Why the departure leg needs more planning than the arrival
On the way in, everything is driven by your flight: we watch the arrival, and the driver is there whenever you actually land. On the way out, the responsibility flips. You choose the pickup time, and that single decision determines whether you reach the check-in desk relaxed or running. Kassandra and Sithonia are between 50 and 130 km from the airport, most of it on a two-lane road that carries the whole peninsula's traffic in July and August.
The rule we use for our own customers is simple: be at the terminal two hours before a flight inside Europe and three hours before a long-haul or non-Schengen departure, then add the real drive time for your area, then add a safety margin of about twenty minutes for loading luggage, a fuel stop or a slow exit from a large resort. The table further down does that arithmetic for every village we serve, so you do not have to.
If your flight leaves very early — and a large share of the SKG summer schedule departs between 05:00 and 07:30 — the pickup usually falls somewhere between 02:00 and 04:30. That is completely normal for us. Night departures are driven by the same drivers, in the same vehicles, at the price you were quoted; there is no separate night tariff invented at the door.
Kassandra: Sani, Kallithea, Hanioti, Pefkochori and the south
The first Kassandra villages — Nea Moudania, Nea Potidea, Sani — sit roughly 50 to 75 minutes from the terminal outside peak hours. From Kallithea and Kryopigi expect around 80 minutes, from Hanioti and Pefkochori 85 to 95, and from Nea Skioni or Paliouri, at the far southern tip, up to two hours. The bottleneck is almost always the same: the single road through Kallithea and Kryopigi, and the Nea Moudania junction where the peninsula traffic merges with the Thessaloniki ring road.
Saturday is the peninsula's changeover day. Between roughly 09:00 and 13:00, thousands of guests check out of Kassandra resorts at the same time and every one of them is heading north. If your flight is on a Saturday around midday, we plan the pickup earlier than the table suggests and tell you so when we confirm.
Sithonia and Ouranoupoli: longer roads, earlier pickups
Nikiti, Neos Marmaras, Vourvourou and Sarti are further and slower. The coastal road through Sithonia is beautiful and not fast, and a hotel that looks close on the map can be forty minutes from the main road. Neos Marmaras is usually about 110 minutes to SKG, Vourvourou around two hours, Sarti more. Ouranoupoli, the gateway to Mount Athos, is roughly 115 minutes.
For pilgrims returning from Mount Athos the departure is often tied to the ferry rather than a hotel checkout. Tell us the boat you are on and we set the pickup at the Ouranoupoli port, not at an address; the driver waits at the quay with a name sign in exactly the same way as at the airport.
What the driver does before your departure day
The evening before the transfer, your driver contacts you to confirm the exact pickup time and the exact spot: main reception, the villa gate, the port, the apartment entrance. Large resorts such as Sani, Kappa, Ikos or Porto Carras have several gates, so agreeing the meeting point in advance saves the ten minutes nobody has at 04:00.
On the day, the vehicle is at the agreed point a few minutes early. The driver loads the luggage, and you travel directly to the departures level at SKG — no other passengers, no extra stops unless you asked for one when booking.
Groups, luggage and child seats on the way out
Departure luggage is usually bulkier than arrival luggage: the same suitcases plus whatever the holiday added. If you arrived in a sedan with four cases and are leaving with six, tell us — moving up to a minivan costs less than the taxi you would otherwise need to call for the overflow.
Child and booster seats are provided free of charge on request; just give us the children's ages in the booking notes. Prams, golf bags, skis, wheelchairs and other oversized items must be declared in advance so the right vehicle is sent.
