A Naxos sunset cruise takes passengers out on the evening sea off Naxos as the sun goes down. Boats sail past the Portara and toward the Small Cyclades. It is one of the sunset sailing trips in Greece on Greece VIP.
This post covers what a Naxos sunset cruise includes, where cruises leave from and which boats sail. It also covers the Portara, the islands in view and the myths of Naxos. Food and drink, the best season and common questions come last.
Each section ends with a Naxos sunset cruise or a nearby sea tour that can be booked online.
What does a Naxos sunset cruise include?
A Naxos sunset cruise centres on evening light near Chora. The Municipality of Naxos calls the Portara sunset one of the loveliest in Greece. Beaches along the west coast give swim stops in deep or shallow water.
Water depth shapes where a Naxos sunset cruise can stop for a swim. At Agios Georgios beach in Chora, the sea reaches 5 m about 80 m from the shore.
Agios Prokopios and Agia Anna get deep from the first metres. At Agios Prokopios, depth hits 5 m about 150 m out. At Agia Anna, that comes about 170 m out.
Mikri Vigla has a gently sloping sea floor. The depth reaches 5 m about 210 m from the shore. At the Mikri Vigla-Liofagos beach, that line lies about 340 m out.
Rocky outcrops in the sea hold algae, or sea plants. Brown and green algae grow off Agios Prokopios, and green algae off Agia Anna. Snorkellers on a Naxos sunset cruise can look for them.
Greek bathing waters are sampled every year from 1 June to 31 October. An on-site check at Agios Prokopios found no tar, oil or foam. The water was clear and clean.
- Air: Mean monthly air temperature at Agios Prokopios in bathing season is 23 °C.
- Seafront: The Chora seafront road closes to cars on summer nights.
- Square: Protodikiou Square in the main town fills with visitors in summer.
Protopapadaki Street is the pedestrian street along the Chora seafront. Shops and restaurants line it. Visitors walk it in the evening after a Naxos sunset cruise ends back in town.
Where does a Naxos sunset cruise leave from?
A Naxos sunset cruise can depart from piers and coves around the island. Agia Anna beach has a long concrete pier on the west coast. Chora, Kouroupas, Apollonas and Moutsouna also have spots where boats moor or anchor.
Agia Anna beach lies 7 km south of Chora. The church of Agia Anna crowns the hill at its south end.
A concrete pier about 300 metres long runs from that end. Fishing boats and pleasure craft moor there. In the 70s and 80s, young Greek and foreign tourists camped by this sea.
Chora has a small pier at the south end of Agios Georgios beach. About 10 metres long, it serves water sports boats. A catamaran trip from Naxos is another way to see this coast.
Vintzi beach in Chora lies south of Cape Vakchos, inside a closed bay 600 m long. It is 70 m long and no more than 5 m wide. The main port lies to its south-west.
Kouroupas cove is an open bay below the cape of the same name. Hotels line its coast. Boats anchor at its small pier over sand 4m-6m deep, which holds well.
- Apollonas: This north-east fishing village has a small harbour with a breakwater against north winds.
- Moutsouna beach: It is only 70 m long and faces south-east.
- Moutsouna pier: At the eastern end, a pier is used to haul boats out.
At Moutsouna, the 5 m depth line lies about 310 m from the shore. For a Naxos sunset cruise, a west-facing spot such as Agia Anna lines up with the sunset.
Which boats run a Naxos sunset cruise?
A Naxos sunset cruise can run on a wooden caique, a RIB or a sailing yacht. The caique is the old wooden work boat of the islands. A RIB is a rigid inflatable boat with a solid hull. Each type has its own past.
Caiques are largely built from the boatbuilder’s craft and memory, not from plans. So no two are alike.
This craft is dying out, as plastic and fibreglass boats replace wooden ones. In Greece, shipwrights who repair wooden boats, sailboats and ships are called karavomaragoi. Their skill keeps old caiques afloat.
At its wooden-boat peak, Greece had one of the largest numbers of boat repair yards in the Mediterranean. They stood in Piraeus, Thessaloniki, Syros and dozens of other ports.
On Koufonisia, a small boatyard opened in 1965. It still lifts wooden fishing boats onto wooden stilts by hand. A Loutro yard near Chora maintains fishing boats as it did decades ago.
At the start of Lionas beach stands a tarsanas. That is the local word for an old boatbuilding and repair yard. Emery miners gave it its name, as they slept there when loading emery ran long.
- Lionas building: It dates to the Middle Ages, with Gothic arches in one chamber.
- RIB roots: In 1964, an Atlantic College team glued plywood onto a torn 12 ft rescue inflatable.
- Avon Searider: It is believed to be the first commercial RIB, launched in January 1969.
