There are many sights to visit in Parikia. Most of the stores, taverns, restaurants, bars, cafeterias are situated on the street along the coast of Parikia (Giannis Parios st.) from the Mill in Bountaraki to Livadia. Venetian mansions, the residence of the Dimitrakopoulos family and Mayor Mavrogenis’ fountains, all fit harmoniously with the small touristic shops and the antique shops of the city. The quality of food in Naousa was superb, some of my favourite restaurants were Mitsi Ouzeri which was right on the seafront, we had the whole place to ourselves at lunchtime, a wonderful experience, we also loved the Mare Nostrum which was located on the main harbour, and lastly, the Yemeni Taverna which is in one of the small side streets.The central street of the market (Lohagou Fokianou st.) in Parikia, in Paros, with stores along both its sides is quite attractive, with old buildings that are preserved in an excellent condition. There were also lots of options within the maze of streets in town where you could dine al fresco with no cars around you either. This means you can enjoy a really nice meal next to the sea with no ferry pollution or cars driving past. As I said above, Naousa is pedestrianised and there is no road along the harbour front. Like the shopping, I felt the restaurants and cafes were better quality in Naousa than they were in Parikia and you could also enjoy the setting before. Parikia had more gift shops and things were cheaper, but if you are looking for really good quality clothes and beautiful boutique stores then you can’t beat Naousa, this aspect reminded me a lot of Mykonos.

Whilst Parikia is bigger, I thought the shops in Naousa were far superior. Naousa to Pounta (ferry to Antiparos): 18km (25 minutes)

The majority of the centre of Naousa is pedestrianised too.

Paros is a smallish island, just 21km long so even getting to the south of the island took no more than 30 minutes! I preferred the location of Naousa as the harbour front is absolutely gorgeous and less industrial looking, with no road or traffic running alongside it. Naousa is only a 15-minute drive from Parikia, so it is no bother at all getting to and from the ferry port. This did not go into any of the streets behind the ferry terminal however so don’t let that put you off too much! Something I look forward to about my holidays is spending time by the sea, but the ferries were offloading so much pollution I could barely breath when I had to walk off it. However, my issue was the seafront where the ferries come in. This means it has all the amenities you could want from a town and is a convenient place to stay. However, I shouldn’t have worried, there was barely any traffic on the island and getting around is more than easy!Īs I stated earlier, Parikia is to the west of the island and where the ferry traffic comes in. As we were only spending 4 days on the island, I didn’t want to be too far from the ferry terminal, this was my one and only concern about Naousa. It was more by chance than planning that I ended up in Naousa. However, the more I looked, the more I realised there were some great hotel and B&B options in Naousa to the north of the island. I could see from a map that the ferry I would be arriving on from Mykonos would take me to Parikia in the west of the island, so that is where I started my search. When I first started organising a trip to Paros I didn’t really have any concept of the size of the island or how long it took to get anywhere. Both are beautiful locations so how do you choose between the two? When researching holidays to Paros in Greece you will more than likely be faced with the decision of choosing between the main town of Parikia, and the smaller town of Naousa.

Parikia paros