The beaches of Naxos

Norsk utgave (Norwegian edition)

Just want to remind you to read about things to look out for in the sea, which I have written about on the page "Are there any dangerous animals and insects in the sea or at the islands?"

Naxos has without doubt some of the greatest beaches in Greece. On the Western coast in particular, there are plenty. Yes, they line up as pearls on a string south from Naxos town. I have already described several of them in some of the documents above, namely the beaches of Agia Anna, Mikri Viglia and Orkos. The beaches described above are all great. But still there are more great beaches. First of all there is a large, great beach in the town itself. It is easy to reach just south of the town. This beach has a fine location and is very well sheltered from the sometimes-unpleasant wind from North. But nevertheless, we must admit it is not our favourite beach. It is to close to the town and the inconveniences that follow (as mentioned otherwise in these pages, beaches near towns = some water pollution because of poor (or rather no) cleaning of the sewer. We believe, though, that there are no health risks if you swim here. It is more a psychological issue, knowing that the sea is not quite clean, when there are great and clean beaches just a short trip longer south. That is also why we mostly choose not to stay in the biggest towns on an island. We would rather select a smaller place, where it is also likely to be quieter.

Saint Georgios (the beach in town), shot from the town.

The beach in town, which is called Saint Georgios, is long - about 6 km people say. If you go a little south on the beach, it gets uncomfortably shallow. At the same spot it turns west, and you lose the shelter from the northern wind. Out here, those who master the art of rough windsurfing are happy. They really enjoy it, because it can really get windy here.

Agia Prokopios.

If you drive further south past the small airport further toward Agia Anna, you will first arrive at a village and a beach called Agia Prokopios. Here is a new, great and long beach (1200m) reaching out toward the Northwest. The southern boundary of this beach ends where the beach of Agia Anna starts. Agia Prokopios is a small village almost the size of Agia Anna. In fact there is just a few hundred metres between these two villages.

Further south beyond Agia Anna is another long beach called Plaka. It is 4 km long and continues all the way to Orkos that in turn continues to Mikri Vigla. Here at Plaka there is a large camping site just near the north end of the beach. In fact, the road stops here at the camping site. Further south there is only a narrow path. If you go by car to Orkos, you must return toward Naxos town, away from the sea, then first down toward Mikri Vigla and again north to Orkos. From here you can drive to the southern boundary of Plaka beach. Because there is no road along the major part of Plaka, suggests that this is a peaceful place where you will probably be able to find a place all for yourself. Truly, this is probably the unofficial nudist beach of Naxos, the broad beach of Plaka having plenty of room.

Plaka Beach.

Naxos has even more attractive beaches. At the very north of the island is a small, nice beach near the town of Apollónas. Unfortunately, we still have not had the time to try out more beaches.

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Thanks to Toralf Sandåker, Asker, Norway for his translation into English!
© Jan Bergtun, 01. May 1999	Updated, 09.24.2011
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