Iraklia is the smallest and quietest of the inhabited Lesser Cyclades, a single-street harbour with a handful of rooms to let and none of the crowds that build up on its bigger neighbour. Naxos, by contrast, is the hub of the group -- a proper town with banks, a hospital, an airport and a harbour that never really goes quiet in season. The short hop between the two is as much a lifeline for islanders as it is a route for visitors, which is part of why it keeps running reliably through the warmer months even though the boats involved are modest in size.
Because this is a local run rather than a mainline crossing, the number of sailings stays fairly constant through the season rather than swelling dramatically in August the way routes out of Piraeus do. Check the schedule box above for the latest confirmed dates and departure times before you travel, since operators file their timetables in stages and small-boat schedules can shift with notice.
Useful Resources for Your Greek Island Trip
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- Compare car hire prices in Greece via DiscoverCars