well one of the oldest tourist areas is the south west Peloponnese lights to Kalamaki [if you can find them] but it fell out of favor with British tour operators some years back there are many interesting places which appear in Greek ancient history and reasonable to get to Athena as well, the main area for British visitors is Central Macedonia now know as Salonika [Thessaloníki] and the 3 fingers [Chalkadiki,being the main tourist area] the eastern Peloponnese is im told beautiful but you will have to fly to Athena and arrange transport from there [Argos,Spetsai, Poros probably the best known]

yasus
wizard

might be wrong but olympic holidays have always done a lot of packages to the mainland,they were doing stoupa,xrani etc,and also a lot in the pelion area. Halkidiki is a good place to start and it means you also get to go to Thessaloniki,in my opinion a much nicer city than athens

thanks for the ideas - had always dismissed Halkadiki as being a bit brits abroad, does it feel Greek if that makes sense

very,it is greek! only those with no imagination see british people as an issue,half the people that moan about brits,are brits!

Technically the Peloponesse is a huge island which has everything you mention. We have stayed in Tolon, Stoupa & Monemvassia and covered large areas in between. Its very mountainous and you can easily visit the Argo Saronic islands and the little island of Elafonissos. Sunvil have package holidays here. We also like the Pelion region again everything you mention. Epirus, the mainland region east of Corfu is another huge area to consider. Parga & Sivota are 2 of the most well known resorts. None of these areas attract the type of Brits you find in some of the island resorts although Stoupa & Parga do have a strong Brit. clientelle. Parga feels very Greek because many Greeks live there. If you stay in the western Peloponesse its an easy drive across the fantastic Rio-Antirio bridge north to Lefkas for a few nights or another hour up to Parga. We often use the package accommodation as a base for trips to more remote parts. We spent a couple of nights on Poros, a great little island, from Tolon on one holiday. We love the islands but the mainland often betters them in some repects.

i just don't understand this whole problem with other brits,it's like complaining about the traffic jam you're sitting in and forgetting that by being in the jam you're also part of the situation you're moaning about! tourist snobbery ruins holiday resorts more than any working class family having the time of their life! and as for this whole 'greek feel',it's almost as if people assume that if a greek person enjoys modern life and all the day to day things you also get in the UK then they're somehow not 'real greeks'

Greeks also get drunk,watch sky sports,drive cars,use the internet,smoke fags,enjoy themselves,work in banks,factories and fast food restaurants,not just in 'resorts'!

Sambacasual,
your suggestion that its working class families that Brits are complaining about looks like snobbery to me. Yes I'm working class.

well as someone that constantly hears it from tourists,and i do mean literally daily i think i have it spot on,and i include myself as a member of the working class,very much so. and my post was general,not aimed at anyone in particular. it's a talking point in the resort i work in and on other,between the ex-pats,the workers and the locals and has been since i can remember, people are wrongly put into pigeon holes and it's 10 times more common from the 'avoiding brits abroad,looking for 'real' greece' crowd than it is from anyone else.

in the resort i'm in we have club 18-30 and similar,we have families and we have couples of all ages,we also have is bars showing eastenders that sell pie and chips,a mcdonalds,kfc,pizza hut,subway,foam parties,bar crawls,karaoke and shops selling rubbish,but we ALSO have traditional tavernas,local fishermen,quiet beaches,dusty backstreets full of greek children playing games,old men outisde kafenions and betting shops playing tavli,churches,a Papa,sunset restaurants,village festivals,donkeys,old women in mourning dress walking 10 miles a day to market and a lot of Greek weddings,most or all of which are completely overlooked by the 'Grecophiles' whose first instinct is to go 'faliraki? that's not greece'

completely overlooked by the 'Grecophiles' whose first instinct is to go 'faliraki?

I consider myself a Grecophile but never been to Falaraki, i have however been to Laganas and Kadamina [may or october] and had a brilliant time in the backstreet and village bars/tavernas, traditional establishments can be found in most resort areas if you put yourself out and do the legwork, our daughter on the other hand will go all inc. to a hotel aimed at the Brits and never move off the grounds,so it doesn't matter where she goes as long as its fairly hot, I do however feel embarrassed at times over the dress and general attitude of many a countryman towards the native population

yasus
wizard

I do however feel embarrassed at times over the dress and general attitude of many a countryman towards the native population

