Hug Me Naxos

Hug Me Naxos runs from morning coffee through late-night cocktails, covering more ground than most places on the island dare to attempt. Located in Naxos Town (Chora), it opens at 8:00 AM and stays lit until 3:00 AM every day of the week — making it one of the few spots where you can start with a flat white and end with a mezcal negroni without ever changing your seat.

With a 4.9-star rating across more than 4,000 Google reviews, it has earned a level of trust that most restaurants on Greek islands don't come close to. The crowd is a mix of islanders and visitors, and the vibe shifts naturally as the day progresses — relaxed and cafe-style in the morning, louder and more social after dark.

What to Expect

The menu spans four distinct moods. In the morning and through midday, the focus is coffee and brunch — the Dubai French Toast has developed something of a cult following among regulars and is specifically called out across social media as the dish to order. The brunch program runs well past what you'd expect, which means you're not racing to get there before noon.

Pizza and pasta take over as the main food offering later in the day. Both are crowd-pleasing rather than haute cuisine — reliable, well-made, and priced for a place that also functions as a neighborhood bar. The cocktail list is the evening anchor: well-constructed drinks in a bar setting that gets progressively busier as Chora's nightlife picks up.

The place also operates as a coffee shop and light food store, so stopping in for a takeaway coffee on your way to the port or the old town is entirely practical.

How to Get There

Hug Me Naxos is located at Ανώνυμος 11 in Naxos Town, 843 00. That puts it within walking distance of the Naxos Town port and the main Chora waterfront. If you're arriving by ferry, the walk into town takes around 10–15 minutes depending on where in Chora you're headed.

The KTEL bus network connects Naxos Town with most villages on the island, and the central bus station is near the port — a short walk from the restaurant. If you're driving from one of the island's beaches (Agios Prokopios, Agia Anna, or Plaka), follow the main road north toward Chora; parking in the town center can be tight in peak summer, so arriving on foot or by scooter is often easier.

You can reach the team directly at +30 694 431 8417 or check hugmenaxos.gr for any seasonal updates.

Best Time to Visit

For brunch, arriving between 9:00 AM and 11:30 AM on weekdays gives you the best chance of a relaxed table. Weekends in July and August see the brunch rush extend and tables fill quickly, so earlier is better. The bar gets busy after 10:00 PM when the Chora restaurant crowd migrates toward drinks.

In shoulder season — May, June, and September — the pace slows noticeably and the place is easier to enjoy at any hour. The kitchen and bar run all year on the same 8am–3am schedule, so it's a reliable option even outside the peak tourist window.

Tips for Visiting

• Order the Dubai French Toast if you're there for brunch — it's the most talked-about item on the menu and worth building your morning around.
• Book or arrive early on summer weekends. The 4,000-plus reviews signal this is not an undiscovered local secret; popular brunch slots fill fast in high season.
• Use it as a late-night fallback. Many Naxos restaurants close by midnight; Hug Me runs to 3:00 AM, which makes it genuinely useful after a long evening elsewhere.
• Coffee quality matters here. The cafe side of the operation is taken seriously — espresso drinks are reliable, which isn't always the case in resort-adjacent bars.
• Cocktails over beer if you're there after dark. The bar leans into its cocktail identity; the mixed drinks are where the effort shows.
• Landline vs mobile: the number listed on the website (+30 2285 022 828) may differ from the mobile number above — worth calling ahead if you want to confirm a table during peak season.

What's Nearby

Hug Me sits inside Naxos Town, which means the Portara (the marble doorway of the unfinished Temple of Apollo) is a 10–15 minute walk north toward the port islet. The Kastro, Naxos's Venetian hilltop castle district, is a short uphill walk from the Chora waterfront and worth visiting before or after a meal. The main shopping street of the old town runs parallel to the waterfront and has everything from local loukoumades shops to Naxian cheese and kitron liqueur vendors. If you're based at one of the beach hotels to the south — Agios Prokopios or Agia Anna — Hug Me is an easy scooter ride for a morning brunch before the beach.