Getting to Naxos: Let the Adventure Start Early

Athens

One of the questions we are asked most often is what is the best way to get to Naxos. The truth is there isn’t really one best way. You can fly into Athens and take a ferry, fly on from Athens to Naxos, come via Mykonos or Santorini, or make the journey part of the holiday itself.

We used to think of getting here as the bit you had to do before the retreat started, but we don’t really think like that any more. The adventure starts when you get on the plane.

Last year we flew into Santorini and instead of coming straight to Naxos we gave ourselves an extra week. We spent two nights on Folegandros, then took the boat to Milos and finally came on to Naxos. We want to try lots of different routes so we can suggest them to you.

Folegandros is small and quiet and has a beautiful Chora high above the sea. There is the little white Church of Panagia on the hillside and it is one of those places where you very quickly stop looking at the time. You wander, swim, eat, read and somehow the whole pace of life changes.

Milos felt completely different. The coastline is extraordinary, the landscape is volcanic and the beaches are unlike anywhere else. There are little fishing villages with brightly coloured boat houses on the water and so many places to swim and explore. We could easily have stayed longer. By the time we arrived in Naxos we already felt as though we had had a holiday.

That is only one example. There are so many ways to do it.

Athens is probably the most obvious route. You can fly straight on to Naxos or go to one of the ports and take the ferry. But you could also spend a night or two in Athens first. Have dinner in Plaka, visit the Acropolis, sleep properly and then travel on the next day.

Or you could include another island. Tinos is a lovely option from Athens. It is known for the Church of Panagia Evangelistria, one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Greece, but there is much more to it than that. The villages are beautiful, there is a strong tradition of marble work, the food is wonderful and it has a completely different feel from Naxos.

Mykonos and Santorini are also useful places to arrive if the flights work better for you. You do not have to treat them simply as somewhere to change planes or catch a boat. Stay a night. Have dinner. Explore. Or use them as the start of your own island hopping route.

There is something lovely about travelling by ferry. Flying from Athens to Naxos is quick and easy when everything works well, but the ferry gives you a completely different feeling. You leave the mainland or another island behind, settle in with a coffee and a book and watch the Aegean go past. It does require patience sometimes. Ferries can be delayed, the wind can get up and occasionally boats are cancelled. Flights change too. That is simply part of island life, so it is always worth giving yourself a bit of breathing space rather than making every connection too tight.

And if you are delayed, bring a book. Obviously.

Download a few episodes of something before you leave home, take your headphones and make sure you have something to read. Then a delay becomes much less annoying. Find a coffee, sit down, open your book and remember that you are already on holiday.

However you choose to get here, there is something special about the final part of the journey. Seeing Naxos getting closer from the ferry, or coming in over the island on the little plane, never gets old for us.

And when you arrive, we will be there waiting for you.

The retreat starts in Naxos, but the adventure can begin long before that.

Folegandros

Milos