Mykonos
Mykonos is a small, dry granite island of about 10,000 people and the most internationally known party and glamour destination in Greece, with a whitewashed maze of a town built to confuse pirates and the sacred island of Delos fifteen minutes offshore. Two or three nights, the Chora for atmosphere and the south coast for swimming, June or September rather than the peak, and slack built into every ferry.
Mykonos in a nutshell
Mykonos: what to expect
We read 157,000+ planned stops in Greece on Stippl to see how Mykonos really gets planned.
The Chora is walked without a map, and Delos is the third day nobody takes. The town's maze was built to confuse raiding pirates and it still works, Delos is a fifteen-minute boat to an island that is entirely an archaeological site, Little Venice is the row of merchant houses over the water where the island watches the sunset, the Kato Mili windmills stand above it, Panagia Paraportiani is five churches merged into one white mass, and the beach boats run along the south coast from Platys Gialos to Elia. Most travellers give Mykonos 2 nights on Stippl.
Mykonos is the shorter half of the Santorini pair. The island appears on 16.01% of the 40,550 resolvable-stop trips of the trips planned through Greece on Stippl, Santorini shows up 2.43 times as often as expected on those trips, and 43.47% of Mykonos stops run three nights or more, which is the version that fits Delos in alongside the beaches and the nights.
So stay in or near the Chora, take the Delos boat on the second morning, do the beaches by boat from Platys Gialos, and come in June or September when the island is open and not yet at its peak price. Skip July and August on any budget, since Mykonos is then the most expensive and the fullest island in the country, skip the quad after dark, and skip a fast ferry on the day of a flight, because the meltemi runs for days at a time in high summer.
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Night owls and club-goers
The clubs run through the afternoon on the south coast and the town bars take over after, and nightlife is what the island exports.
First-timers doing the Cyclades
The other half of the Santorini trip: Santorini appears 2.43 times as often as expected on Mykonos trips on Stippl.
LGBTQ+ travellers
One of the most established gay destinations in Europe, and it has been since the seventies.
Classical antiquity people
Delos is fifteen minutes away, a first-rank site and one that most of the island's visitors skip.
Sunset watchers
Little Venice at the island's set-piece hour, with the windmills above and a cocktail at the balcony price.
Two-night stayers
Most travellers give Mykonos 2 nights on Stippl, and two covers the Chora and one beach.
Maybe not for you: a quiet or cheap holiday in July or August, when Mykonos is both the busiest and the most expensive island in the country; and a beach island in the Ionian sense, because it is dry, granite and windy.
The best time to visit Mykonos
Shoulder
May, June, mid-September to mid-October
Open, warm and before or after the price and crowd peak, with the sea warmest in the autumn half and the clubs open in both.
Peak
July and August
The most expensive island in Greece, the fullest and the windiest, with the meltemi at six to eight Beaufort for days at a time.
Closed
November to April
The Delos boats stop in early November, the clubs and most hotels shut, and the Cyclades are effectively closed for the winter.
- Most travellers give Mykonos 2 nights on Stippl, and 43.47% of stops run three or more. Two covers the Chora and one beach, and the third is Delos, which is the reason the island ever mattered.
- Mykonos Pride fills the Chora for a week each summer. The island treats its LGBTQ+ history as part of its identity rather than a niche, and the rooms in town go early for it.
- Orthodox Easter fills the island as it does everywhere in Greece. It moves each year, and the lamb and the midnight liturgy are the reason to be there rather than the beaches.
- The Delos boats stop for the winter. They run from the Old Port through early November and not again until spring, so a shoulder-season visit checks the sailing days first.
- The meltemi cancels ferries in July and August. Runs of six to eight Beaufort are normal, the small fast boats are pulled first, and a larger boat with slack around it is the answer.
- 23.78% of Mykonos stops on Stippl are a single night. The overnight between two islands, and the version that sees the Chora and nothing else.
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Things to do in Mykonos
Photo by Chris Margaritis via PexelsGetting lost in the Chora
The maze was built to confuse pirates and it still works, so the advice is to stop navigating and let the lanes bring you out at Little Venice.
Delos
A fifteen-minute boat to an island that is entirely an archaeological site, with the Terrace of the Lions and the mosaic houses of the wealthy, and it is never crowded.
Little Venice at sunset
Eighteenth-century merchant houses with balconies over the water, now cafés, and the hour the whole island turns up for.
The Kato Mili windmills
The row above Little Venice, Venetian and built for grinding grain, now the island's second-most-photographed object.
Panagia Paraportiani
Five churches merged into one white mass at the entrance to the Kastro, and a working church rather than a monument.
Beach hopping by boat
The boats run between Platys Gialos, Paradise, Super Paradise and Elia in season, and they are the sensible way to do the south coast.
The corners of Mykonos
Mykonos Town
The Chora
The whitewashed maze with the shops, the bars, the windmills and Little Venice, walkable end to end and everything the island is photographed for. For a first visit.
Everything within a walk, at the highest prices and the loudest nights.
Ornos
The family bay
A sheltered bay on the south coast twenty minutes from town, with a calm, swimmable beach and tavernas on it. For families.
Calm water and the bus to town, and a taxi that never comes.
Platys Gialos
The beach hub
The organised south-coast beach with the sunbeds, the tavernas and the boats to the other beaches leaving all day, and the bus from town at the top. For beach access.
The boats to everywhere, but an organised beach with no quiet corner.
Paradise and Super Paradise
The clubs
The beach clubs on the south-east coast where the parties the island is known for happen, and nothing else. For clubbing.
The parties, and no reason to be there before four in the afternoon.
Ano Mera
The inland village
The island's only other real settlement, with a working square, a monastery and tavernas at island-interior prices, and the bus to town. For something ordinary.
