Xenia Beach (Chrousso Bay), Paliouri, Halkidiki: The 3km Bay With Five Names, a 1962 Listed Motel, and Free Sunbeds With a Drink

Greece | Paliouri | Kassandra, Halkidiki

The beach has at least five names in current use: Xenia refers to the same beach as all the bars that exist or have existed on this beach — Koursaros, Blue Fish, Cabana, Lefki Ammos — as well as Chrousso and Kanavitsa. Xenia is the most commonly used name.

In the late 1980s, the only café-bar on the beach was named Xenia; although the café is no longer operating, the name has stuck and is used to refer to the entire beach today.

The Xenia café took its name from the Xenia Motel of Paliouri — the 1962 building designed by architect Aris Konstantinidis, one of the most significant figures of Greek modernist architecture, on a historically listed plot with a coastal front of 1,800 metres extending from Cape Alonaki to Cape Chrousso. The motel is now abandoned, the café is gone, but the name has outlasted both.

Xenia beach on Kassandra, or Chrousso beach, is located between Pefkohori and Paliouri. It is tucked in a bay, with a beach about 3km long with several different beach bars. With very clean and warm water, it is an ideal choice for children due to a gradual transition to a depth that extends up to 30m.

Getting There: 110km from Thessaloniki, 5km from Pefkohori, Arrive Before 10am in High Season

The beach is 114km from the city of Thessaloniki and 5km from the well-known holiday destination of Pefkohori. There is a bus station Xenia located close to the beach that provides services to Paliouri. It runs roughly 8 times daily from Halkidiki bus station and costs around €14.

From Thessaloniki, follow the main highway toward Nea Moudania and then south through the Kassandra peninsula toward Paliouri. The total drive is approximately 90 minutes to 2 hours depending on traffic.

The final approach to Chrousso is where things slow down. Expect narrower lanes, more turning, and more stopping for pedestrians in summer. In July and August, the last few kilometres can feel like a queue, especially late morning. Arrive before 10:00 in high season. Keep water in the car — if you get stuck in a slow crawl, it is hotter than you expect. Drive slowly on the last bends; people step into the road without looking.

Free parking is available directly behind the beach bars.

The Beach: 3km, Fine Flour Sand, 30m Shallow, Free Sunbeds With Drink, Stone Slabs at the Entrance

Xenia beach is recognisable by its fine flour-like sand and a very long shoal extending up to 30m into the water. The water is very clean and clear, and the sea is calm. This beach is a paradise for children. There are some beach bars here on some of which plenty of natural shade is offered.

In beach bars, sunbeds and umbrellas are free — you pay only for a drink. The most beautiful part of the beach is the part with the tiniest sand in front of the Koursaros beach bar. In this part there is a lot of natural shade, but also it is often crowded.

The free-sunbed-with-drink model is the standard Greek beach bar arrangement at its most visitor-friendly — there is no sunbed hire charge separate from consumption. Arriving, choosing a position, and ordering a coffee or a juice to secure the sunbed for the day is the standard procedure.

Its only downside is the stone slabs at the entrance to the water, but special slippers make it safe to swim. Water shoes are the practical requirement for entering the sea at Xenia — the stone slabs at the waterline are the one departure from the fine-sand entry that the rest of the beach suggests.

Mount Athos on the Horizon and the Toronean Bay View

The beautiful views and lush greenery of Xenia beach make it a desirable destination. The immense pines here are almost touching the sea, while the majestic Mount Athos can be seen on the horizon.

Mount Athos — the 2,033-metre peak at the tip of the third Halkidiki finger, the monastic republic where female visitors are forbidden, visible from both Kassandra and Sithonia on clear days as a snow-capped pyramid above the sea — is the specific long-range landmark that the Xenia bay view provides. The bay also looks out across the Toronean Gulf toward Nea Marmara on the Sithonia coast.

From the pier located to the right of the beach, you can go on a boat trip to Sithonia.

The Naming Confusion: Five Names for the Same Bay

Many will say that the part of the coast between Paliouri and Pefkohori is the most beautiful in Kassandra. For each of the beaches different names are used, so visitors are often confused and uncertain about which beach is which, how many of them are there, and what is the name of each. Confusion is created because of many bars, so tourists name a beach after a bar, not knowing that the beach has its own name.

The navigation reality: entering “Xenia Beach” into different GPS systems or mapping apps will produce different coordinates — some pointing to the central bay, others to the Koursaros end, others to what some sources call Golden Beach at the northern section. The practical approach is to navigate to Chrousso Bay near Paliouri and follow the coastal access road to whichever bar section has available parking.

The beach is often divided into three parts — Paliouri, Xenia, and Golden Beach — each with its own character.

The Aris Konstantinidis Motel: Listed Architecture on the Beachfront

The Xenia Motel of Paliouri — built in 1962 by Aris Konstantinidis, one of the most important architects of Greek modernism — is on the beachfront plot and has been formally listed as historically significant due to its particular architectural, technical and historical significance. It is now abandoned, awaiting redevelopment proposals.

Konstantinidis designed the Xenia hotel chain throughout Greece — a network of modernist tourist infrastructure that the Greek Tourist Organisation commissioned from the 1950s onwards to develop coastal tourism. The Paliouri motel is among the most architecturally significant surviving examples, and its abandonment while the beach it overlooks thrives is the specific tension that the property carries.

The Camping Site and the Paliouri Village Context

Halkidiki Camping is directly adjacent to the beach, providing the specific budget accommodation that puts the best of the Kassandra coast within reach without the hotel pricing. The camping facilities include all necessary amenities and sit immediately behind the beach bars’ pine tree fringe.

If the beach feels too busy, do not force it. Glarokavos Beach is nearby and can feel different depending on the day. Glarokavos — the beach to the north with the saltwater lake — is the natural alternative within the same southern Kassandra area.

Xenia Beach (Chrousso Bay) near Paliouri on Kassandra, Halkidiki is the 3-kilometre sandy bay with five names — the finest flour sand in Kassandra, 30 metres of shallow water, free sunbeds with a drink order, stone slabs at the waterline requiring water shoes, Mount Athos visible on the horizon, immense pines almost touching the sea, the abandoned 1962 Konstantinidis modernist motel on the beachfront, boat trips to Sithonia from the pier, and 90 minutes of slow summer driving from Thessaloniki.

Arrive before 10am. Navigate to Chrousso Bay, not to a bar name.

Order a drink. The sunbed is free.