One Sunny Morning

Continuing our August trip, we headed from Croatia to the Greek islands. From Dubrovnik, we flew to Mykonos with a stop in Athens, which takes ~ 4 hours with a layover. Not bad at all. In theory. In reality, however, our Aegean Airlines flight got delayed, with no explanation, and took quite a bit longer. Landing in Athens, we had to very quickly abandon the relaxed, civilized, and oh-so-stressless spirit of Croatia travel and deal with the chaos of rebooking tickets in an airport where it seems no one knew anything, and multiple employees did not speak English. After being sent around a few times, we finally got new tickets and then had several hours to wonder around the airport. Flights to Crete seemed to be very popular with younger crowds – for future reference 🙂

Where to Stay + What to do

We took a taxi from Mykonos airport to our hotel – slightly away from the town center, but within walking distance of the historic town, Fabrika bus stop (convenient for trips to the beach) and ferry terminal (for our next leg of the journey).

We only had two days to explore and that was plenty for us. We walked the streets of the historic town – very picturesque during the day and full of stores selling anything from cute and (relatively) cheap souvenirs to some very expensive clothing and jewelry, while at night turning into a party central that only starts to come alive around 2 am. We also walked the iconic landmark of the island – the Windmills – and had some mimosas in a Little Venice bar, Galleraki, overlooking the ocean. There are many other bars along the waterfront – all especially popular during sunsets. On one of the nights, we perched outside of a bar on main street and watched the never-stopping party flow through the streets. The island after all is known as THE party island and many people come here just for the nightlife.

Our hotel, while rather simple (for not a simple price. Everything is pricey on the island especially during the peak season), had nice views of the ocean, and so we spent some time on its swimming pool terrace watching the beautiful sunsets. We also checked out Paraga beach on one of the afternoons. Getting there was easy – there are multiple buses leaving every 10-15 minutes from the Fabrica bus stop. The Paraga beach stop is the last on the route, so there were plenty of seats on the way back, but at the later stops, there were many more people trying to get in with the bus driver getting angry and threatening to call the police at people trying to squish into an already crowded bus. So, time your visit and plan you stops or stock up on patience 🙂 On the beach, there were sun-beds for rental, but we opted for the free part of the beach which was just as nice, but didn’t feel as crowded and provided an unobstructed view of the ocean, which was the main point of going to the beach for us. There are several cafes where you can grab drinks and watch the rowdy club scene emerge as the sunset approaches.

Where to Eat

While there are many restaurants in town, our absolute favorite was Souvlaki story – a large (for Mykonos) place with modern setting, great food and fun, party atmosphere that was favored by the casually dressed and the night-club-ready, glitzy crowd alike. We ate at the place both nights. Wondering the streets, we discovered a small tapas bar – Toro Loco – where a cute bartender entertained us with Mykonos stories while mixing great Margaritas and playing Maluma-based playlist.

In Conclusion

Would we recommend visiting Mykonos? Yes. The scenery of the historic town is unique and beautiful and the night life on the streets is unlike anywhere else, at least that we’ve been to. 1 day + 1 night is all you need to get a feel for the place and see the major sights. Many people island hop and so this could be a fun stop.