Chalkidiki, also Halkidiki, Chalcidice or Chalkidike (Greek: Χαλκιδική, [xalciðiˈci]), is a peninsula in northern Greece, and one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Macedonia. The autonomous Mount Athos region is part of the peninsula, but not of the regional unit. The capital of Chalkidiki is the main town of Polygyros, located in the centre of the peninsula. Chalkidiki is popular summer tourist destination since late 1950's when people from Thessaloniki started spending their summer holidays at the coastal villages. At the beginning tourists rented rooms in the houses of the villagers. By the 1970s few tourists from Austria and Germany started to visit Chalkidiki more frequently. Since start of the big tourist boom in the 1980s the whole region is captured by tourism.
