Thessaloniki is a 55-minute hop from Athens, and once there, you can drive in a few hours to anywhere in the region, sometimes on finished parts of Greece's superhighway, the Egnatia, a new version of the ancient Roman Via Egnatia, which went from the Adriatic to Turkey. Otherwise, the roads are two-lane, and the bravado of local drivers is a challenge. (If you visit Thessaloniki first, you might want to leave your rental car in Kavala and fly home via Athens; if so, be sure to book early for the once-a-day plane.)

May through October are appealing months on the Halkidiki peninsula, where even in late fall the temperature of the crystal-clear water hovers around 75 degrees. By then, the Greek vacationers will be gone, and the region, normally quite calm, will be as sparse in terms of visitors as the Côte d'Azur was in the time of Matisse. The sunlit green umbrella palms going down to an indigo sea might bring Matisse to mind again.

The country code for Greece is 30. Prices quoted are for the current month. The nearest U.S. consulate is at 43 Tsimiski in Thessaloniki (2310-242905; www.thessaloniki.usconsulate.gov).

Lodging & Dining
Men who want to visit Mount Athos will need to apply for a permit at the office in Thessaloniki. Permission is granted for stays of no more than four days. To extend this, you must have the invitation of one of the monasteries and agree to work with the monks. Since there is no electricity, bring a flashlight—and carry minimal baggage because you have to walk from one monastery to another, which may take an hour and a half. Crossing over the mountain itself, from one side of the peninsula to the other, requires five hours of arduous walking. The stay is free, but visitors typically leave gifts of money (2310-252578).

Sithonia is the place for a more hedonistic stay. The Danai Beach Resort & Villas is exceptionally luxurious and correspondingly expensive (2375-022310; www.dbr.gr; doubles, $455-$531; handicapped friendly). An alternative would be any of the small hotels that dot the peninsula. Otherwise, you will almost certainly be among package tourists, such as those who frequent the Porto Carras Grand Resort, which might best be described as a comfortable upscale holiday camp (2375-071381; www.portocarras.com; doubles, $79-$110).

If you think that the experience of Greece is incomplete without going to an island, Thassos is the place to rub shoulders with the locals. Less than one hour by ferry from Kavala (30 minutes from Keramoti), it has sandy beaches where goats graze close to the waterside. There are bright, modern small hotels with swimming pools. The atmosphere is far from classy, but it is convivial at a place like the Hotel Kamari Beach, near Potos (2593-051147; www.hotel-kamari-thassos.gr; doubles, $79). The big Alexandra Beach, just outside Potos, is the most luxurious hotel on the island. It has a friendly and obliging staff, but the style is that of a holiday camp trying to be a resort (2593-058000; www.alexandrabeach.gr; doubles, $140-$153; handicapped friendly). The most interesting beach is at a little cove near Aliki, where bathers swim off a patch of sand with ruins of an ancient marble quarry and two Paleo-Christian churches.

In Kavala, the best-considered hotel is the modern Egnatia, which is well situated on a hilltop (2510-244891; www.egnatiahotel.gr; doubles, $127). The Z Palace, the leading hotel in Xanthi, is similarly modern, complete with a parking lot (2541-064414; www.z-palace.gr; doubles, $111-$118; handicapped friendly).

A selection of restaurants opposite the Imaret in Kavala offer typical mezes. In Xanthi, the locals dine in large parties at brasserie-like places in the countryside. For a great array of mezes and excellent fresh fish, try To Ktima, on the road to nearby Komotini (2541-021010; entrées, $6-$11).

Thessaloniki's most charming upscale hotel is the Electra Palace, near the sea (2310-294000; www.forthnet.gr/electrapalace; doubles, $248-$327; handicapped friendly). There are also a few pleasant small hotels in the city, including the Andromeda, which is near the waterfront on Komninon Street (2310-373700; www.andromedathessaloniki.gr; doubles, $157-$303). For edgy design, check into the City Hotel, on the same street (2310-269421; www.cityhotel.gr; doubles, $284). Thessaloniki has many new-look cafés and restaurants with artistic, globalized cuisine, but the locals, including the young, still have a penchant for eating on paper-covered tables in simple mezedopolio, or meze houses.

Touring
The Web sites for all of Macedonia's museums can be accessed via www.museumsofmacedonia.gr. In Thessaloniki, the Archaeological Museum is small but has an excellent collection of gold artifacts (2310-830538). The Museum of Byzantine Culture is first-class (2310-868570). The city also has a rare collection of avant-garde Russian art. Part of it has been moved from a converted convent outside town into the new State Museum of Contemporary Art, in what was a waterfront warehouse in the port. The collection was created by George Costakis, who worked at the Greek and Canadian embassies in Moscow during the Cold War, when the authorities considered the art—the rage among the Soviets in the 1920s—to be subversive. He was allowed to take a minor portion of his collection out of the country by donating the rest to the Tretyiakov Museum in Moscow (2310-589142).

Reading
The nature of the "Great" in Alexander the Great is disputed between two very fine biographers: Robin Lane Fox, whose Alexander the Great (Penguin, $16) was a source for Oliver Stone's film, accords more nobility of purpose than does Peter Green, whose Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B.C.: A Historical Biography (University of California, $20) paints him as more ruthless and corrupted by hisinvincibility. Both are riveting, as is Mary Renault's The Persian Boy, which graphically watches the warrior through the eyes of Bagoas, his servant and lover (Vintage, $14).

Macedonia, by one of Greece's leading archaeologists, Ioannis Touratsoglou, is an excellent examination of the history, monuments, and museums of the region (Ekdotike Athenon, $20). The Cadogan Guide Greece covers the essential travel information well ($22).