The beaches of Paros

Norsk utgave (Norwegian edition)

I would like to remind you to read about what to watch out for in the sea at the page Are there any dangerous animals and insects in the sea or at the islands?

Paros is an island with a lot of beautiful beaches. They are spread out rather evenly all over the island. Unfortunately, we do not know how many beaches there are, but our estimate would be at least 30 large and small beaches, probably many more. We introduce you to, and have photos from, nearly 20 of them on this page. Our presentation will start with Parikia and the nearby beaches in the bay of Parikia, then southbound along the western coast and all around the island all the way to Naoussa in the north, and then back to Parikia again.

The northernmost beach in town. Here you also fine the Parikia Camping, which is quite OK.

Let us start with the beaches within the town of Parikia. There are 3 beaches here; one just south of the town center and 2 north of the town center, the northernmost of these is situated right outside the big Parikia camping. We would not recommend any of the beaches, they are too close to the town and the water is not very clear. Swimming here will not make you sick, we have gone swimming here several times ourselves, but we would still recommend a visit to one of the 2 beaches a bit further out and on the northern side of the Parikia bay. Here the water is clean. The beaches are easily reached by little boats leaving from the port of Parikia, just by the large quay where the boat from Antiparos docks. But if you are a sportsman type of person, you can walk all around the bay, this is quite a distance, though, considering the warm weather (but surprisingly many people do this every day).

This is Martselo Beach. Below the boat just dropped off a new load of visitors who are going swimming.

Martselo Beach is a big, beautiful beach with a good music beach bar. Lots of young people therefor gather at the beach. If you turn west when you come ashore with the boat you will come to 2 small, but OK beaches, which seem to be used mainly by the Greeks themselves.

I you head further south form Parikia towards Pounda (the ferry quay where the car ferry to Antiparos leaves from), there are about 5 beaches within this distance. The distance is well covered by buses, but there can be quite a distance walking from the main road and down to the beaches. The biggest of the beaches and one that is situated near Parikia, is Parasporos beach. But it is situated at quite a distance from the main road, so your very own vehicle is recommended when you wish to visit this beach. It is well protected from the wind, and there are more than enough sun-beds and umbrellas, and a big beach bar where you can buy cool refreshments.

Parasporos-Beach.

On the road down to Parasporos beach you first come to a small, but very nice beach. Unfortunately I do not know its name, but that is rather unimportant, you can still swim and have a good time there. On the beach there are big trees that grant a pleasant shadow to climb into when the sun gets too strong. Several of the beaches further south also have this possibility.

Beach; name unknown, just south of Parikia

If you continue further south of the main road, you will hopefully see signs leading to more beaches. I must admit I have not written down the names of the next ones before Pounda. The 2 next beaches are situated close to a small church called Agia Eleni (which can also be spelled Agia Irini). On the maps the beaches are called Agia Eleni Beach. I am not sure what the sign along the main road say, but hopefully something close to that. Anyway these beaches are in the same bay, only separated by a small peninsula. A walk from one to the other will only take a couple of minutes. But if you want to drive to both beaches, which you can, you have to go back to the main road and drive along it before you turn down to the next beach.

Above the beach I call the Northern Agia Eleni-beach, below the Southern Agia Eleni-beach.

The southernmost of these two have some very lovely palms close to the beach, so if you want to hear the wind through the palms when visiting Paros, this is the place to go! Both of these beaches are quite OK, and rather few people.

Just before Pounda you will have a narrow beach on your right. The beach is situated close to a rather big hotel and is therefore used mainly by the guests at the hotel.

From Pounda and further south towards Aliki there are some more beaches. They cannot be reached by bus and therefore have fewer visitors. Since the main road is not very close to the coast here, I suppose these beaches actually are among the ones with the fewest visitors on Paros.

Aliki.

Aliki is the southernmost village of Paros. The village originally was a fisherman's village, but now tourism is considerable. There are many places you can stay over-night. This is mainly due to the fact that the village has a lovely beach, wide open to the sea. But since the village is on the southern tip of the island and the wind mainly comes from the north, the beach is great for swimming even though it is so open to the sea. If you go east from Aliki you will come to some nice beaches in an area that is not populated. Thus, they are relatively peaceful and have few visitors.

Two of several small, nearly deserted beaches between Aliki and Drios.

Soon you will come to Drios. Here you will find one of the finest beaches of Paros, called the Golden Beach. Some claim is the best beach of the island, but this is of course a matter of opinion. Long and beautiful it is anyway. Paros has many beaches that are excellent for wind-surfers. Golden Beach is considered to be the best beach for windsurfing. Right on the beach there are 2 windsurfing centers. Altogether they have more than 100 boards and 150 sails for hire. In the area around this beach, there are naturally lots of taverns and places to stay over-night. Drios is also well connected to Parikia by bus.

