Chora & Agios Georgios

Naxos Chora is the most liveable town in the Cyclades: a working port that did not empty out when tourism arrived, with a Venetian kastro of narrow stone lanes above the harbour and a marble doorway — the Portara, all that was built of a temple to Apollo — standing alone on the islet at the harbour mouth. Walk out to it at sunset; it costs nothing and it is better than most paid views in the archipelago.

Agios Georgios, the town beach, starts where the shops end. It is shallow a long way out, which makes it the one beach on the island you can put small children on without thinking about it, and it has a line of tavernas behind it.

As a base this is the easy answer. The ferries, the buses and the car-hire desks are all here, Naxos has its own small airport with turboprops from Athens, and the island's food — cheese, potatoes, citrus liqueur — is genuinely a reason to eat in rather than out on the coast.