Thassos Island - Geography

Thassos is a mountainous island . The highest point on the island is Ipsarion , at about 1 127 m above sea level. After Ipsario it's Profitis Ilias peak (1 108 m) .

Thassos has wonderful beaches all around the coast . Some of the most important would be: Skala Prinos, Rachoni, Pachis, Glykadi, Papalimani, Glyfada, Nisteri, Agios Vassilios, Limanaki, Makiramos, Golden Beach , Skala Potamia, Kinira, Paradise Beach , Aliki, Thymonia, Astris, Psili Ammos, Agios Antonios, potos, Pedkari, Metallia, Limenaria, Tripiti, Skala Maries, Klisma, Skala Kallirachi, Skala Sotiros.

According to the climate, the ground morphology and the vegetation, the island is divided in two parts, northern and southern , by an imaginable line starting from Sotiros village and ending a little more to the south of Kinira village.

As far as the the climate and the ground morphology are concerned, Thassos is special in comparison with to other islands of the Aegean Sea . Almost All other islands have an unproductive ground at their northern part, as they suffer from strong north winds during the whole year. On the contrary, Thassos doesn't suffer from such strong winds and even when the wind blows it is usually north, of low speed and rarely south.

Regarding the ground morphology, the northern half is almost innacessible, with steep slopes and schistose ground . On the contrary, the southern part is quite flat and consists of argillaceous and calcareous rocks . These kind of rocks are of great importance for the entrapment of the waters and the creation of springs at the northern part, or the canalization towards the sea to the southern part.

The northern part has richer vegetation, thick forests reaching the sea and cultivations of olive treees and vineyards. Unlike this part, the southern part - despite the flat morphology - is poor in forests and cultivations and is mostly unproductive. Thassos is covered by thick forests of pine trees, fir trees, oak trees, and plane trees . Its forests occupy approximately the 9\10 of the island's surface , and olive trees grow all along its coastline. The pine-trees reach the seashores and their timber consists one of the main sources of income for the Thassians.

Thassos' underground is rich and the island was known from the ancient years for itsminerals . There is lead and silver in Limenaria, copper in Astris, iron in Kallirachi and the exquisite snow white marble, which is the whitest marble in the whole world.

Thassos belongs to Kavala Prefecture and consists of a single municipality with it's capital in Limenas and nine municipal departments . The main ports are Limenas andPrinos . The two main towns (administrative and commercial) are Limenas or Thassos(the capital) in the north of the island and Limenaria in the south. 

This fact is actually written by Hippocrates during his three - year stay on the island at the end of the 5 th century B.C. Regarding the rain, the northern half of the island is privileged, as it rains there two times as much as it does at the southern half. Usually it rains heavily at the northern part and moving towards the south the rains are lighter.

The island's climate is mild and healthy. During summer months, with few exceptions, the weather is warm and in winter it is not too cold. Hippocrates , who has been considered since the ancient years " the father of Medicine " left us valuable inscriptions on the Thasian climate. In one of his books he states that in Thassos " Generally winter resembles spring ". And so it remains until today. The average annual temperature is 17.2 o C and the average summer temperature (July) is 23.4.