Just north of Drios is another very nice beach. It is called the New Golden Beach. Not as big as the Golden Beach, but a very nice one as well. Here you also find a windsurfing center with lots of windsurfing gear for hire. The New Golden Beach is, together with the Golden Beach considered to be among the 3 top windsurfing beaches on Paros. It is here on the new beach that the annual windsurfing World Cup competition is being held, usually in August.

If you go back to the main road and continue to the north, you will soon be in Lorgaras. Lorgaras is also a small village with an OK beach. The beach is in the same bay as the beach of Pisso Livadia, another charming village. The bay is open to the southeast, and is therefore rather well protected from the winds that are mentioned earlier, the beach of Pisso Livadia is especially well protected behind a mole.

Both Lorgaras and Pisso Livadia are well connected to Parikia by bus. This makes the beaches available without your own vehicle from the area around Parikia, where most of Paros' 40,000 hotel- and guest beds are. Like Drios, these two villages have lots to offer within tourism, with lots of taverns and places to stay over-night. I would especially like to recommend a visit to Pisso Livadia, a very charming fishermen's village.

If you keep looking for good beaches further north towards Naoussa, you will have a problem. The main road now turns inland from the coast and continues quite a bit from the coast. But there is a narrow pebbled road along the coast, though there are not very many beaches. There is a nice beach with few visitors close to Marmara, though.

Just before you reach Naoussa you can turn to the right, to Santa Maria amongst others. There are several beaches to be found here. On your right you will eventually find the Santa Maria Camping.

Here there is a big, lovely beach with a view (when the weather is good) to Naxos and Naxos town. This beach also is among the top 3 windsurfing beaches on Paros. We do not know which one is the best, and this probably varies from day to day, depending on the direction and strength of the wind. But judging from the few times we have visited all 3 beaches on the same day, there are definitely more wind-surfing boards to be seen in the water here. There is of course a great choice of boards and sails to be hired. If you continue to the north you will within short reach Santa Maria itself. There are two nice beaches here, only separated by a small peninsula. On this peninsula there is a mobile kiosk. Our impression is that these are the unofficial nude beaches of Paros. Santa Maria is well connected to both Naoussa and Parikia by bus.

One of two beaches near Santa Maria.

The get back to Naoussa you have to go back the same way you came. On your right you will then see several beaches in the Naoussa bay. On the same side you will also see the oil-run power supply of Paros. If you choose the road closest to the sea, you will have a narrow, but long and nice beach just before you reach Naoussa town.

The beach east of and closest to Naoussa.

There is a small beach in Naoussa town, but I have never seen anyone swim there. When you approach the port of Naoussa from the Parikia road, you will have a small beach on your left. It is possible to swim there, but most people staying in the Naoussa area choose to take a boat from the quay to one of the many beaches in the Naoussa bay.

Most of them choose to go to one out of two lovely beaches on the west side of the bay. One of them, Kolymbithres, is in an area with a very special mountain area. This is so special; we have dedicated another page to it. The other beach, which can be reached by boat here on the west side, is Monastiri beach.

Monastiri Beach.

Both of these beaches can be reached by vehicle. You turn left when you reach the Naoussa bay from Parikia. Follow the road along the bay. First you will come to Kolymbithres. The area is marked, and has several taverns. You continue north, and soon you will have the most exclusive hotel on Paros on your right, the Porto Paros. This the place to stay if you want to combine holidays and sports. There is a big windsurfing center (Club Mistral surf center), which is supposed to have about 50 boards for hire. The summer of 97, a big AquaLand was built here with large water-slides. This is the only AquaLand we have seen on the island (we know there is one on Crete). And of course there are several tennis courts.

But to get to Monastiri you have to pass by this great hotel. Drive to the end of the road. The beach is not very big, but probably the most "touristy" one on all of Paros. There are permanent sun-beds and umbrellas in many rows on the beach. Nearby there is a big open tavern, or to be correct, a bar (with a bamboo roof to protect you from the burning sun). This is the beach above beaches for young people on Paros. The music is pounding from huge speakers all day long. If you have had enough sun, there is a huge cloth you can sit or lie down under.

The beach bar with the huge cloth.

Back to Parikia, the main road again is far from the coast. Along the coast here there are practically no beaches, only steep rocks.

Back to Valley of Butterflies	Further on to Kolymbithres
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Thanks to Hilde Reitan, Strømmen, Norway for her translation into English!
© Jan Bergtun, 20 March 1999	Updated, 07.18.2007
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