Naxos The Best Greek Island You've Never Heard Of

When I was planning our trip to Greece I had a really hard time choosing which islands to visit. Of course Santorini went on the list because its what you think of when envisioning Greece. But for our second island I had a hard time choosing between Mykanos, Paros, or Naxos. In the end I chose Naxos and have never regretted this decision.

Naxos is one of Greece’s most under appreciated islands. Ted and I chose it because its known as giving visitors the opportunity to experience traditional island life. While Santorini is picture perfect there are tons of tourists and it doesn’t have an authentic vibe. It’s an island dedicated to tourists, not locals. Naxos is the exact opposite of this. The island has 46 small sleepy villages that gives visitors a chance to interact with locals.

To get to Naxos Ted and I took a ferry from Santorini. The first site you’ll see when stepping onto the island is the the iconic Temple of Apollo gate standing in front of Chora, the old town of Naxos. Chora is filled with winding streets and small shops selling the products of Greece: olive oil, sea food, and honey.

We stayed at Pension Sofi, a small family owned bed and breakfast. It’s in a blue and white building just off the coast and we felt so at home here. Each morning Ted and I would come down to the kitchen area and be served fresh orange juice and sweets while enjoying conversation with the owners Theo and Rena.

This ocean view was just a five minute walk from our hotel!

The Best of Naxos

Other things that attracted us to Naxos were:

stunning beaches
a Venetian castle
ancient temple ruins
a mountainous interior

One of my favorite memories from Naxos is when Ted and I visited the Temple of Demeter. We ended up walking there in the hot Greek sun (notice my hat in all the pics) and I felt like I was an explorer discovering ancient ruins.

On the way back we got lost and had to flag down a bus to take us back to Chora. The trouble was the island is small and busses don’t run that often. Each time we tried to flag one down they would drive past us! When we finally managed to get on a bus, it was the wrong one and we found ourselves on the other side of the island in an extremely small village. Instead of freaking out we made friends with a Belgian tourist on the bus and decided to tag along with her to visit an old Byzantine church that she wanted to explore.

We actually ended up hitch hiking our way to the church, since that day was very hot and sweaty. So we put our good faith in a Greek driver and made our way there. It was a lot of fun and so spontaneous. That night we had dinner with our new Belgian friend and I still email her with life updates today 🙂