Naxos

Naxos is the island Greeks themselves choose for summer, and it is easy to see why. It is big enough to hold everything: serious beaches, a living mountain interior, Venetian history in the old town and food that comes almost entirely from its own soil. Where smaller islands offer a mood, Naxos offers a whole world.

The west coast is the headline. From Agios Prokopios through Agia Anna to Plaka and beyond, golden sand runs for kilometre after kilometre, with beach bars and watersports at one end and nothing but dunes and cedar trees at the other. Families settle in for whole days here, and the shallow, clear water does the entertaining.

Inland is where Naxos surprises. The Tragea valley is a sea of olive groves dotted with Byzantine chapels, Halki pours its own citron liqueur in a century old distillery and Apeiranthos gleams, a village built of marble on the slopes of Mount Zas, the highest peak in the Cyclades. Lunch in a village square here, with local cheese and wine, is as memorable as any beach.

With our local team, Naxos fits together beautifully: a stay near the sands that suit your group, a driver and guide for a day among the mountain villages, the right taverna in Halki and the Portara at sunset without the guesswork. You arrive, and the island's generosity does the rest.