Mykonos.

Mykonos has a reputation for one thing and rewards you for the opposite. The people who arrive for the strip and the beach clubs get exactly that, and pay dearly for it. The island still lives, though, for the ones who time the town around the ships, take the boat to Delos across the water, drive out to Ano Mera and the quiet north, and eat where there is no music and no view to pay for. This is that plan, set down plainly: the sacred island, the whitewashed maze, the sunset that has no crowd behind it, the tavernas the locals keep, and the practical things, the wind, the ports, the ride, that nobody tells you until it is too late. Twenty-five entries, each one chosen because it earns the detour, and at the end, the traps to skip. All of it free to read.

01

Time it

The town, timed around the ships

Mykonos Town, the Chora, is not ruined, it is only mistimed. The crush is the middle of the day, when the cruise passengers are ferried in from the new port and the whitewashed lanes seize solid around Little Venice and Matoyianni. Come at first light instead, before the shops lift their shutters, when the maze is quiet and the light on the walls is at its softest. Or come back in the last hour before the ships sail, once the day groups have gone and the town belongs to the people who live in it again. The middle of the day is for a beach sheltered from the wind or a long lunch somewhere inland, not for standing shoulder to shoulder on a marble lane. Read the harbour, not the guidebook: when a big ship is in, the town is not the place to be.

The move  Two windows only: the Chora early, before the tenders land, or in the evening once the ships have gone. Check the day's cruise schedule online before you set your alarm, and give the town a wide berth in between.

Map  Mykonos Town

02

See

Delos, the sacred island across the water

The single best thing to do on Mykonos is to leave it for a morning. A short boat from the old port, under thirty minutes across the channel, brings you to Delos, the tiny uninhabited island the ancients held sacred as the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the great archaeological places of the Mediterranean. You walk a whole Hellenistic town, the terrace of the marble lions, the mosaics of the houses, the theatre and the sanctuaries, with the sea on every side and almost no shade. The site is closed on Mondays and the boats are fewer that day, and it shuts by mid-afternoon, so this is a morning, not an afternoon whim. Take water, a hat, and proper shoes for the stony ground.

The move  Take an early boat from the old port, not a Monday when the site is shut, and give it two or three hours. Pay for the on-site guide or an organised tour, the ruins mean little unnamed, and carry water for the shadeless walk.

Map  Delos

03

See

The little church of five churches, Paraportiani

At the edge of the Chora, where the lanes give onto the sea by the old Kastro, stands the most photographed church in the Cyclades and one of the strangest. Panagia Paraportiani is not one church but five, four at ground level and a fifth built on top of them, fused over two centuries of building and rebuilding into a single soft white mass with no straight lines at all. Whitewashed until it looks moulded from wax, it changes with the light through the day and turns to warm cream and rose at sunset. It costs nothing, it is a two-minute walk from Little Venice, and it is at its best early or late, when the tour groups have moved on and you can walk right around it in the quiet.

The move  See it early morning or at sunset for the light and the quiet, walk the whole way round to feel how the five churches fold together, and pair it with the waterfront of Little Venice a step away.

Map  Panagia Paraportiani

04

Time it

Little Venice, timed for after the crowd

Little Venice, Alefkandra, is the row of old captains' and merchants' houses built with their balconies straight out over the water, and it is genuinely lovely, which is exactly why it is a scrum at sunset. Every tour group and every couple with a camera funnels into the same few metres of waterfront at the same hour, and the little bars charge a premium for a seat on the wet edge. The trick is to see it out of that hour. Come mid-morning, when the sea slaps the house walls and the balconies are empty, or come late in the evening once the sunset crowd has drained away to dinner and a nightcap on the water is a pleasure rather than a queue. It is a place, not a performance, and it is better without the audience.

The move  Skip the sunset scrum. See Little Venice in the morning for the light on the houses, or come back after nine for a quiet late glass on the water once the crowd has gone to dinner.

Map  Little Venice

05

See

The windmills, seen when nobody else is looking

On the low hill above Alefkandra stands the famous row of whitewashed windmills, the Kato Mili, round white towers with pointed thatched caps that once ground the island's grain when Mykonos lived by the sea trade and the wind never stopped. They are the postcard of the island, and at sunset the hill fills with the same crowd that fills Little Venice below. See them instead in the early morning, when they stand clean against the sky with the town still asleep, or at midday when the sunset mob has not yet formed. From the hill you get the whole sweep of the town, the sea and Little Venice below, and you understand at once why they built here: this is the windiest corner of a windy island, and that wind was once the island's engine.

The move  Walk up to the Kato Mili in the morning or the quiet of the afternoon, not at sunset with the crowd, and take the view down over Little Venice and the sea from the hill above.

