Paros Greece with Kids

Summer in the Greek Islands

We love Greece in the summer. The islands are truly idyllic, with amazing food, beaches and cute towns and shops. The white houses with their blue shutters, and painted walkways through town, add to the vibe. Plus the islands are safe. We’ve felt comfortable letting our kids roam around by themselves from eight years old or so onward.

But…be careful which island you choose. The famous islands like Mykonos and Santorini are amazing, but they’re also visited by cruise ships – sometimes several a day. If you’re spending a week there and every day 8,000-16,000 people arrive to crowd the walkways and restaurants, it takes away from the experience. And they have a lot more hotels, so they’re more crowded to begin with. On the opposite end of the spectrum are the far smaller, quieter islands like Paxos, Anafi, Syros, Symi and Ios. You’ll get to know all of the beaches, restaurants and shops quickly, which can be good (you’ll feel more like a local) or bad (you may get bored).

We’ve found Naxos and Paros to be ideal in-between choices, small enough that there are no cruise ships docking, but large enough that we never get bored. Paros even has two reasonably-sized towns. We’ve now visited Naxos four times (my most recent blog post is here) and Paros five times – twice where we stayed for several days, and three day trips from Naxos via ferry.

Traveling to (and from) Paros Greece

We’ve arrived in Paros via ferry and air. One trip we started in Bodrum, Turkey, took a ferry to Kos, Greece, went through Greek/EU passport control and then took a van across the island to the airport (we had pre-booked a car and driver). From Kos we flew to Athens and connected to Paros. We left Bodrum at 9:30am and arrived in Paros at 4:40pm. Three hours of that was spent in the Athens airport.

Otherwise all of our trips we’ve arrived by ferry from Naxos. Leaving, we’ve either taken the ferry back to Naxos, or we’ve flown out of the Paros airport. The first trip we flew to Athens, overnighted and then continued on. This past summer we flew from Paros to Thessaloniki and then on to Zurich.

In case you also have an overnight in Athens, I recommend booking a hotel in the Plaka area near the Acropolis. You can take the metro from the airport to the center of town, but we usually opt to pay a little more and book a private transfer in advance (George is great). Most recently we stayed at Home and Poetry. The location was excellent and the boutique hotel was nice, although it was annoying that our two rooms were on different floors. Note: walking around Athens, it made us miss the islands! There were simply too many tourists and groups of tourists. But it’s always fun to visit the Acropolis and Parthenon, especially in the late afternoon when it’s not crowded.

Parikia or Naoussa – Where to Stay on Paros

If we’re on a Greek island we want to stay in a main town with a lot of restaurant choices, easy beach access and places for the kids to roam on their own. I prefer not to rent a car if we don’t have to – we’d rather walk everywhere than deal with a small rental car (maxed out by our family of five) and parking.

As I mentioned above, Paros has two main towns – Parikia and Naoussa. For day trips from Naxos we always stay in Parikia – it has great shopping and good restaurants for lunch. When we stay for several days, however, we prefer Naoussa – just a better vibe in the evenings, there’s a decent beach, and we love dining on the water.

Our first trip we booked the Paliomylos Hotel based on its family setup. We were in one apartment, with a master bedroom, a kids room with two beds, a large living room with a couch converted to another bed, and a kitchen. It was a two-minute walk to the beach and maybe five minutes to town. Breakfast was included every morning and was very good. And we loved the staff – always helpful with making restaurant reservations and advising us on bus stops and getting around. There’s a moderately sized pool that we used once or twice.

Our second long stay we went with Alexandros Apartments based on room layout (we only had two kids with us) and price. It’s literally next door to Paliomylos. There’s no pool, but the service and breakfasts were excellent, and the view from our room was great. Theo arranged for a rental car for us (parking is across the street and easy). Our last morning we had a very early departure to the airport, and Litsa came in and set up the entire breakfast layout for us at 6am. Amazing!

What We Did in Paros

Naoussa

We spend a lot of time at the beach near our hotel (Piperi Beach) and in Naoussa. We typically walk into town for lunch and again for dinner, spending several hours each time wandering around, shopping and eating. Sunrise is a great time to walk around as well. Note: if you cut through the beach from either apartment to town, you save a few minutes and it’s a much nicer walk than going along the road.

Parikia

We’ve taken the bus to the other main town, Parikia, to shop and have lunch several times. Always fun to walk around, shop, get lunch and have ice cream.

Note: we got on the bus to Parikia near our hotel and purchased tickets from the driver (1 Euro each). Coming back we had to purchase tickets at the ticket booth near the main bus stop in Parikia before boarding (90 cents each). These prices are from several years ago. This trip we took our rental car to Parikia.

Lefkes

Everyone says to visit Lefkes, in the middle of the island, so we rented a car and drove over. It’s a cute town, but small. You don’t need more than an hour to see everything, including a drinks at a cafe. Worth a stop on a drive around the island, but I wouldn’t go to the trouble of renting a car just to visit Lefkes.