On a Naxos sunset cruise, a sailing yacht carries the prefix SY or S/Y. Charles II of England commissioned royal yachts, including at least one experimental catamaran. The first recorded yacht race took place in 1661.
What does a Naxos sunset cruise see at the Portara?
A Naxos sunset cruise sees the Portara, a giant marble door frame on the islet of Palatia. The islet also goes by the name Bacchos. The door belonged to a temple of Apollo. That temple was never finished.
Ancient tradition counted 22 smaller sanctuaries of Delian Apollo. Each held its own festival. These shrines stood on heights near a city, facing Delos. A light signal from Delos started each festival.
The temple on Palatia was named as one of these sanctuaries only in 1972. No one knows when Palatia was cut off from Naxos. One idea links the strait to the tyrant Lygdamis.
Lygdamis wanted his temple to beat all Delian temples, even the one on Delos. His model was the Heraion of Samos, built by Polycrates. The columns were planned to stand about 13 m high.
From a Naxos sunset cruise, the door frame stands out. The threshold sits about 1.20 m above the floor.
Work stopped before the temple got a ceiling or roof. By then the walls reached the cornice, the top ledge. The 8 columns of the cella, the inner room, also stood.
- Size: The outer row of columns was planned at 24.32 by 55.17 m.
- Columns: The columns were planned to stand about 13 m high.
- Spare stone: A 7-metre lintel cut for the door still lies in the Melanes quarries.
In the later 7th century BC, raiders from Miletus and Erythrae held Palatia as a fortress. They tried to conquer Naxos from there. Today a Naxos sunset cruise finds the islet calm.
Which islands lie in view on a Naxos sunset cruise?
A Naxos sunset cruise looks out across the Cyclades, a group of Greek islands. Paros, Antiparos and Delos appear on the skyline. So do the Small Cyclades, like Iraklia, Keros and Koufonisia. Island hills stay visible far across the water.
For an eye 1.70 m above the water, the sea horizon lies 4.65 km away. Yet the top of a 100 m hill stays in sight up to 40.35 km away.
Paros paid the highest island tribute in the Delian League. Olympiodorus put it at 30 talents a year. Saliagos, an islet beside Antiparos, is the oldest settlement in the Cyclades.
Thucydides wrote that Carian pirates were the first people of Delos. King Minos of Crete later drove them out. Nearby Iraklia sits sheltered from strong winds by Naxos and Ios.
In the Second World War, a secret radio worked on Iraklia. It sent German naval news to British headquarters in Cairo. Pliny the Elder, a Roman writer, named Schinoussa in his texts.
Ano Koufonisi covers 5.7 sq km and Kato Koufonisi 4.4 sq km. Koufio means hollow. In one view, big sea caves made pirates think these islands were hollow.
- Keros: Keros mattered as much in early Cycladic times as Delos did in Classical times.
- Ancient name: Keros was once Keria, a name first written in 425 BC.
- Donousa: Virgil names Donousa as a stop for Aeneas between Troy and Italy.
A Naxos sunset cruise passes waters full of such stories. Off Kedros beach on Donousa lies a 2,500-ton German cargo ship. RAF bombers sank it during that same war.
What myths of Naxos does a Naxos sunset cruise recall?
A Naxos sunset cruise recalls old tales of giants, gods and heroes. Naxos is the island where Theseus left Ariadne. Dionysus, god of wine, wanted to marry her. The giants Otus and Ephialtes also died here.
These giants, called the Aloadae, were sons of Iphimedia and Poseidon. Their names mean insatiate and nightmare. They grew nine fingers every month. At age nine they stood nine fathoms tall.
The brothers planned to pile mountains on Mount Olympus. Homer says Apollo killed them before their beards grew. On Naxos, Artemis became a doe and leapt between them, and each speared the other.
Diodorus calls Naxos by an old name, Strongyle. He says the Aloadae beat the Thracians there and ruled the island. The Naxians then worshipped them as heroes.
Theseus and his crew stopped on Naxos to look for water. They fell asleep on the beach before he left Ariadne. One account says Athena ordered this in a dream.
Homer’s Odyssey says Artemis slew Ariadne on sea-girt Dia. In the Theogony, Hesiod says Zeus made her deathless and unageing for Dionysus. Their sons included Oenopion, the spirit of wine, and Thoas.
- Pirates: Dionysus turned a pirate ship’s mast and oars into snakes, and the sailors became dolphins.
- Helmsman: Dionysus spared only the helmsman, the man steering.
- Crane dance: Theseus danced the Crane on Delos, its twisting steps copying the Labyrinth.
After sunset, stars fill the sky. Corona Borealis, the northern crown, shows seven stars in a curved arc. Its brightest star, Alphecca, shines at magnitude 2.2.
What food and drink does a Naxos sunset cruise serve?
