The island's best period was around the ninth century BC. It sat on the sea route between mainland Greece, the Dodecanese and the coast of Asia Minor, and ships anchored here.

At Vathy Limenari, on a headland in the southeast, archaeologists found a fortified settlement of the Geometric period, built on top of an older Bronze Age one. It was excavated between 1968 and 1972 and produced a large quantity of pottery, which is now in the Archaeological Museum of Naxos. The finds show more connection with the Dodecanese than with the rest of the Cyclades.

Work began in 2026 to clear and present the site, so that visitors can understand what they are looking at. Until then, it is walls and foundations on a beautiful piece of coast.

Donoussa is small, dry and hilly, and it is one of the best islands in the Cyclades for walking.

The paths are signposted, mapped and maintained. They cover most of the island, they are graded for difficulty, and the shortest takes half an hour while the longest takes about an hour and a half. In 2025 Donoussa was added to the Greek Islands Trail, the national network of island walking routes.

The route people talk about runs from Stavros to Kalotaritissa, crossing the shoulder of Mount Papas through vineyards, olive groves and the workings of old mines. It ends at a small stone village with a white church and two beaches.

Another path drops from Kedros along the south coast, past small bays where millers once tied up their boats, and reaches an old iron furnace where ore from the mines was loaded onto ships.

Two sea caves are worth knowing about. Fokospilia, at Cape Moschona, is a refuge for monk seals, and the Cave of the Wall is on the northwest coast. Both are reached by boat.

All the good beaches are on the south coast, and all of them are sand.

Livadi is the big one: a long stretch of sand with tamarisk trees behind it and turquoise water. At one end stand the syrmata, the closed stone sheds where fishing boats are kept. It is reached by a twenty-minute walk from Mersini, or by boat from Stavros. There is nothing there — bring everything you need.

Kedros is the best known, with clear water and, just offshore in shallow water, the wreck of a German ship sunk by the Allies in the Second World War. You can see it while snorkelling.

Vathy Limenari is below the archaeological site, and Fykio is the one to walk to if you want to be alone.

Kalotaritissa, at the western end of the road, has two small sandy coves beside the village.

Only the beach at Stavros is organised.