that happens everywhere though,worldwide and not just from the British,i mean the rudest people i've come accross from memory are the Russians,and some of the Greeks! And look at all the immigrants and visitors that arrive in the UK expecting the locals to adapt to them rather than the other way around,that's just an unfortunate trait of society at large, partly though i think it's out of insecurity and fear of things that are 'different'. We get more people say they're dissapointed to see the golden arches of Maccy d's down by the beach than we get people asking how to find them, I think,from experience that the British(all ages,classes and backgrounds) are more likely to seek out 'local food' and the like than any other nationality i've come accross in all my years working abroad,i've had many a conversation with big gangs of mouthy,drunken,oafish lads about how impressed they are by the locals and the food etc,it's quite surprising sometimes when some tattooed oik in a man united shirt asks advice on the best place to have a greek meal and where they can take their mates so they can see a bit of culture while they're on their club18-30 p**s-up.

Back to the original question, I live in the south west Peloponnese & have to recommend it!
For packages look at Thomas Cook (Manos), they do Stoupa, Ag Nik & Finikounda. Sunvil & Simply cover the smaller villages, such as Chrani, Gialova, Kardamyli & Koroni. All of them are weekend flights, previously only Sunday, last year Sat & Sun, but not sure about next year yet. Out of the whole area, the majority of Brits by far go to Stoupa, everywhere else is a mix of nationalities. If you are coming between mid July-20th Aug you'll find most of the tourists in the villages to be Greek, it's only 2-3 hrs by car for them, with no ferry or flight problems to worry about! To be fair, they aren't all 'tourists', but just Athenians taking their annual holiay in their hometown/village.
To give you ideas of places to visit in the area here's some pictures, not all that I have as I haven't yet scanned my pre digital photos for uploading!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yiassas/collections/72157625192196112/
Any questions about accommodation you see in the brochures please ask. I know a lot of them & can easily find out about others.
Will you have a car? This is quite relevant to some of the accommodations & a must for at least a few days to see all that's on offer.

Thanks for those who took the time to reply to the OP. Although I don't really have to justify what type of holiday I spend my hard earned money on - just to explain. Having spent 2 weeks this summer in a lovely hotel in kefalonia where there were lots of different nationalities and not just british holiday makers it added to the experience to spend breakfast chatting with dutch/germans/Italians. I spend all year long with Bristish people and part of the fun of holidays is spending time with other cultures. Don't really care if it sounds snobby or not but have also had a holiday in Lindos that was spoilt by British people being rude to staff, moaning about food and generally behaving like louts- so sorry but my preference for a holiday in a resort that isnt full of Brits is founded on experience and its my personal preference- whats the harm in that??

i've already stated once that it WAS NOT AIMED AT YOU.
can't say it again,and won't.

i believe i made a valid point IN GENERAL.

many people i live and work with agree,and in truth the locals more or less ALL say they love the British more than anyone.

I hope this makes things clear this time.

perhaps if you had a GENERAL point to make you should then have started a new thread rather than take over my innocent request for advice. If you have nothing useful to add to my question you could have posted elsewhere perhaps.

if you scroll up you'll see i did respond directly to your question,and can/will do so again if you ask further questions. relax,please,it's just a discussion as many many threads become,no need to get all angry or take offense as none was intended,which is why i clearly stated that it WAS NOT aimed at you.

If i was planning a trip to the mainland for next summer and really wanted to avoid the crowds and see old fashioned greece i personally would head for the pelion,i've been before(albeit too briefly)and it's VERY slow,quiet and 'rustic',some would say backward,some would say tranquil,all would say beautiful,i'm not so sure it's good for beaches and you'd most certainly need a car.

I'd also look at Evia,went there once,it's an island but sort of not an island as it's only seperated from the mainland by a very small channel with a bridge over it,is fairly developed in a greek sense rather than a tourist sense and the locals(i work with one)are very proud of their miniature nation as they call it.

If you're a grecophile you have to read It's All Greek to Me!: A Tale of a Mad Dog and an Englishman, Ruins, Retsina - And Real Greeks by john mole. (not plugging it,just read it and it's all so real and side splittingly funny)

The Pelion does have excellent beaches on both sides of the peninsular. The east coast beaches tend to be wilder than the gulf side. From your original post Halkidiki does not really have what you want. The most developed part, Kassandra, does not have great beaches if fine sand is your thing. Apart from Athos which has amazing monastries, the area is not mountainous either.

We had a great holiday in the Pelion back in Sept, staying in Damouchari. See resort review recently added.