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Naxos: Lush, Mountainous, and Great Beaches

Naxos is one of the larger Greek islands that we have visited on our quest to check out as many Greek islands as possible (you can read our ever-expanding guide on Greek islands here). We stayed for a long weekend and could have easily stretched it out a few more days to explore more of the island.

How To Get There

Although Naxos has a tiny airport, we were unable to find flights that fit our budget and timeline. We ended up flying from Berlin to Athens to Paros and took the same flight back. From Paros there are many ferries that go to Naxos and they don’t take long to travel there. We felt we had boarded the ferry, sat down for five minutes, and suddenly we were disembarking! We used FerryScanner to find a ferry that fit our schedule. I would suggest giving yourself extra time to arrive, especially if you have a flight to catch, as most ferries run late. Our ferry sent us periodic texts to update us on timing which was nice.

How To Get Around

Naxos town is very walkable. You do not need any form of transport to get around, but many of the locals use bicycles. If you are visiting in the summer be prepared to spend a lot of time on your feet in the heat. Most restaurants do not have air conditioning but will have shade and fans if you need a break.

For the rest of the island we recommend renting a car. Car rentals are fairly cheap but the price will go up if you can’t drive manual. There is a lot of mountain driving on tight roads. If you aren’t comfortable with manual we recommend paying up for automatic, although these cars may not be available when you want them. It’s definitely worth learning to drive manual before visiting Greece!

Motorbikes and ATVs are also available, but we saw many people soaked in the sudden rain showers that would hit the island. For the amount of driving you might do, take into consideration how much you want to be exposed to the sun, too. Driving over an hour in the hot sun on a motorbike may not be as much fun as you might think.

Most hotels should be able to help you with rentals. If not, there are plenty of rental places around Naxos town.

Where To Stay

You don’t need to stay in Naxos town unless you want to be in the thick of the tourists, shops, and restaurants. We stayed just outside of the town at a hotel called Porto Naxos. It was walking distance from the ferry as well as being close to the airport. We would highly recommend this hotel if it fits your budget. They had nice, clean, spacious rooms and a wonderful pool to relax at after a long day of exploring or hitting the beaches.

Where To Eat

This tip is very important: make reservations in advance! Especially during the busy summer season it can be very difficult to get a place at most restaurants. The restaurants along the Naxos promenade are more touristy and you should always be able to find a spot there, but for really excellent food you need to do a little more research.

Our recommendations in Naxos are the following:

Doukato: absolutely amazing seafood and traditional Greek food. We had the stuffed calamari and moussaka along with a salad and every bite was tasty and delightful. The atmosphere was very romantic but also family friendly. You absolutely must make reservations a few days in advance here and saw many people turned away.

To Elliniko: very unassuming restaurant not situated in the main part of town but very worth visiting. Make reservations in advance because even though they look like a big restaurant they fill up fast. We had stuffed peppers and kleftiko. Portions are huge and service is a bit slow but the food and ambience more than makes up for it.

There are an endless selection of restaurants in Naxos so we would recommend asking your hotel for their recommendations and start making reservations from there.

What To Do

Beaches & Swimming

Naxos has an amazing number of wonderful, sandy beaches. Many of the beaches we’ve visited on Greek islands are rocky, so it was a pleasant surprise to find that every beach we visited was sandy with clear waters.

Agios Georgios Beach

This was one of the busiest and most touristy beaches due to its close proximity to Naxos town. It was difficult to find a bed and umbrella for rent here unless you show up early. We found the sun-bed rental prices quite high. Some places would charge for the bed and require you to buy a certain number of drinks on top of that price. The water, however, was very nice, and you could swim out quite far without encountering boats. There was very little coral, however, so if you want to see a variety of fish this is not the place for snorkeling.

Alyko Beach

By far our favorite beach on the island, Alyko is secluded and has an abandoned hotel overlooking the water. The hotel is covered in tasteful and not-so-tasteful graffiti. It’s definitely a great place for photos but watch your step as there are plenty of holes in the structure. One of these days we are sure they will block the hotel from public access due to safety issues. The hotel overlooks a little beach in a cove that we found had the best and most interesting swimming. There are plenty of big rocks, coral, and colorful fish to look at if you like snorkeling. There are no beach beds to rent unless you walk a ways down to another beach.

Historic Sites

Temple of Apollo

If you come by ferry to Naxos one of the first things you will see is the Temple of Apollo and the famous doorway. It is an impressively large doorframe that is all that remains of the temple overlooking Naxos town. Access to the temple is completely free. We suggest going early to beat the crowds.

Kouros Statues & Marble Quarry

You will need a car to access this area of the island. Google Maps will get you there without any trouble. We went in the late afternoon and didn’t see any other tourists here.

There used to be an ancient marble quarry in the area and there are two massive, partially carved statues along a well-kept trail. Access is free and there is really nothing there to stop people from climbing on the statues or possibly damaging them. Apparently, the statues were partially carved in the quarry then carried down the mountain. At some point coming down the statues cracked and were left behind because of the flaw. The statues were really neat to look at and it was interesting to imagine what they might have been made for.

There is one statue fairly close to the parking and another is about a ten minute walk up a small hill. We read some reviews saying one should have sturdy shoes for the hike but we didn’t have any problem with sandals. The walk was also nice, with some shade and gardening in the area of the first statue, and then a walk up through the countryside to find the second statue.

Other Villages To Visit

If you rent a car or other vehicle do make sure you explore more of Naxos. It is a large island with beautiful views from the mountainsides. The roads are narrow and some country roads are quite rough, but it’s worth a drive to get out of Naxos and see more. We were impressed with how green the island was. Naxos is also where it is said that Zeus was born in a cave on Mount Zas. We bypassed Mount Zas on this trip as it required a hike that wasn’t a good idea in the summertime.

Melanes

A very unassuming town, we found no tourists here but stunning views and one of the best restaurants outside of Naxos: O Vasilis. It’s a family-run restaurant that serves authentic Greek food. The views from the outside eating area are also impressive. We only found locals eating here and had a great time just hanging out.

Parking was a little hard to find initially. After driving up almost to the top of the village we did find a parking lot. There are a lot of stairs and climbing streets so be prepared for a bit of a hike to get around the village.

Chalkio

This was a pretty little town with many more tourists roaming around. There were many restaurants scattered around and some shopping areas. It was very tiny and only worth a quick walk-through in our opinion.

Apeiranthos

Another local village that had a lot more shopping and restaurant opportunities, Apeiranthos was worth a longer visit. It had amazing views and was quite mixed between locals and tourists. We stopped here for a coffee and piece of cake and could imagine finding ourselves quite lost after strolling the narrow streets for a bit.

Overall Impressions Of Naxos

We enjoyed Naxos for the impressive variety on the island. We would highly recommend renting a car to explore more of the island. There is much more to Naxos than the main town! Although we spent most of our time on the west side of the island, with a few more days we might have explored the entire coast and a few more villages inland. The beaches are really great but more expensive to rent beds than other Greek islands we have been to. If you are going for the swimming then you will not be disappointed, however. As always, Greek food is wonderful anywhere you go in Greece (in our multiple experiences so far). Naxos has some really excellent seafood and cheese options. If you visit, do let us know in the comments below!