Beaches

The beaches of Náxos are excellent, must of them South west of town. Actually, the entire coastline consists of beautiful beaches, reachable by bus or kaíki.

Southwest Náxos town

I recommend you to pass the first beach, Ágios Geórgios, if you don't like to be packed together with a lot of people.

Take a bus from Chora and go to Ágios Prokopi. This is one of the most popular beaches on the island. Here you are at most times protected from the wind.

On a walking distance right south of ágios Prokopi you will find Agía Ánna, a small fishing and potato-shipping port, with plenty of rooms.

Beyond the headland, there is the five lovely kilometres of Pláka beach, with beautiful white sand. Many visitors here are nudists. This beach is the continuation of Agía ánna beach.

Between Pláka and Mikrí Vígla is Orkos beach situated. It consists of several smaller coves. It's considered to be a C.O. beach with some 1,5 km of length.

Mikrí Vígla beach continues south of Plaka beach. The northern part of the beach, also called Partherna is ideal for Windsurfing. Here are hotels situated for those how like to stay close to the beach and water sports. Here you also find a shop with a large assortment (I even found novels in Swedish!!).

If you go further south, passing Mikrí Vígla headland, you will find about four kilometer stretches of sand, almost deserted at least off season. This is the southern part of Mikrí Vígla beach: Sahara (see Photos, folder 2000). In the northern part of the beach there is a simple tavern (see Photos, folder 1993). This beach invites you to walk by the waterside in the nude and feel the sun and wind caressing your naked skin. There are some rooms and taverns in the area, among others my favorite accommodation and restaurant Hippocampus Club (see Photos, folder 2000, 2001 and 2004).

The next beach Kastráki, about two kilometre long. In the most southern part, clothing is optional. In the northern part there is a tavern situated.

The beach of Glifada is between Kastráki and Alyko beaches.

You find Alyko beach 21 km south of Chora. It's a beautiful beach and also a clothing optional beach.

South of Alyko lies the beach of Pyrgaki. It's peaceful down here.

About 3 km south of Pyrgaki, following a bad dirt road you find Agiasos beach, a nice sandy beach. In the area you find rooms - studios and taverns.

North Náxos town

The summer of 1996, I also went to a little beach, Amiti bay, north of the town. It was quite alright, but since it's situated to the north, there was some garbage in the water.

East coast

Just before Moutsana (1 km) you find Azala beach, about 250 metres wide. It consists mostly of stone with a little sand in the northern part. There are some summer houses in the area. To me it's a rather uninspiring beach. When I investigated the beach I came to the conclusion that this beach is mostly visited by a lot of goats.

At the east cost, you find the fishing village Moutsana, about 11 km east of the mountain village Apirathos. Here is some nice small sandy beaches. You can find accommodation and taverns here as well.

Further south by the east cost, 8 km south from Moutsana you reach Psili Ammos beach that consists of two nice sandy beaches with dunes and some shadowing trees. There are a taverns and accommodations in the neighbourhood. I recommend Nikolaus tavern and studios!

Before year 2002 it was difficult to reach Psili Ammos because of the bad conditions of the dirt road. But during year 2002 extensive construction work took place on the road from Moutsana all the way down to Parnemos beach. On the parts where they road was ready the surface was very smooth!

South coast

There exist a few beaches on the south coast but many of them are remote and hard to reach without a boat or a vehicle suit able for bad tracks, such as jeep or motocross cycle.

Kalados beach is possible to reach by car (slowly drive), or with a more robust vehicle. I went there by scooter (not recommended). You start at Filioti in the centre of Naxos and drive towards Chimarou tower. All the way down to the tower, a distance of 12 km, the road is of good quality (money from E.U.). But still there is 11 km to go before you reach the beach and the remaining distance is a so called main dirt road in poor condition. As you may understand it’s quite hard to reach the beach, but you are rewarded once you get there! The beach is beautiful nicely rounded sand beach about 300 metres wide. You get a feeling that you are fare away from mass tourism, while you enjoy the stillness of this remote place.

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