Kassandra

The west coast is where the energy lives: a near continuous run of organised beaches from Sani down through Kallithea to Pefkochori, backed by resorts, beach clubs and tavernas that stay busy from breakfast until long after dark. This is the Greece of easy days, where the hardest decision is a second frappe or a first swim, and where families and groups of friends can share the same beach without either compromising.

But Kassandra keeps an older face too, and it is worth finding. Afytos sits on a low cliff above the sea, a village of honey coloured stone where tavern terraces hang over the water and the sunset turns the whole gulf pink. Nea Fokea gathers around a Byzantine tower on its little harbour, and inland villages like Kassandrino remind you that people lived whole lives here before the sunbeds arrived. An evening in Afytos is the single best thing on the finger; do not leave without one.

The beaches themselves range from the famous to the found. Possidi stretches into the sea on a sandbar that shifts with the currents, so you can walk out into open water with sand under your feet the whole way. Paliouri and the southern tip hide quieter coves for the days you want less music, and everywhere the water keeps that clear Chalkidiki blue that made the region's name.

Choose Kassandra if you want the shortest transfer, the fullest calendar and somewhere to go when the sun goes down. And if halfway through the week you find yourself craving silence, the pine coves of Sithonia are only an hour east: one more reason the first finger makes such an easy base.