Naxos Beaches

Naxos Beaches
The closest beach to the harbor is the beach below Grotta, just beyond the little causeway that goes out to Palatia islet with its large marble portal, though this is hardly the loveliest of Naxos beaches. One can also swim off of the rocks to the north of the causeway, and see remains of ancient Cycladic buildings below the water.

Many locals and tourists also swim on the harbor side of the causeway, leaving their things on the slate walks alongside the water, though there is no beach here. The sandy town beach of Aghios Yiorgos on the south end of town is convenient to walk to from town but its assets end there.

The southwest coast is where one finds the fabulous beaches of Naxos, with more than 10 km/6.2 miles of almost continous soft sand which begins a few miles to the south of town. Among the best beaches in Greece, it is these that draw many visitors to Naxos. The first is at Aghios Prokopios, which, along with Ayia Anna to the south, are flanked by a lot of tourist development—tavernas, hotels, stores, car rentals—the usual mix.

For more sandy beach and sea and less of all that, one must go farther south, beyond Maraghas, to Plaka and Mikri Vigla, though there are also hotels and rooms just in from the beach, as well as some good tavernas. Yet farther on are Aghiasos, Katraki, Pyrgaki and the little cape of Aliko with tiny coves with little sandy beaches and dwarf trees up above them.

A sandy, quite driveable road flanks the beaches, and the buses go back and forth along it every half hour all day and into the evening. Much of the development in the area beyond Maragas has happened only in the the past decade, to the delight of some and the chagrin of others.

There are a few beaches along the northwest coast of the island, notably at Abram, and on the island’s north tip is the old fishing-village-turned-resort of Apollonas, with two beaches. The east coast of the island is quite rugged and steep, though many make it down to the little pebble cove at Lionas (about 4 miles below the mountain village of Koronos), and to Moutsouna, 7 rather hair-raising miles below Apiranthos, both of the latter haunts with some summer-fall tavernas.