We loved Naxos. We REALLY loved Naxos, and could have stayed there longer. The main town, Chora, is great, a beautiful waterfront, and then behind it, lots of twisty, stone steps, and curvy streets, a shutterbug's dream. Some shops, some restaurants, some houses, some cats, beautiful flowers, churches.... There's the Domus Venetian Museum, an 800 year old house, we were given a private tour (because we were the only ones there!). There's also an Archeological Museum.

We stayed at the Hotel Grotta, which was wonderful. The owner, Dmitris, runs it with his whole family. He picked us up at the ferry, took us to the airport when we left. His mom and sister did the big breakfast buffet. His wife and daughter were out and about... They couldn't have been nicer, the location is a very short walk to the main part of town and it was very affordable.

We rented a car for a day (Dmitris arranged that too), and had a great time checking out the interior of the island - very mountainous with tiny twisty roads and beautiful scenery around every bend. Lots of spring wildflowers, terraced hillsides. We saw the Temple of Demeter, went to Chalki where there's the distillery that still makes the liquor Citron (you can walk through the little museum and of course BUY some Citron). We stopped for a snack in the main square in Filoti, and watched kids going home from school and a bunch of old men playing cards. We drove to the north coast to Apollonos, a little seaside resort - it was a great day.

We liked the restaurant Taverna Apostoli so much we ate there twice. The other night we ate at one of the waterfront restaurants, also good.

I guess I felt that Naxos was much more authentic somehow than Santorini, many less tourists, much more laid back. It's a beautiful place and if you're trying to figure out an itinerary, consider it.

Alice

I first visited Naxos back in 1976 and thought that it was wonderful. Went back again in 2000 - worried that I wouldn't like it, it would have changed too much, etc. etc. I loved it again. I definitely preferred it to Santorini.

Funny to hear you mention Apollonos - I stayed there for a few nights in 1976 and have great memories of it!

I'm planning a trip to Greece in Sep. There are so many islands it's overwhelming. Is there an island other than Naxos that you'd recommend?

I loved Naxos too. I visited last May and we had the same "private tour" of the old Venetian house. IIRC, we were also the only people at the Temple of Demeter. We didn't get to Apollonos but loved Apereinthos. It's a gorgeous island.

Alice, we plan to rent a car and tour the island, too. Was it easy to figure out where to park in the villages?

Parking was never a problem, the villages are pretty small, we just found parking on the street. Now, we went pretty early, and it might be harder later in the summer - you might have to park a little further away and walk some.

Alice