Village prices and quiet, though the beaches and the town are both a drive.
Little Venice
The sunset row
The merchant houses built over the water inside the Chora, with the balconies the cafés took over. For the sunset.
The set-piece view, and the noise of the bars below until late.
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Where to stay in Mykonos
The Chora for atmosphere, the south coast for swimming and Ano Mera for price, and the three agree with every guide. Most travellers give Mykonos 2 nights on Stippl, the airport is only four kilometres from town, and the taxis are scarce enough that the base is chosen for what is walkable from it.
Mykonos Town
Boutique hotels and rooms in the maze, €120 to €500 a night.
Ornos
€110–400
Family hotels and apartments on the bay, €100 to €350 a night.
Platys Gialos
€120–450
Beach hotels with the boats at the door, €120 to €400 a night.
Paradise and Super Paradise
€100–400
The hostel and the club hotels, €30 to €300 a night.
Ano Mera
€70–200
Village rooms and studios inland, €60 to €150 a night.
Little Venice
€150–600
A handful of hotels over the water, €200 to €600 a night.
What to eat in Mykonos
A sharp fermented cheese, the island's own product and a Protected Designation of Origin
Cured pork loin, the other Mykonian product that appears on meze plates
The budget meal in pita
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Mykonos customs and what not to do
The Chora is lived in
The lanes that visitors photograph run past front doors, and the residents are still there when the season ends.
Cover up in the churches
Including Paraportiani, which is a working church and not a monument, whatever the photographs suggest.
The island is openly gay
And has been for fifty years, which is part of how it behaves rather than a separate scene.
Meals are late, nights later
The beach clubs run through the afternoon and the town bars take over after, so dinner at ten is early.
The pelicans are a fixture
The island keeps pelicans as a mascot in the Chora, and photographing them is a local ritual rather than a surprise.
Tipping is light
Rounding up or a few euros at a taverna, as nationally, and the clubs add their own.
Do
- Stop navigating in the Chora and let the lanes take you
- Take the Delos boat from the Old Port on the second morning
- Use the beach boats from Platys Gialos rather than the taxi rank
- Book a larger ferry with slack around it in July and August
Don't
- Wait for a taxi; there are famously too few
- Ride a quad on the narrow roads after dark
- Put a fast catamaran on the day of a flight in summer
What a Mykonos trip costs
Budget
€80–130
A hostel bed or an Ano Mera room, gyros and supermarket food, the buses and the public beaches.
Mid-range
€180–400
A Chora or Ornos room, tavernas, a beach club sunbed and the Delos boat.
High-end
€600+
A Little Venice or Psarou hotel, the beach clubs proper and a boat of your own.
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Fun facts about Mykonos
Nobody was permitted to be born or to die on Delos. So sacred was the island in antiquity that overnight stays were banned and the sick were shipped off.
The Chora of Mykonos was laid out as a deliberate maze to confuse pirates. The dead ends are part of the design, and they still catch the visitors.
Panagia Paraportiani on Mykonos is five churches built into each other. Constructed on and into one another over the centuries, and whitewashed into one mass.
The Kato Mili windmills on Mykonos were built by the Venetians to grind grain. They now serve as houses, storage and holiday lets, with the sails long gone.
Kopanisti, the sharp fermented cheese of Mykonos, holds a Protected Designation of Origin. The island's own product, and the one that appears on every meze plate.
Mykonos and Santorini are the only two Greek ports charged the top cruise levy. Every other port pays a quarter of it, and Santorini appears 2.43 times as often as expected on Mykonos trips on Stippl.
Local tips for Mykonos
Two ports, and it matters
The Old Port beside the Chora is for the Delos boats and small craft, and the New Port at Tourlos, a couple of kilometres north, is where the ferries and cruise ships arrive.
Taxis are famously scarce
The buses are cheap and the taxis are the island's most common complaint, so the bus timetable is the plan and the beach boats are the alternative.
Quads are the default rental
The roads are narrow and busy in season and shared with buses in the dark, and quad and scooter accidents are the most-mentioned island injury.
The airport is on the island
On the island itself, which is unusual in the Cyclades, so flying in from Athens is a real alternative to the ferry.
The wind is the logistics
Meltemi runs of six to eight Beaufort are normal in July and August and cancel ferries, so any connection carries slack and prefers the larger boats.
Two nights, or three with Delos
Most travellers give Mykonos 2 nights on Stippl, and only 3.16% of stops are no night at all, which is the cruise-ship day.
Mykonos questions, answered
Two covers the Chora and one beach, and three adds Delos: most travellers give Mykonos 2 nights on Stippl, and 43.47% of stops run three or more, which is the share that gets to the island that made this one matter.
Nightlife against scenery, and most people take both: Santorini appears 2.43 times as often as expected on Mykonos trips, of everyone who plans them on Stippl, and the ferry between them runs several times a day in summer. Put both into Stippl with a conventional ferry between, then ask people in subreddits like r/GreeceTravel which order they took.
Yes, and almost nobody goes. It is an entire island of archaeology fifteen minutes away, with the Terrace of the Lions and the mosaic houses, the boat and the entry come as one ticket, and the site is never crowded.
June, or mid-September to October, when the island is open and not at its peak. July and August are the most expensive, the fullest and the windiest, and the Delos boats stop in early November.
In July and August it might. The meltemi runs at six to eight Beaufort for days at a time and the small fast boats are pulled first, so a larger ferry with a day of slack before any flight is the insurance.
In high season it is the most expensive island in Greece, with the rooms, the sunbeds and the cocktails all priced for it, and outside July and August it is merely dear. 23.78% of Mykonos stops on Stippl are a single night, and the price is part of why.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Mykonos in Stippl
Day-by-day planning, stays and budget in one app, with every place from this guide already on the map.
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