Most visitors know Naxos for its long sandy beaches, yet the true character of the island lives inland, among the mountain and inland villages scattered across its green heart. Here olive groves, terraced fields, and stone hamlets replace the coast, and a slower, more authentic Cyclades reveals itself. Whitewashed lanes wind past Byzantine chapels, Venetian … Read more
Agia Anna sits on the sunny southwest coast of Naxos, a short hop south of Agios Prokopios and only a couple of kilometres from Naxos Town. Once a modest fishing village, it has grown into a relaxed seaside resort while keeping its small-scale, family-friendly character intact. The pace here is gentle: a compact harbour with … Read more
Plaka Beach is the longest continuous sandy shore on Naxos, stretching roughly four kilometres down the island’s southwest coast. Backed by low dunes and rows of feathery tamarisk trees, it faces west across the Aegean and catches wide, calm sunsets almost every evening. The sand is pale gold and fine, the water shallow and clear, … Read more
The Kouros of Apollonas is a colossal unfinished ancient statue that still lies where sculptors abandoned it, half-carved in the marble of a quarry near the northern Naxos village of Apollonas. Measuring roughly ten metres long, this bearded giant was never freed from the rock, and today visitors can walk right up to it and … Read more
The Temple of Demeter sits on a low, sun-warmed hill near the village of Sangri, in the fertile heart of southern Naxos. It is one of the oldest and most graceful marble buildings in the Cyclades, raised to honour Demeter, the goddess of grain and harvest, on land that still grows wheat and grazes sheep … Read more
Apeiranthos is the most striking mountain village on Naxos, built almost entirely from local grey-white marble on the slopes of the island’s central massif. Its stepped lanes, stone archways and shaded passages give it a texture found nowhere else in the Cyclades, and its position high above the valleys delivers sweeping views across the Aegean. … Read more
Agios Prokopios is one of the most famous and best-loved beaches on Naxos, the largest island in the Cyclades. It stretches along the island’s sheltered west coast just a couple of kilometres south of Naxos Town, offering a long ribbon of fine golden sand backed by low dunes and a small holiday resort. The water … Read more
Naxos holds the longest, softest stretches of sand in the Cyclades, and its beaches are the main reason so a wealth of travellers return year after year. The whole south-west coast is one gentle ribbon of pale sand and clear, shallow water, sheltered enough for families yet open enough for windsurfers chasing the meltemi. From … Read more
The Portara of Naxos is the great marble doorway that greets every traveller sailing into the island’s harbour, standing alone against the sky on the little islet of Palatia. It is the surviving gateway of a temple that was never finished, and over the centuries it has become the emblem of Naxos itself, printed on … Read more
Naxos Town, known to locals as Chora, is the capital and main port of Naxos, the largest island in the Cyclades. It rises in tiers of whitewashed houses from a busy waterfront to a Venetian castle crowning the hill, so the whole town reads like a single amphitheatre facing the Aegean. The harbour is the … Read more