Naxos guide: places to stay, restaurants, shops and beaches

Naxos airport has flights to Athens with SKY express and Olympic Air. KTEL Naxos buses leave from Naxos Town and stop about 300 metres from the airport.

In KTEL's timetable for 3–9 October 2026, weekday buses from Naxos Town to Agios Prokopios and Agia Anna ran every half hour from 07:30 to 20:00, then hourly until 23:00. The airport stop had 29 departures a weekday and 12 a day at the weekend.

Village links are much thinner. The same week had 7 buses a day to Halki, 6 or 7 to Filoti and Apeiranthos, 2 on weekdays to Koronos and Komiaki, a bus to Apollonas on Tuesdays and Thursdays only, and none to Moutsouna or Pyrgaki. Buy tickets before you board, at the KTEL office by the port.

In summer 2026 the municipality and KTEL also ran a free evening bus in Naxos Town, from 15 July, every 30 minutes between 19:00 and 01:00, linking the outlying car parks with the port. Check locally whether it is still running.

Our advice: for the mountain villages and the east and north coasts, plan your day around the bus times or hire a car.

In summer the north wind, the meltemi, can cancel or delay ferries. The National Observatory of Athens counted 18 strong-meltemi days in June 2026, 15 in July and 23 in August, using gusts of 50 km/h or more at its station on Tinos.

There is no single wind strength that stops every boat. Port authorities apply limits by ship size and type, so a large ferry may sail while a smaller ship or a fast boat stays in port.

Example: during the sailing ban of 2 October 2026, Blue Star Ferries cancelled its Piraeus–Paros–Naxos–Santorini sailings and asked passengers to change tickets through the agency that sold them.

Our advice: leave a spare day before a flight home, and keep your booking agency's contact details to hand.

Express Skopelitis, run by Small Cyclades Lines, is the local ferry between Naxos, Irakleia, Schoinousa, Koufonisia, Donousa and Amorgos (Katapola and Aigiali). Its long-time captain, Giannis Skopelitis, died in June 2026; the ship has kept running.

Its 2026 timetable runs the full loop via Donousa and Aigiali on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 11 September to 31 October. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays it runs Katapola–Koufonisia–Schoinousa–Irakleia–Naxos, without Donousa. From 3 July to 10 September the full loop ran on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. In 2026 the ship was out of service for its annual layup from 9 to 29 March.

Blue Star Ferries' Blue Star Naxos also calls at Irakleia, Schoinousa, Koufonisia and Katapola on its Piraeus–Naxos route, and at Donousa and Aigiali on its Naxos–Astypalea route.

Express Skopelitis is a small ship, carrying up to 340 passengers. On 30 July 2026 it waited in Katapola through a day of strong wind and sailed the next day once the Amorgos port authority cleared it. Check the current timetable before you book connections.

Greece keeps a list of protected “untouched” beaches. On them, sunbeds, umbrellas, canteens, amplified music, vehicles and events of more than 10 people are not allowed.

On the 2026 list: Psili Ammos on the east coast, Agiasos, Hawaii and Alyko, and Kalantos.

Two more stretches of the east coast are listed, with no named beach close by.

Our advice: there is no shade or service, so bring shade and water and take your rubbish with you.

The official list gives coastline coordinates, not names. The names here are our match to the nearest mapped beach.