Beaches in Mykonos

One rule decides a Mykonos beach day, and it is not taste. The meltemi is the dry north wind of the Aegean summer, strongest from roughly July into September, and it can blow for two or three days at a stretch. When it is up, the north coast turns choppy and cold and the south coast sits in the island’s wind shadow. That is why the sunbeds and the clubs are on the southern side, and why checking the wind the night before tells you where to aim. The Mykonos guide sets the rule out in full.

After the wind, sort by character rather than by looks, because these bays differ more in atmosphere than in sand.

The party bays. Paradise Beach and Paraga are the loud end of the south coast: rows of rented sunbeds, beach clubs behind them, and music that climbs through the afternoon and into the night. Super Paradise, the next bay along, has a long-standing gay crowd, and Paradise is the younger and more general of the two. Mornings on all of them are genuinely calm and good for swimming, which almost nobody who comes for the evening ever sees. They are a poor choice for a quiet afternoon and an excellent one if you want a day that turns into a night without going back to change. The night side of the island is on the Mykonos nightlife guide.

The organised middle. Platis Gialos is the beach hub and the point the small sea taxis work from, hopping along the coast so you can reach the other bays without backtracking through town. Ornos is smaller, sheltered and easy to reach, which makes it busy. Psarou is the glamour one and the expensive one, and a good spot there in season is arranged in advance rather than found on the day. Elia and Kalo Livadi sit further east, longer and calmer than the party bays while still being fully organised, and Elia carries the same long-standing nude and gay reputation as Super Paradise. Set your expectation before you arrive: in high season these beaches are laid out wall to wall in rented beds with a paid minimum, and loose sand for a towel is scarce at the busiest hours.

The quiet end. Agios Sostis, Panormos and Ftelia are on the north side, less developed and lower key, and they are what a still day is for. The same wind that makes them cold and choppy in high summer is why Ftelia is a known windsurf and kite spot, so the north is not a lesser coast but a different use of one. If you want a beach that has not been laid out in rows, look here, and look on a calm morning.

Two catches, before you sit down. The first is money. Ask whether you are agreeing to a flat bed rate or a minimum spend, and ask before you take the bed rather than after. We print no figures: they vary by row, by day and by season and are published nowhere stable. The second is the ride home. Buses run out to the beaches from the stations in town, and the service to the party beaches stops well before the music does, on an island whose taxi fleet is small. Settle the return at the start of the evening, when deciding costs nothing, rather than at the end.

This page will not rate the water at any of these bays. The sea moves, no page can see the day you are standing in, and the flag on the beach and the lifeguard post if one is staffed know more than we do. We also name no beach club: this business rebrands and changes hands between seasons, and a list of names is wrong by next August. What is durable is the coast, the wind and the character of each bay.