Attractions

Naxos lies in the heart of the sundrenched Aegean Sea, Entering the harbour, you're greeted by the ancient Portara! Naxos is the largest and most fertile island in the Cyclades. Naxos is an island which is indisputably unique. In mythology Naxos was linked with the wedding of Dionysus and Ariadne, a union that blessed the island with its fertility and its distinctive wine, which was highly prized in the ancient world.

Naxos island is one of the few Cycladic islands, which has been inhabited continuously since the dawn of civilization: archaeological evidence indicates the presence of permanent settlements already in the end of the 4th millennium BC. Naxos has the cosmopolitan air of a modern tourist resort while it has managed to preserve its local culture and traditional color. Hora (the main town) is the main harbor and the administrative center of the island. It is a modern town provided with every health and recreational facility one would expect.

If you really want to know Naxos you must visit the inland areas and the villages that are located on the top of the mountains. You will have to walk the ancient paths which crisscross the island, to listen to the violin and the lute at one of the local festivals and to get ' drunk' on the island's positive energy. In the main center of the island of Naxos (Hora-main town) you will see: the gigantic Portara, all that remains of a massive temple to Apollo that was never completed. Also in the city center is the now day life so there are banks, a Health Centre, a Post Office, souvenir shops and a very good market place where all the local produce is available: folk art, clothes, jewelers and anything else that comes to mind.

The town today has expanded mostly towards the south, around the beach of Agios Georgios, which is the most popular. Around the hill on which the Venetian castle stands, on same spot as the ancient town of Naxos. There are plenty monuments in Hora that bare witness to the island's long history such as Portara, the archaeological area of Grota and the Venetian Castle. The Archaeological Museum of Naxos is also located in Hora.