Naxos - car hire

I traveled to Paros the island just beside in May last year and definitely found it was better to hire a car once you're there. Your accommodation should be able to recommend somewhere close by, or we found just walking into a rental agency and asking for prices was the best...the price seemed to differ depending on which car we pointed at despite them all looking the same :) It was roughly 30euro for a full 24hr hire.

wanderinglens is right on target; his advice appliles to Naxos too, especially since, being from Europe you drive a stick-shift. Many hapless Americans can only drive automatic-shift cars, which are in short supply -- thus they're wel-advised to search online in advance. One tip i've learned on Naxos (and it applies to other islands). Greeks dine late, and stay up late, so in consequence they sometimes are late getting underway in the morning. Twice my friends and I stopped by a rental place of an evening (they are typically open until at least 8 pm sometimes 9pm), and arranged a car for the next morning at 9. However, both times the car was not ready, and we didn't get underway until after 10 am. That's not good -- if your day plan is to zoom all over the island, to mountain villages etc. A better strategy is to arrange for a 24 hour hire, 9 pm to 9 pm next day... then take the car, park it outside your hotel for the night ... and you can zip off right after breakfast. Then you can return it on the way to dinner.

But the question was whether or not it will be cheaper to book ahead...

I have no experience with Naxos in particular but for Greece I usually book ahead with economycarrentals.com, a Greek broker. In Naxos they will work with local companies. You can have a look. If it is just for a day I wouldn't bother with booking ahead, but if it is for more days and you know your dates, it could be cheaper (as it usually is).

Many thanks for your replys and tips. I'll spend four days in Naxos, and three both in Paros and in Santorini, so my question would apply to these other two locations too. Having read all the replys I'm still not 100% sure about what would the best option.

another remark: local dealers will usually not offer zero excess, not even for a surcharge, whereas with online brokers (as suggested above by artemis) you can often include this in the package.

On Naxos, it very much depends on where you've booked to stay. If you're in town or near town at the St. George Beach, you'd have no need of a car for the couple of days you'd spend exploring the port town & surrounding and enjoying that particular beach... only when you drive around the island, or spend a day or 2 at farther beaches. OR even taking a boat excursion for a full day. No point in renting a car and having it sit by your hotel. This may happen if you book online and then find you don't want to be driving all 4 days.

That's very true. Thank you all for the useful tips.

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