Nomad

Nomad takes its name seriously. It is a beachfront bar and restaurant built from wood and straw on the sand at Plaka, set up by the team behind the well loved 520 Bar in Chora, and it treats the idea of wandering as a house philosophy rather than a logo. What that means in practice for a visiting couple is a place that wants you to slow down and stay, a roofed eco minded dining room a step from the water and the best seats laid out directly in the sand.

Plaka is the point. This is the long, calm, powdery stretch that carries on south from Agios Prokopios and Agia Anna, and where those beaches gather bars and noise, Plaka stays open and gentle. Nomad reads that mood correctly. It is not trying to be the loudest spot on the island, and on the honest register of the Naxos club directory that is exactly its strength.

The best version of Nomad is a whole day rather than a stop. Because the place runs from breakfast at nine in the morning until three after midnight, a couple can arrive for coffee on the sand, swim through the flat calm water that Plaka is loved for, take the long lunch, and still be at the same table when the light turns and the frozen cocktails come out. Few beach bars let you draw a day out this comfortably, and Nomad is built for it.

The food is a real reason to stay and not just a beach afterthought. The kitchen cooks world flavours with produce from the Naxian land, the pizza is made from scratch on site, and the bar takes visible pride in its cocktails, blending its own rum and reaching for local ingredients rather than a standard list. For families the same kitchen turns out a children menu with low tables and colouring books, so a slow lunch works with young ones in tow.

Where it asks something of you is the sunbeds. They must be booked in advance and cannot be claimed on the day, which is the opposite of the walk up freedom most of Plaka offers, so a spontaneous couple who wanders in at noon may find the sand already spoken for. That is the trade for a calmer, more designed beachfront, and the fix is simply to plan a day ahead. If you want a pure free towel day, the open public sand beside the loungers is always there.

Plaka is the long fine white sand that many hold as the finest beach on Naxos, a wide gentle shore a short drive south of Chora where the water shelves slowly and stays clear. It is naturist friendly in stretches and pleasantly undeveloped between the bars, so even in high summer there is room to walk to a quiet patch. Nomad sits along this sand as one of several relaxed neighbours, which makes it easy to wander the shore. Our full Plaka beach guide covers the swimming, the naturist areas and the walk from the road.

Nomad sits about a quarter of an hour by road from the capital at Chora, and the KTEL public buses that run down this coast come roughly every half hour in season, so you can reach it without a car. Parking is free around the beach if you do drive, which makes an easy day out. Once there, a work station with fast WiFi, charging points and cashless payment sits ready for anyone who wants a morning of laptop time before the beach proper begins, a rare touch that earns the bar its name.

Booking is the piece to get right. The restaurant tables take reservations and walk ins, but the sunbeds must be reserved ahead and are not sold on the day, so the honest plan for a couple is to send the request the evening before. Give us your date and group size below and we will pass it straight to Nomad, coming back with sunbed availability, the going rate and a table for the sunset if you want one, at no charge.