Lionas beach in Naxos

Lionas is a small and peaceful coastal settlement on the northeastern side of Naxos, about 27 kilometres northeast of Naxos Town. Lionas is thus located far from the popular beaches on the island's west coast. From the mountain village of Koronos, it is about eight kilometres down to the sea along a winding paved road.

Lionas village and beach seen from above.

For me, the road down to Lionas is a big part of the experience. The landscape is dramatic, and the views of the mountains and the Aegean Sea become more beautiful the farther down you go. When I ride my scooter here, I sometimes switch off the engine and simply coast for a while in complete silence. Almost all you can hear is the wind. It is one of those little Greek experiences I never get tired of.

Emery mine above Lionas.

Along the road you pass several of the old emery mines. Emery, known as smyrida in Greek, is a very hard, dark rock containing minerals such as corundum and iron oxides. Mining was once extremely important to the villages in this part of Naxos, especially Koronos. Entrances and remains of the old mines can still be seen along the road between Koronos and Lionas. Emery was also shipped out from from Moutsouna, but there was no beach where the stones could be ground, there are only sandy beaches.

Read about Moutsouna here »

Lionas beach and village.

Lionas Beach consists mainly of pebbles, with some dark, fine-grained sand. The water is usually very clear, but when the wind picks up the waves can become quite powerful. I do not think Lionas should be compared with the long sandy beaches of Plaka, Agia Anna or Agios Prokopios. Lionas is more a place to experience than a beach where you spend the whole day lying in the sun.

Lionas beach is close to the genuine mountain villages of Skado and Koronos on Naxos.

One of the most special things about the beach is the remarkably beautiful stones. They come in white, grey, black, green, yellow, brown and reddish shades, and many of them become almost glossy when they are wet. The sea has polished them smooth and rounded over a very long time, and it is easy to spend ages simply looking at them.

Waves that grind the stones into small works of art.

The stones are also interesting from a geological point of view. Researchers investigating how the famous Cycladic marble figurines may have been made chose Lionas Beach as a place to collect raw materials. There they found flat marble pebbles, emery stones and fine-grained emery sand. Emery was then used as an abrasive for shaping and polishing marble. This means that some of the dark stones found on the beach are the same type of natural abrasive material that people in the Cyclades may have used during the Bronze Age.

The stones on Lionas beach is very beautiful.

At one end of the beach there is another sight that is easy to miss: the old tarsanas, a traditional boatbuilding and boat-repair yard. The building was also used by workers from the emery mines, who could stay there overnight when loading the emery onto boats took longer than expected. Parts of the building date back to medieval times, and it contains both Gothic arches and Cycladic architectural features. Bullet marks from a confrontation between police and workers in 1916 can still be seen on the chimney. The building was restored and reopened in 2008.

Me and a good friend check out the beautiful stones.

Lionas is still a place that relatively few tourists find their way to. That is a shame, because the setting is magnificent and the small bay has a completely different character from the tourist resorts on the west coast. There are also tavernas overlooking the sea. Taverna Delfinaki is the one I like best, and I am always happy to sit there for a long time after visiting the beach.

Taverna Delfinaki in Lionas.

People like to sit for a long time at Taverna Delfinaki and enjoy good food.

So do not go to Lionas just for a swim. Go for the road down, the silence, the mountains, the emery mines, the little village, the tavernas and, above all, those wonderfully unusual stones. For me, it is the whole experience that makes Lionas so special.

WHAT YOU MUST NOT MISS WHEN YOU VISIT LIONAS BEACH

Do not miss the villages Skado and Koronos, which you can read about here »

READ MORE ABOUT NAXOS