Thassos is the northest island of the Aegean Sea located 8km. across the coast of East Macedonia -from Keramoti and the Nestos river delta- in Longitude of 40° 34' - 40° 48' and Latitude of 24° 31' - 24°47 and around 10 nautical miles from Kavala.
The island is 22,5 Km. wide (West to East) and 27 Km. long (North to South). Its perimeter reaches 93 Km.
Thassos is separated from mainland Macedonia:
8 nautical miles from Keramoti
16 nautical miles from Kavala
241 nautical miles from Piraeus
27 nuatical miles from the Athos (holy mountain) peninsula
40 nautical miles from Lemnos island
Thassos's highest point is Ypsario, or the Mountain of Thassos or Itsario at 1,203 m. Some other summits are Kranidi at 1074m., Prophet Elias at 1,108m. , Fanos at 744m. and Tsoutsoula at 857m.
The entire mountain mass offers many pleasant surprises to the visitor. Thassos's rich Mediterranean vegetation, highly dominated by olive and pine trees, as well as numerous streams and creeks offers what other islands are lacking. Water and Vegetation!
Not long ago, all the mountain slopes were covered with forests (almost 9/10 of Thassos's land) and this is why was known as the "the floating forest". Disastrous fires in 1985 and 1989 burnt a large part of the pine forests. After loads of intense re-plantation efforts from the local services and especially the volunteers, the island is gaining back tits green colour.
The coastline of the island is rocky and relatively steep. There are no ports but small bays and docks. Following the seashore from North to East we meet the Paleokastro and Pachi peninsula, the bays of Panagia and Kinyra, the peninsulas of Barbouros and Salonikios or Sapouni, the bays of Limenaria and Kalavitiou, the peninsulas of Kefalas and Prinos and the Prinos Bay.
Near Thassos there are also the islets Gramvousa, Kinyra, Thassopoula, Diapori and Astris. On Thassos west coast -across the distinctive peninsula of Prinos- we notice the oil and natural gas drills.
Administratively, Thassos consists of one municipality with Limenas being the capital town and nine more sub-municipal departments across the island. The population is 16,000 people and Limenas in the north and Limenaria in the south are the two main towns in administration and trade. These two towns have a full range of services and markets.
Large villages such as Theologos, Prinos and Panagia offer comforts and services for the visitors all year round. The mountainous villages of Thassos and especially "Kazavitia" (small and large Prinos) are of a great esthetic interest, but they almost get deserted during the winter period.
The climate is typical Mediterranean; the summer is warm, however the cool winds coming down from Mt. Ypsario and the fresh sea waters are overwhelming for the residents and the tourists. Winter is usually mild with some light snow falls. Highest temperature ranges from 30-35° C and the lowest around -8 ° C. Average temperature is 20-25° C and low average is 8-10° C.
All seasons are beautiful in Thassos, however spring and early summer are the prettiest. Temperature is at perfect levels and the landscape is very colorful.
If you crawl in the Kantares hill (right of Kazaviti) during spring time you will never forget it. In the summer, the island gets cool breeze coming both from the mountain and the sea while the image of a snow covered Ypsario in the winter, with trees and winter flowers, reminds you of a spring landscape.
