Ultimate 7-Day Itinerary: Explore The Best Of Naxos, Greece
Experience the best of Naxos, Greece in just seven days: from exploring charming villages and ancient ruins to relaxing on pristine beaches and indulging in delicious local cuisine. Complete your adventure with a scenic stopover in Santorini before heading to your next destination.
Day 1: Arrive and Settle In
Depending on how you arrive, either by air at the small airport just 4km from Naxos Town (Chora), or by ferry on one of the 25 or so passenger ferries that dock at Naxos port daily. Make your way to your accommodations in Naxos Town (Chora) and settle in. Swim in the pool, if you are lucky enough to have one, or check out Saint George (Agios Georgios) Beach, right in Chora, before stocking up on groceries and snacks. I highly recommend staying in Chora given its central location and wide range of accommodations and restaurants.
Day 2: Chora Town
The main town on Naxos is very walkable, you won’t need a car to explore all this old Venetian town has to offer. Explore Kastro Castle, and make your way to the top of the castle up the winding narrow pedestrian streets. Check out the Archeological Museum, an old monastery, and beautiful churches as you go. Be sure to wander through all the unique shops and stop for some homemade gelato. You can take the elevator to Avaton Café and Wine Bar, on the roof of the castle to enjoy the spectacular views or try Apostolis for dinner in the heart of Chora. Either way be sure to catch your first sunset on Naxos from the Portara.
Day 3: Temple of Demeter, Cedar Forest and the Beach
Rent a car to explore some of the villages of Naxos. We used Naxos Rent A Car just a short walk from our accommodation, our van was great but we did have trouble with the air conditioning keeping the van cool on the hot summer days.
About 25 minutes by car from Chora, near the village of Sangri sits the Temple of Demeter. The temple is made of Naxos marble which you can see all over the island and was built in the 6th Century BC. The temple was built to honour Demeter, goddess of the harvest. Pay a small fee at the site to access the temple and museum. Plan for about an hour at the site, which closes for the day in the early afternoon.
Next, make your way another 25 minutes by car to the Cedar Forest at Alyko Beach. Check out the abandoned hotel that sits atop a beautiful vista and white dune beach and backs onto a juniper cedar forest (shrubs rather than large trees). Enjoy the views and graffiti art hidden throughout. As to be expected with an abandoned building, there are some large holes in the floor so be mindful of your surroundings. There are no facilities at this beach so bring your towel, snacks, and water if you want to swim. Alternatively, make your way back toward Chora along the water and stop at the many beaches for a swim and a late lunch at a local Taverna. We stopped at Maragas Beach on our way back and had lunch at Taverna Paradiso about 15 minutes from Chora.
Day 4: Villages of Naxos
Head inland and visit some of the villages on Naxos and explore. Walk through the cobblestone town of Apeiranthos (about 40 minutes from Chora by car), and visit the pedestrian village of Halki/Chalkio as you take in the olive groves and citrus trees. Watch for the citron trees, whose leaves are used to make candies and the island’s citron/kitron liqueur. If you are up for more adventure, there are many well-maintained hiking trails in and around the villages.
Day 5: Beach Day
About 15 minutes by car or bus from Chora, visit Agios Prokopios Beach. It is easily accessible by bus if you want to return your rental vehicle the day before. The parking lot backs onto the salt flats and is a short 5-minute walk from the beach. Unfortunately, there are no facilities at the beach so take what you need with you. This was by far our favourite spot for a beach day to swim and enjoy the warm turquoise water and white sand. Make sure to check out Nikos Umbrellas for the best prices for loungers and umbrellas, they also have cold drinks. You will likely also find a few hawkers selling food along the beach (donuts and treats).
If you still have the energy in the evening, drive out to Kinidaros for dinner at Stou Vasilarakiou, known for its great steak. It is located about a half hour from Chora and you can stop and see the Kouras, giant fallen marble statues depicting young men, near Melanes on the way. Return your rental vehicle.
Day 6: Boat Trip – Get Out on the Water
Book a boat trip around the Island, to snorkel and swim in the turquoise ocean or try your hand at fishing. I highly recommend Santa Maria Catamaran’s day cruise, which lasts about eight hours. The captain and crew are fantastic, the food is amazing and you will get to explore some areas that are only accessible by boat. The amenities on the boat are fantastic with two washrooms, sun and shade options and snorkelling gear and floaties provided. Enjoy some of the local cheeses with a charcuterie dinner at sunset.
Day 7: Travel Day and Santorini
Pack up, have a great breakfast, and grab a few snacks for the flight/ferry as you make your way home or to your next adventure. As we were looking at ferry options from Naxos to Crete we found that the ferry was shorter if we stopped off in Santorini for the afternoon. Since Santorini was on our friend’s bucket list, we decided to give it a try and see what we could experience in half a day. When we booked our ferries, we had a five-hour stopover in Santorini before making our way to our final destination on Crete.
The ferry terminal is at the bottom of the island with both towns on the top of the caldera and we read about the challenges of getting a taxi and fighting with traffic when the ferries arrive. Given our time constraints, we decided to book a private guided tour. We chatted with our guide on the day of over WhatsApp and shared our goals for our limited time. We wanted to see the village of Oia, take in the beautiful vistas of Santorini, have lunch and some gelato and pick up some local wine. If we had time, we hoped to also see one of the black sand beaches. We ended up booking through Get Your Guide and were pleasantly surprised when we were met at the ferry with an air-conditioned van and driver and our amazing guide Panos. With ferry delays, our time was shortened to four hours, but we packed a great deal into our time and listened to Panos share the history of the island as we made our way to Oia. He took us to all his favourite photo spots, on a walking tour of Oia that ended with lunch and the BEST gelato we have ever eaten at Lolita’s. Having a local guide took all the guesswork out of where to eat and he made sure we got the local rate on our wine. We didn’t want to miss catching our ferry to Crete so opted to pass on the beach, but Panos was happy to share his recommendations for where to eat and what to see on Crete and made our time on Santorini amazing.
Do-Overs
We loved staying in Chora and would recommend it to anyone visiting Naxos. We had planned to see more of the villages of Naxos and do some hiking but with the heat and windy roads it was hard to get everyone excited about another car ride. Instead, we spent some extra time at the beach. If we were to come again, and we really hope to, we would love to check out some of the inland villages. Without the additional day trips, we could have easily shortened our car rental to just a couple of days. We also found that a lot of people rented ATVs and scooters to get to the beaches on Naxos. While I am not sure I would do this with little ones, it would be a less expensive way to get around than renting a car.
See Experienced It for our family’s favourite things to do in Naxos and Good Eats for our favourite restaurants.