Koufonissia or Koufonissi in the Small Cyclades
The island of beaches

Koufonissia is one of the smaller islands in the neighbourhood of Naxos, with a lot of beaches on its coastline. It is a quiet island and you can see it in no time. The sand on the beaches is very good though and the beaches are pretty. Especailly the large beach in the east, which is in a lagoon, is worth a visit. Only the sand of the beach in the main city is kind of hard. It's a good island to relax, but not so much for making long walks, simply because it's too small for that. The short walk along the coastline is interesting though with lots of rocks and caves and very clear turqoise water. When you arrive it's best not to take any offers for a room from the crowd waiting for you in the port, unless it's necessary (in highh season for instance). We found a nicer and much cheaper place to stay after looking around, when we decided not to take an offer a woman made us in the port. We ended up in a big room right on the beach, with a balcony overlooking the sea with all the Greek kaiks (traditional Greek wooden boats) in it, for only 5000 drachma (about 15 euros) a day. In the night we could hear the waves rolling on to the beach. We spend the evening on the balcony enjoying the silence and drinking a couple of ouzo's.....well, I have a picture to prove that we did just that. Thank you downstairs-taveerna for the ice cubes.

Koufonisia is a quiet island, but on one day in the week you will have a boat with day-trippers visiting from Naxos, which means it's going to be bussier than usual. There's not much to shop and the supermarket looks like an explosion took place just a minute ago, but at least there is some choice (compared to Donoussa for instance). The restaurants are not spectacular, and just because you see a lot of people sitting somewhere doesn't mean that the food is good. It only means you have to wait longer before you get your meal. Koufonisia is a nice island to visit for a couple of days. Because it is a small island it's not an island where we wanted to spend a long time. We always get restless and want to see new things. When we were there it was also very windy, but that is something that can always happen on the Greek islands. It probably happens more often there, because on the last beach (the blue lagoon we called it - Pori Beach, which is also a naturist beach) people had piled up stones so they could lie down there out of the wind. Koufonisia is a place you visit and explore for an hour or two (because allthough it's small it's also quite pretty). You look at the rocks in the sea and the beautiful coloured water until you find a beach that you like. Then you lie down, read a book and dip into the water to cool down and make a swim. There's not much more to do.

The island is a perfect destination for people that want to have a good time laying on the beach reading a book and enjoying the sunshine. From all the islands in the small Cyclades (Koufonissia, Donoussa, Heraklia, Schinoussa) Koufonissia has the best and the most beaches. Some of its visitors are attracted to the island just for that and they have no need to move any further and explore other islands. Of all the islands in the small Cyclades group Koufonissia is the island with the best ferry connections, so if you only have time for a visit to one of the islands in this group Koufonissia is perhaps the best option. As for restaurants and accommodations, the island also has the largest choice. There is a post office, there are a enough rooms for rent and there is a wide choice in tavernas.