The central island of Paros, lying some 8 km west of Naxos, is occupied by a range of hills of gently rounded contours, rising to 764 m in Mount Profitis Ilias (rewarding climb, with guide; magnificent panoramic views). Three bays cut deep inland - in the west the sheltered Paroikia Bay, with the island's capital that serves as the main sailing port and as a yacht charter base; in the north the bay which shelters the little town of Naoussa, which in Roman times was the island's main port for the shipment of Lychnites marble; and in the east the flat Marmara bay. The whole island is covered with a layer of coarse-grained crystalline limestone, in which lie rich beds of pure marble.

The island's considerable prosperity has depended since ancient times on agriculture, favoured by fertile soil and an abundance of water, and on the working on marble, which is still quarried on a small scale. In recent years the rapid development of the tourist trade has brought changes in the landscape, the island's economy and its social structure.

In Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine times Paros was of no importance. In the 9th c. it was depopulated as a result of raids by Arab pirates, plundering and burning. From 1207 to 1399 it belonged to the Duchy of Naxos, and thereafter was ruled by various dynasts until its capture by the Turks in 1537. It was reunited with Greece in the 19th c. after the foundation of the new Greek kingdom.
To visit the must-see Cycladic islands of Amorgos, Folegandros, Naxos and of course Santorini, which are all located well south in the Aegean, Paros is a much better charter base to start your sailing holiday than Athens or Lavrion. Several daily ferries will give you lots of options to get from the Athens airport to Paroikia.