Naxos

Naxos is the largest and most self-sufficient of the Cyclades — an island with a strong agricultural tradition that produces excellent cheese, potatoes, citron liqueur (kitron) and spirits, a significant mountain range (Zas at 1,001m, the highest in the Cyclades), beautiful hilltop villages and some of the finest beaches in the Aegean. Unlike many Cycladic islands, Naxos thrives independently of tourism. The Portara — the enormous marble gateway of an unfinished 6th-century BC temple to Apollo, standing alone on a small peninsula linked by causeway to Naxos Town — is the island's defining image, silhouetted against the sunset or at dawn before the crowds arrive. Naxos Town (Chora) has a medieval Venetian Kastro (castle quarter, inhabited by the Catholic descendants of the island's former Venetian rulers) in excellent condition, winding marble lanes and a charming waterfront. The Archaeological Museum in the Kastro holds excellent Cycladic marble figurines. The Tragaea plain in the island's interior is dotted with Byzantine churches and Venetian tower houses in medieval villages (Halki, Filoti, Apiranthos, a proudly Cretan village of marble houses) that are the most rewarding in the Cyclades for authentic rural life. The beaches at Plaka, Agios Prokopios and Agios Georgios are excellent and develop gradually from the town southward. Naxos is excellent value, quieter than the famous destinations and far more characterful.