Antiparos

With a rental car, we decided to take the car ferry over to the island of Antiparos (literally, opposite Paros) for a day. We loved Antiparos and highly recommend a day trip.

The car ferry is 20 minutes from Naoussa. We arrived right as they were finishing loading a ferry and I backed up into the last spot – manual transmission, no backup camera, up a ramp into a tiny space. I nailed it! There were only a couple inches on each side of our car. Since we couldn’t open our doors to go and purchase tickets, the ticket guy came to us. It’s a fast ferry ride. When we arrived on Antiparos we were the first car off.

My son mapped us to a beach he found online, Faneromeni Beach. The road the last couple kilometers was rough, but our little Fiat Panda made it. I am NOT telling you to take a small rental car there, since if the roads get any worse, or there are more rocks, you may get stuck. That’s a choice you have to make. Having said that, this was our best beach day ever in Greece. We didn’t see another person the entire time we were there. Gorgeous setting, and great water for swimming.

We then drove to Antiparos Town for a late lunch. We found Manos Taverna on the main pedestrian walkway – highly recommended. We then walked around Antiparos for a while before taking the car ferry back over to Paros. There were far fewer cars going back so it was easier to back into a space.

Paros Restaurants – Where We Ate

I don’t think we’ve had any bad meals on Paros. Walk around and look at menus. Maybe check TripAdvisor and ask the staff at your hotel too. Most places have similar menus, with fish, squid, zucchini balls/fritters, meatballs, tzatziki and (maybe) pastitsio.

The three restaurants that have stood out in Naoussa are:

Taverna Glafkos

We’ve had had two lunches and two dinners at Taverna Glafkos over the years. Love the setting right on the beach/water, the food and the service. My kids highly recommend the ravioli. I love the squid. But everything is excellent.

Soso

Soso seems to be the hardest reservation to get, and we finally got in our last night on Paros our first trip. It was worth it. The menu changes every day.

Yemini Taverna

Yemini Taverna is another reservation that’s hard to get. We walked by just as they opened and somehow sweet-talked our way into a table, even though they were fully booked. Sidewalk dining at its best.

And for dessert most nights we got loukoumades (honey donuts) from To Paradosiako (Το Παραδοσιακό). It’s right in the middle of town – you can’t miss it.

Taverna Alexandros (Parikia)

In Parikia we really like Taverna Alexandros on the water (I don’t think it’s connected with Alexandros Apartments). Everything is excellent.

Naxos vs Paros

A question I get a lot is: “If we’re only going to go to one Greek island this summer, should we choose Paros or Naxos?”

Paros and Naxos are both great, and far better in the summer than any islands with cruise ships, but overall we prefer Naxos. Everything seems just a little easier on Naxos:

• The Naxos airport is close to town and our hotel (Nissaki Beach Hotel). On Paros it’s across the island, roughly 45 minutes from Naoussa.
• The ferry in Naxos is walkable from the hotel, even with luggage, and we’ve taken ferries from there to Paros, Santorini and Mykonos. On Paros the ferry drops you off in Parikia, and you need to take a bus to Naoussa.
• We prefer the beach in Naxos near the hotel and the calm, shallow water there – perfect for kids.
• The walk into Naoussa is along a fairly busy road and we weren’t comfortable with the kids walking between the hotel and town by themselves, although if you’re staying at Paliomylos or Alexandros you can cut through the beach. It just seems quieter and easier on Naxos. If the kids want to head into Naxos Town by themselves at night to get ice cream, they can.
• We needed restaurant reservations several nights in Paros. In Naxos we’ve always been able to dine anywhere we want, whenever we want. And we like that there are several good restaurants just a minute or two from the hotel in Naxos. That’s not the case on Paros.

Plus the famous temple (portara) near Naxos Town adds to the feel, and we always enjoy walking up to the castle for drinks at sunset.

Going against Naxos: the Nissaki Beach Hotel is considerably more expensive than Paliomylos Hotel or Alexandros Apartments on Paros, for an equally good family setup. That can add up quickly.

I should note that there are a lot more places to stay on both islands. On Naxos people like Agio Prokopios and Plaka Beach. On Paros, other than the two main towns, Aliki and Golden Beach are popular and, for hiking, Lefkes in the center of the island. However, that’s not us. We want to base in one place with everything walkable. If you’re fine with having a rental car and staying in a smaller beach town, you’ll have a totally different experience on both islands than we did.

Finance

The Paliomylos Hotel was €225 a night several years ago, including breakfast. Our apartment at Alexandros Apartments was €386/night with breakfast. Lunches and dinners for the five of us are always between €60 and €100. Our rental car was €40/day. Airport transfers to/from the hotels were €60 each way (booked through the hotels). A private transfer from the ferry to Naoussa is €30. Flights for the five of us from Kos Greece to Paros Greece were $900 or so total, and Paros to Athens was a little under $500 total. George’s transfer service in Athens was €70 each way. Two rooms at Home and Poetry were $403 total for one night.

Feel free to tell me that you like Paros better than Naxos! Just be specific on why.