainly that it accepts pets, so there is no discussion at the desk. Add step free access and a lift, and a family arriving with a grandparent and an animal can all stay in the same building.

Why This Location

Pefkochori is walkable to an unusual degree for a seaside resort: several dozen tavernas, bars and shops sit within a few hundred metres of the hotel, which means dinner never requires the car and the dog comes along. Thessaloniki and its airport are roughly eighty kilometres north, about an hour of driving, so the transfer is short enough to do at the end of a flight. The rest of Kassandra runs south towards the cape, with quieter coves on both shores for the mornings when the village beach has filled.

Fast Facts

• Price: Mid range

• Vibe: beachfront, practical, sociable, Greek summer

• Rooms: 22 in three grades, superior with terrace, premium and family, several with kitchen facilities

• Best For: long beach stays with a dog, families, travellers who need a lift and level access

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: breakfast taken beside the sea rather than in a dining room

• Dining: seaside breakfast, a cocktail bar facing the beach, and dozens of tavernas within a few minutes on foot

• Amenities: direct beach access, free private parking, lift, in room kitchens and fridges, cots available, pets welcomed

• Attractions: the Pefkochori beachfront and its promenade, the coves of the Kassandra peninsula, Thessaloniki about an hour north

Three Grades of Room, and the Case for the Kitchen

Superior terrace rooms, premium rooms and family rooms make up the house. The terrace is the upgrade worth paying for, since it is where you will sit with a coffee while the dog sleeps off the morning. More important than the grade is what the rooms contain: a fridge and cooking facilities, which sounds mundane and is the single feature that makes a two week stay with an animal workable. It means a meal at the hour that suits you, cold water always to hand, and no obligation to leave the dog behind in order to eat.

Breakfast Beside the Sea, Cocktails After Dark

Breakfast is served by the water, which in this climate is the only sensible arrangement from spring to autumn. The bar takes over later and looks at the same view from the other end of the day. Between the two, the village supplies everything else: grilled fish, ouzeri tables on the pavement, ice cream at eleven at night. The hotel does not try to hold you inside with a buffet and an animation programme, which for a guest with a dog is exactly right.

Arriving With a Dog, and Staying Off the Road

The practical shape of a stay here is a short transfer from Thessaloniki, then a car that barely moves for a fortnight. Everything the day needs is within walking distance, and the beach is at the door. Greek beaches vary in what they allow, so the usual courtesy applies: early and late for the sand, shade at midday, and water carried on the walk. Pets are accepted by the house as a matter of policy, which is the part that normally goes wrong and here does not.