Naoussa & the north

Naoussa still has the half-sunken Venetian mole, the little white chapels and the boats unloading at dawn — and it also has the best concentration of restaurants on any Cycladic island, a row of cocktail bars in the old lanes, and prices to match. It is the one place on Paros that feels like an evening rather than a day.

The bay it sits on is the reason the rest works. Kolymbithres, on the far side, is granite worn into smooth lobes with pockets of sand between them — strange, photogenic, and small, so it fills early. Santa Maria and Lageri to the east are proper long sand with watersports schools; the Paros Park headland north of town has walking paths, a lighthouse and swimming off the rocks.

Stay here if dinner matters more to you than the beach being outside your door, and book early: Naoussa sells out first every summer.