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Towns and Beaches

Naxos Town

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The main town is Naxos Town or 'Hora'. Near the water front you see statues of two famous sons: Michaeli Damiralis and Petros Protopapadakis. The church of Panagia Pantaassa is near the waterfront. It's famous for its icon of the Virgin.

The town is deliberately laid out in bewildering, twisting streets which are divided into three neighborhoods: Bourgos, Evraiki and Kastro. In Bourgos, where the Greeks lived, you'll see the Metropolis of Zoodochos Pigi, an Orthodox Cathedral from the 18th Century. It sits atop older temples and churches that archeologists just itch to dig out but are not allowed to touch. Evraiki was a Jewish neighborhood.

At the top, high-walled Kastro contains one of the town's original seven towers. This is where the Venetian Catholic nobility lived and has stunning houses. There are Venetial coats of arms in view, and a 13th Century Catholic Cathedral. Kastro has the Archaeology Museum with numerous artefacts dating back to the 5th Century. Near it, the Venetian Museum contains a traditional Kastro house. The Naxos Cultural Center has exhibitions over the summer.

A causeway leads from Naxos Town to the Grotta area to the north, named for its many sea caves.

The southwest coast

To the south of Naxos Town is the golden sand and lovely bay of Agios Georgios. The road leads next to Livadi plain where potatoes are grown. Near the airport at Iria, the Temple of Dionysos was discovered.

The next beach is Ag. Prokopios, followed by Ag. Anna. Ag. Anna is the most popular beach because it is nicely sheltered from the sometimes annoying meltemi winds. Plaka, just south of that, has a very good beach and plenty of watersports options.

Further south the white sandy beaches of Parthena, Mikri Vigla, Sahara, and Kastraki offer surfing, swimming and brilliant clear water. Above the road, you can see Pirgos Oskellou, an old Mycenaean fortress. The last and most remote beach on the southwest coast is beyond Kastraki at Cape Kouroupia.

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