Naxos Greece Holiday Travel Guide Windmills Towers Beaches Naxos Greek Holidays

Although the Greek Island of Naxos has a small airfield the usual way for people travelling to Naxos on holiday is to fly into Mykonos or Athens and then board a ferry for a few hours cruise. There are also frequent ferries doing trips to the Island leaving from Santorini. Our ferry was a small converted fishing boat and the trip involved a near 3 hour trip from Mykonos (including a short stop at Paros).

Walking on Naxos is excellent with many paths and moni-paths available - often these paths are walled and very picturesque.
One thing to bear in mind when travelling to and from Naxos is that the sea is normally quite bumpy - even rough - during July and August, certainly we found it so when we went on holiday to the island in July 2002. Whilst on Holiday on Naxos Greece we stayed in Naxos Town and the thing which sticks in our minds most in the town was the continual transit of people going to and from the ferries, and the continuous movement of vehicles loading/unloading from the ferries. There always seemed to be at least two ferries in the port particularly in the evening and at times the ferries were queuing to dock.

Naxos Town has an old and very interesting castle, typical Greek Island narrow streets and alleys, with many tavernas along the water front and lots more of them extending on up into and alongside the Town's alleys and streets as well.
The castle is located in the higher old part of Naxos Town and is well worth walking round; its quite different in that there are houses, tavernas and small shops built into the walls as part of the castle area - actually it's quite good to visit the castle during the day since it always seemed nice and cool walking along the alleys and paths.

As far as beaches on Naxos are concerned there is a small town beach by the harbour (above which is the Portara - ruins of an unfinished temple - a very popular place to stroll around in the evening) but by heading south most of the coastline is full of nice beaches, and these can be reached by a regular bus service (about every 30 minutes) which goes just past Agia Anna. On our first week we found nude bathing was ok at Plaka beach but by the start of the second week the beach was being more and more used by families and children - so that was the end of that. However there are many more secluded/isolated beaches on the island for naturists so if you want to enjoy some nude sunbathing and swimming then it is easily possible. Being topless on most beaches was however quite normal even on really busy beaches.

Car hire is easily available and reasonably priced - if you want to see the whole of this Greek island then probably this is the best way of doing so. There are fairly accurate maps available from the web or in the local shops (Roads Edition 111 and Harms verlag (isbn 3-927468-10-x) are good) and have also found the Topo series which are also very good ). The roads on Naxos are mostly tarmac and you will find them to be very quiet once you got out of Naxos Town itself.

We took quite a few other photos whilst on holiday on Naxos - this Greek Island has quite a varied landscape - there are lots of churches scattered around and of course Naxos is famous for it's towers. The following gives photos on three drive outs from Chora.

Drive 1. Chora - Engares - Apollonas. Although maps may show this coast road as track it is in fact a tarmac road so easy to traverse. As you leave Chora the countryside is quite green but once you get further north it becomes very rocky with lots of mauve flora. There are also several tracks (some quite difficult) down to the coast to explore. Just before you get into Apollonas remember to park by the roadside and walk up to one of the Kouros (7th century b.c. (huge) unfinished statues) found on the island. Apollonas itself is or maybe was a fishing village but now is very busy with tourists - loads of shops and tavernas etc. but don't be put off - it is quite a nice place to visit despite being so busy.

Drive 2. Chora - Chalki - Filoti - Mutsuma - Ormos Psili Ammos. This takes you right across Naxos Island to it's sparsely populated east coast, via the Tragia Valley (including the villages of Chalki and Filoti) and also

the road takes you past the old emery workings - you can still see old mine buildings and the cables and buckets rusting away on the aerial runways. When you get to Mutsuma there is a small beach and tavernas. From here the road (initially tarmac) heads south along the coast - when we were there more of the track was being tarmac'd - we drove as far as Ormos Psili Ammos where there is a taverna.
This is a pretty well unpopulated and unspoilt part of the Naxos coastline and the track goes as far as Panormos but we never got that far since the track deteriorated rapidly and was in a very poor state - too much for our little car.

Drive 3. Chora-Myli-Kinidaros-Sifones-Stavros tis Keramotis-Lionas-Koronas-Koronida. This drive round was quite long and involved doubling back a little to pick up the various places mentioned. We started off by going to Myli to have a look at another Kouros - this is found by parking just off the main road and then you have to walk down a track to the gardens.

When you leave here to head for Kinidaros you drive through the marble quarries - some of them right next to the road so watch out for the large lorries. The drive then takes you through Sifones - the countryside round here is very varied and pretty - especially with the looming mountains as a backdrop. Everyone stops off at the crossroads just after the turn off to Keramotis - from here if it's not too cloudy you can see both of Naxos's coastlines - each time we were there it was really windy so hiding behind the really exposed church (Stavros) on the crossroads helps get your breath back. Here the road winds down to Lionas - a small fishing village which has a couple of tavernas and a small pebbly beach. Back to the crossroads and you can continue through to Koronas and Koronida and then onto Apollonas if you wish.
If you are instead intending to head back to Chora then if you go via Chalki and take the road to Ano Potamia via Chimarros you go up over the hills and get really great countryside - it is very rocky and the rocks are covered with pink Oleandras. It is also very green up on the top so obviously quite wet underfoot up here which in the heat was quite refreshing.

Useful Books on Greece and her Islands:-
Walking the Greek Islands
The Rough Guide to Greece
Greece Insight Guide
Greek Islands Eyewitness Travel Guides
Cadogan Guide Greece

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Greek Island of Naxos Travel and Holiday Guides.

Holiday, Travel, Walking Guides, Sightseeing, Drives and Pictures for Naxos in Greece.