A Naxos sunset cruise sits among island foods with deep local roots. Naxian cheese, cured pork and honey sweets come from village kitchens. Local spirits include rakomelo and citron liqueur. These flavours suit a calm evening at sea.
Naxos makes 35 to 40 tons of honey a year. Thyme honey leads, followed by heather and spring flower honey. Bees feed mainly on thyme and heather.
Rakomelo is raki, a local spirit, mixed with honey. It is a common drink across the Cycladic islands. Around 1870, a new distillate of alcohol and citron leaves became today’s citron liqueur.
Citron groves grow on the plains of Eggares and Sagri. They also fill inland valleys with mild winters and cool summers. The liqueur won gold in Marseilles in 1904 and Bordeaux in 1907.
Thylikotyri, the “feminine cheese” of Naxos, is low in fat, at 19%-21%. It goes best with a glass of wine. Komos, a very low-fat Naxian cheese, suits ouzo and tsipouro. It is made by letting leftover thylikotyri ferment with mountain herbs.
Apiranthos keeps old pork traditions. Pastà is its cured and smoked pork. Mezines are pork meat and fat cured with salt in big clay pots. Glinero is cooked pork sealed under liquid fat.
- Manoura: Leftover fresh cheese pieces that Apiranthos fries with eggs.
- Melachrino: A walnut pie with a little citron liqueur and kaimaki ice cream.
- Papilona: A cross between bergamot and bitter orange, made into a spoon sweet. Villages keep their own fruit, such as Komiaki sour cherry and Koronos walnut.
A Naxos sunset cruise ties the sea to these island flavours. Schinoussa, in the Small Cyclades, puts chtapodi giouvetsi at the top of its dishes. That dish is octopus baked with pasta.
When is the best season for a Naxos sunset cruise?
A Naxos sunset cruise works from spring to autumn. July is the sunniest month at the Naxos station. On the June solstice, the sun sets over Naxos Town at 20:42. Mid-October sunsets come far earlier, at 18:42, with twilight over by 19:08.
In mid-April, the sun sets at 19:53 summer time. Civil twilight, the glow after sunset, ends at 20:20.
One month later, sunset moves to 20:20, and twilight ends at 20:49. The fifth month of the year brings 318.2 hours of sunshine. At the solstice, twilight ends at 21:13.
Summer is the brightest time for a Naxos sunset cruise. July averages 389.9 hours of sunshine, June 352 and August 362.3. In mid-July, the sun sets at 20:38.
August rain averages only 1.6 mm. June has rain on just 1.1 days.
In mid-August, sunset comes at 20:11, and twilight ends at 20:38. By mid-September, the sun sets at 19:27. September brings 251.4 hours of sunshine.
- Solstice sunset: The sun sets at 300.690197 degrees on the compass, north of due west.
- October sunset: The sun sets at 259.81022 degrees, south of due west.
- Yearly sunshine: October still averages 210.6 hours, and the year totals 2794.7 hours.
Each month gives a Naxos sunset cruise a different light. Early summer brings the longest evenings. Island sunsets also draw travelers to a sunset cruise on Rhodes.
What do travelers ask about a Naxos sunset cruise?
A Naxos sunset cruise raises common questions about warmth, seasickness and the night sky. Summer nights stay warm at sea level. Simple steps help ease motion sickness. After dark, travelers can spot Venus, moonlight and glowing sea life.
How warm are evenings on a Naxos sunset cruise?
At the Naxos station, 9 m above sea level, July nights average a low of 22.9 °C. August averages 23.3 °C. Lows fall to 20.3 °C in September and 18 °C in October. Nights in the fifth month of the year average 16.6 °C.
Why does a breeze pick up on a Naxos sunset cruise?
After sunset, mountain slopes lose heat. The cooled air flows downhill as a katabatic wind. This downhill wind is easy to notice at night in mountain areas. The word katabatic comes from the Ancient Greek katabasis, meaning descent.
How can seasickness be eased on a Naxos sunset cruise?
The NHS, the UK health service, advises against watching moving objects, such as rolling waves. Heavy meals, spicy foods and alcohol before or during travel are best avoided too.
Is a Naxos sunset cruise fine for children prone to seasickness?
Children can be distracted by talking, listening to music or singing. A rare condition, mal de debarquement syndrome, keeps a rocking feeling long after a cruise.
Can the sea glow during a Naxos sunset cruise?
Water can glow from Noctiluca scintillans, a single-celled sea organism 400 to 1500 μm long. It flashes light when passing boats or waves stir the water. Its Latin name means “light at night” and “throwing out flashes of light”. Sailors once called it “sea fire” or “sea twinkle”.
What lights up the sky on a Naxos sunset cruise?
Venus, the “evening star”, appears after sunset. It is the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon. In summer, the Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb and Altair rises in the east. A full moon rises around sunset and stays up all night. The Moon rises about 50 minutes later each day.