Naxos travel guide: how to plan your trip
Naxos is the largest of the Cyclades and the one with a working interior rather than only a coastline. It suits people who want a beach and a mountain village in the same day, it takes about four days to do properly, and it is three and a half to six hours from Piraeus depending on the boat.
Who Naxos suits
Almost everybody, and we say that about very few islands. Families, couples, friends travelling together and people coming on their own all work here, and for the same reason: Naxos is big and varied enough that two people who want different holidays can both have one without falling out about it.
History, food, culture, beaches and water sports are all on the one island, along with mountain villages that have nothing to do with tourism. That range is why Naxos is the island we most often suggest people base themselves on rather than pass through.
We are usually quick to tell somebody an island is wrong for them. Naxos is the one where we rarely have to.
Getting there
Naxos is one of the few Cyclades where you have a real choice between flying and sailing. Almost everyone sails.
From Piraeus
The main route, running year round and several times a day in summer. High speed boats take roughly three and a half to four and a half hours; the conventional ferries take roughly five to six and cost less. We book the conventional one more often than people expect, because it handles the meltemi far better and a cancelled fast boat costs you a day. Greek island ferry bookings are something we handle as part of the trip.
From Rafina
Fewer sailings and a longer crossing, but a much shorter drive if you are coming from the airport or staying north of Athens.
By air
Naxos has its own airport with flights from Athens in well under an hour. Small aircraft, small baggage allowance, and it sells out early in summer.
How many days
Four full days is our sweet spot.
It is based on how the island actually works rather than on picking a nice round number.
Naxos is much bigger than people expect. You can spend one day around Chora and the Portara, another exploring the mountain villages, another on a proper beach day without watching the clock, and still have a day left for wherever takes your fancy.
Two days is really a stopover. You can see Naxos in two days, but you will spend too much of them getting from one place to another. Give it four and the island starts to feel like a holiday rather than another item on the itinerary.
Where to stay
Start with the car, because it decides the rest. The best way to see Naxos is to rent one and go, and once you have one, staying in Naxos Town works against you. Parking there is limited, and hunting for a space is a poor end to a good day out.
So we put most people in one of the seaside towns instead. You park outside your door, the beach is in front of you, and the town is a short drive away when you want it rather than something you are stuck in the middle of.
Which one comes down to how lively you want the evening and how far you are happy to drive. Hotels and villas across Greece is where we book them, and we pick the area before the hotel.
Featured day tours
Two of the 28 we run on Naxos.
Best time to visit
| Month | Sea | Crowds | What it is like |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | Cold | Very quiet | Green, windy, and many places still shut. |
| May | Bracing | Quiet | Wildflowers, walkable heat, everything opening. |
| June | Warm | Building | The month we book most often. |
| July | Warm | Busy | Hot, and the meltemi wind is at its strongest. |
| August | Warmest | Busiest | Book months ahead or do not come. |
| September | Warmest | Easing | The other month we book most often. |
| October | Warm | Very quiet | Beautiful, with things closing week by week. |
Combining Naxos with another island
Naxos and Paros are twenty five minutes apart and pair naturally, and both sit on the route to Santorini. Private Greek island hopping is how we build the whole route rather than selling you two hotels and a ferry ticket.
There is also a version of this trip where you never change hotel. Naxos sits close enough to its neighbours that you can stay put and take day trips out to them, Paros most easily of all. One unpacking, one set of keys, and no morning spent dragging cases onto a boat. For a first trip to the Cyclades that is often the better holiday, and it is not the one most itineraries sell you.
Naxos questions we get asked
Two ways, and they are genuinely different decisions. By sea from Piraeus, which is the main route, or by air from Athens airport to Naxos's own airport.
- High speed ferry from Piraeus: roughly three and a half to four and a half hours, depending on the boat and how many islands it calls at.
- Conventional ferry from Piraeus: roughly five to six hours, cheaper, steadier in wind, and the one we book when the forecast is bad.
- From Rafina: fewer sailings, and worth it only if you are staying north of Athens.
- By air: well under an hour from Athens, on a small aircraft with a small baggage allowance.
Durations vary by operator and season, so we check the live timetable for your dates rather than working from last year's.
Four full days is our sweet spot, and it is based on how the island actually works rather than on picking a nice round number. Naxos is much bigger than people expect.
One day around Chora and the Portara, another in the mountain villages, another on a proper beach day without watching the clock, and a day left for wherever takes your fancy. Two days is really a stopover: you will spend too much of them getting from one place to another.
We strongly recommend having one, at least for part of your stay. Naxos is one of the larger Cycladic islands, and its interior is half the reason to visit: the mountain villages, the countryside and the roads through the middle are where you find a very different side of Greece.
The buses are useful, particularly along the western coastline and the main beach areas, but they do not give you the same freedom to explore inland. We would rather arrange the car as part of your trip than leave you at a rental desk by the port working it out on arrival.
Neither is better. They are simply different holidays. They are neighbours and a short ferry ride apart, but Naxos feels bigger, greener and more connected to agriculture and traditional island life, and it tends to be easier on the wallet. Paros is more polished and has more of an evening scene.
Naxos is where we would send you to explore, eat well, find a village and not feel everything has been designed around tourism. And when somebody asks which to choose, our answer is usually: why choose? Spend a few days in Paros for the restaurants and the nightlife, then cross to Naxos and slow everything down. Two islands, two moods, without making the journey the holiday.
June or September. Warm sea, everything open, and neither the August prices nor the August crowds.
July and August work if the dates are fixed by school holidays, but they need booking months ahead and they are the windiest weeks of the year on this side of the Cyclades.
How we can help in Naxos
A day tour is the part people book first and the smallest part of what actually has to work. These are the rest, and we do all of them in house.
Private transfers on Naxosport and airport runs, and the drive to a village you would not want to do on a hire car at night.
Hotels and villas across Greecewe book the room, and we know which side of the building to ask for.
Car rental in Greecearranged with the trip rather than at a desk by the port, which matters on an island this size.
Greek island ferry bookingsthe crossing to Paros, Santorini or back to Piraeus, booked and re-booked when the wind changes.
Private catamaran chartersthe small islands off the south coast, which is the Naxos day almost nobody books and everybody remembers.
Private Greek island hoppingwhen Naxos is one island in a route rather than the whole holiday.
Planning a trip to Naxos
Tell us your dates and how long you have. We will tell you whether Naxos is the right island for the trip you are describing, including when it is not.
Plan my Naxos trip