ALYKO: A PROTECTED FOREST, A FAILED HOTEL, AND NAXOS'S WILDEST COVES

Alyko occupies a small peninsula on Naxos's southwestern coast, roughly eighteen kilometres from Naxos Town, beyond Kastraki and Glyfada and just north of Pyrgaki. Unlike most of the beaches covered elsewhere in this series, Alyko is defined as much by what grows behind it as by the sand and sea in front: a dense, protected forest of ancient juniper trees, locally known as cedars, spilling directly onto white dunes and breaking the shoreline into a series of small, sheltered coves. It is widely regarded as one of the most naturally striking, and most complicated, stretches of coastline anywhere on the island.

A South-Facing Bay, Sheltered from the Meltemi

Where most of Naxos's western beaches face directly into the prevailing wind, Alyko's beach faces south rather than west, and sits tucked into a small bay that offers real protection from the meltemi, the strong seasonal wind that regularly disturbs the sea along much of the rest of this coastline. The result is a beach that stays calm even on days when neighbouring stretches of coast are considerably rougher, with water colour ranging from pale, clear mint close to shore through deep emerald to a vivid turquoise further out. The main beach runs for roughly 1,200 metres, though the wider peninsula's coves, separated from one another by low rocky outcrops, offer a series of smaller, more private stretches of sand for visitors willing to walk a little further.

The Kedrodasos: One of Greece's Largest Cedar Forests

Behind the beach lies the Kedrodasos, or cedar forest, of Alyko: a roughly 200-acre peninsula covered in one of the largest and densest juniper forests in Greece, its trees, in reality junipers rather than true cedars, reaching 200 to 300 years in age, up to six metres in height and a metre in trunk diameter. Their extensive root systems play a genuinely important ecological role, helping to stabilise the sand dunes that make up much of the peninsula and preventing the kind of erosion that has reshaped less protected stretches of coastline elsewhere on the island. Alongside the junipers, the forest supports lentisc shrubs, heather, thyme, calycotome and a range of wildflowers, together with birds, reptiles and hares. The natural shade this forest provides is dense enough that many visitors report needing no parasol at all along the shaded sections of the beach. In recognition of its ecological significance, the Kedrodasos has been included in the European Union's Natura 2000 network of protected natural areas.

Nesting Ground for Loggerhead Turtles

Alyko's beaches hold a further, quietly significant ecological role: loggerhead sea turtles, a protected species across the Mediterranean, come ashore here each summer to nest. Visitors fortunate enough to be present during nesting season are asked to treat any marked or roped-off sections of sand with particular care, since disturbance to nests can have serious consequences for a species already under considerable pressure across its Mediterranean range. This nesting activity, alongside the protected forest itself, places Alyko among the more ecologically sensitive stretches of coastline on Naxos, and visitors are generally encouraged to keep the area as undisturbed as they found it.

A History Reaching Back to the Early Cycladic Period

Archaeological evidence recovered from the Alyko peninsula points to a long and layered history of habitation, with signs of activity dating back to the Early Cycladic period and continuing through the Minoan, Mycenaean, Byzantine and Ottoman eras. Ownership of the land itself took a notable turn in 1888, when the noble Palaiologos family purchased the peninsula from its Ottoman-era owners; it later passed into public ownership, setting the stage for one of the more unusual chapters in Naxos's modern history.

The Hotel That Was Never Finished

That chapter began during the Greek military junta, the right-wing dictatorship led by Georgios Papadopoulos that seized power in 1967 and ruled the country until 1974, a period marked by widespread political repression. During these years, the Alyko peninsula was sold, under circumstances that remain murky and disputed, to a foreign company, generally identified as a Belgian group, with plans to construct a luxury five-star hotel on the site. Construction began, but the project ultimately never reached completion: funding ran out, and, according to several local accounts, sustained local opposition aimed at protecting the cedar forest also played a part in halting the development permanently.

What remains today is the bare concrete shell of the unfinished hotel, standing at the far end of the beach, its walls long since abandoned to the elements and, in more recent years, to street artists. Murals and graffiti now cover much of the structure's interior and exterior surfaces, work associated in particular with the collective known as WD Street Art, transforming an unfinished symbol of 1970s development ambition into what many visitors now describe as an informal open-air gallery. The contrast between the raw concrete ruin and the protected forest and beaches surrounding it has become, for many visitors, as much a part of Alyko's identity as the natural landscape itself.

An Unorganised, Increasingly Popular Beach

Despite its remote setting, Alyko has become one of the more visited beaches on this stretch of Naxos's coast, its combination of sheltered water, natural shade and striking scenery drawing steady numbers of visitors through the summer season, occasionally to the point of real crowding on the busiest days. It remains, however, entirely unorganised: no sunbeds or umbrellas are available for rent, and facilities are limited to, at most, a single food truck operating somewhere near the main access point. Visitors intending to spend a full day at Alyko should bring their own shade, seating, food and water. Some sections of the beach and surrounding coves are also used informally by nudists, in keeping with the area's generally relaxed, undeveloped character.

Getting There

Alyko is reached from Naxos Town via the coastal road running south through Agios Prokopios, Agia Anna, Plaka, Kastraki and Glyfada, a drive of around twenty minutes on asphalt roads for the entire route, with the approach offering panoramic views back across the coastline from Mikri Vigla to the Alyko peninsula itself. Public bus services reach the area, though considerably less frequently than at the more central beaches closer to town, making a rental car the more practical option for most visitors, particularly those wanting to explore the peninsula's coves and forest trails at a relaxed pace rather than working around a limited bus timetable.

Nearby: Hawaii Beach and the End of the Southwestern Coast

The wider Kedrodasos area encompasses several distinct named beaches beyond the main Alyko bay, most notably Hawaii Beach, known for the red cliffs rising behind its narrow strip of sand, and the smaller Mikro Alyko a short walk further along the peninsula. Kastraki and Glyfada lie within easy reach to the north, while Pyrgaki continues the coastline a short distance to the south, together forming the final, wildest stretch of Naxos's long southwestern shore before the road effectively runs out.

Few places on Naxos hold quite so many competing stories within so small an area: an ancient forest old enough to have watched the Ottomans come and go, a beach still quietly used by an endangered species to raise the next generation, and a failed hotel that a military dictatorship's own collapse helped ensure was never finished. Alyko rewards visitors willing to look past the postcard turquoise water and take in everything else the peninsula has been asked to hold.