Naxos with small people

I have run our family week on Naxos for four summers and taken my own children on it twice. This is what I tell friends who ask whether it works with a six-year-old. It does. Here is why.

The beach has a slope

Agios Prokopios and Plaka are long, sandy, and shelve so gently that a small child can be in the water to the waist for twenty metres out. There is shade — tamarisk trees, not umbrellas you pay for — and the tavernas behind the beach will bring a plate of chips to a towel.

The distances are short

Naxos is the biggest of the Cyclades but everything we do is within forty minutes of the hotel, and most of it is within fifteen. The mountain villages, the Temple of Demeter, the kitron distillery in Halki, the potter in Damalas — none of them is a long day in a car with someone asking whether we are there yet.

The food is not a negotiation

• Naxos makes its own cheese, and the graviera is mild enough for anyone.
• The potatoes are famous across Greece and they are, in fact, just very good chips.
• There is a bakery in Chora that opens at six and does a cheese pie the size of a child's head.

Two things to know

The wind. The meltemi blows in July and August and on a strong day the western beaches are exposed. We know the sheltered coves and we move when it blows. Bring a hat with a strap.

The evenings. Greek children eat at nine and so, on this week, will yours. Nobody minds. The tavernas are full of families until eleven and a child asleep across two chairs is a normal sight, not a problem.

Naxos for Families has departures every second week through the summer. The two-bedroom rooms go first.