Map  Kato Mili windmills

06

The rule

Sort your ride before you land

Taxis on Mykonos are famously few, a tiny fleet for an island that swells enormously in summer, and on a busy evening you can wait a very long time at a rank for a car that never comes. Do not leave your airport or port transfer to chance, and do not expect the hotel to conjure one at the last minute when every visitor wants the same thing. Book a private transfer or a driver ahead of time, keep one trusted number for the trip, and shop the price rather than take the first quote. If you want the freedom of the north beaches and Ano Mera, a small hired car with a driver for the day often works out cheaper and calmer than three separate taxi hunts, and it saves you the buggy, which is a trap of its own.

The move  Pre-book your airport and port transfers, keep one driver's number for the trip, and for a day of villages and quiet beaches, hire a car or a driver rather than gambling on the taxi rank.

Map  Mykonos new port

07

See

Ano Mera, the village where the island still lives

Seven kilometres inland from the Chora, Ano Mera is the island's only other real village, and it is where Mykonos carries on when the day-trippers are down at the beach. Life gathers around a large central square, plane trees and kafeneia on three sides, and on the fourth the Panagia Tourliani monastery, founded in 1542, its whitewashed walls, red-domed bell tower and carved marble a piece of proper Cycladic craft. There are no boutiques here and no strip, only tavernas cooking for locals, old men over coffee, and the slow rhythm the coast has lost. Give it a lunch: this is the cheapest good eating on the island and the closest thing to how Mykonos lived before the world arrived.

The move  Come to Ano Mera for lunch in the square, step into the Panagia Tourliani monastery for the carved iconostasis and the quiet courtyard, and eat where the local families eat rather than chasing a view.

Map  Ano Mera

08

Eat

Lunch at Kiki's, above Agios Sostis

On the hill above the quiet cove of Agios Sostis, in the north of the island, is the taverna everyone means when they say Mykonos still has soul. Kiki's has no sign, no telephone and no electricity, cooks everything over a charcoal grill under the trees, and takes no reservations, so you queue, sometimes for an hour or two at the height of summer. What comes out is worth the wait: grilled fish and octopus, pork and chicken off the coals, salads from the garden, a glass of house wine while you stand in line. It opens for lunch only and stops in the early evening, and it is deliberately hard to reach, which is the whole point. Go early to beat the queue, bring cash and patience, and treat the wait as part of the meal.

The move  Arrive before one to beat the worst of the queue, bring cash and no expectation of a reservation, and swim off Agios Sostis, which has no sunbeds, while you wait for a table.

Map  Kiki's Tavern

09

Beach

The south beaches, and which ones are which

Almost all the famous beaches sit on the south coast, and for a reason: the island's hills shelter them from the meltemi, the north wind, so the sea stays calm when the north is churning. Know which is which before you commit a day. Psarou is the glamour beach, sunbeds and yachts and prices to match. Platys Gialos and Ornos are the easy, family, sheltered ones, well served and calm. Paradise and Super Paradise are the party beaches, loud beach clubs from midday, young and expensive, fun if that is what you came for and grim if it is not. None of these is a quiet beach, and none is cheap. Pick one to your taste, go early for a sunbed, and do not expect solitude on the south coast in season.

The move  Choose by mood: Psarou for glamour, Platys Gialos or Ornos for calm and family, Paradise or Super Paradise for the party. Go early for a bed, and when the wind is up, the south is where the sea stays swimmable.

Map  Platys Gialos

10

Beach

The quiet north, where the wind and the calm trade places

For the Mykonos the beach clubs hide, drive to the north coast. These beaches are exposed to the meltemi and undeveloped precisely because of it, which is their gift: no rows of sunbeds, no music, often no facilities at all, just sand, rock and open sea. Agios Sostis has no sunbeds and a chapel above it. Fokos, at the end of a dirt track, is wilder still. Ftelia is a long shallow bay that the wind turns into the island's windsurf beach. Because the north takes the meltemi head on, check the wind before you drive: on a calm day these are the loveliest, emptiest swims on Mykonos, and on a howling one the sand stings and the sea is rough. Bring your own water, shade and lunch, because out here there is nothing to buy.

The move  Check the wind first, then head north to Agios Sostis, Fokos or Ftelia for empty sand and no music. Carry water, shade and a picnic, and pick a calm day, since the north takes the meltemi full on.

Map  Fokos beach

11

Eat

Dinner at Fokos, the taverna at the end of the track

At the far north-east of the island, past a couple of kilometres of broken dirt road, Fokos beach ends in a single taverna and nothing else. Fokos taverna has no music, no wifi and no beach clubs around it, just tables by a remote bay and a short menu of what the kitchen cooked that day, mezze, grilled meat and fish, a village salad, the wilder cousin of Kiki's up the coast. You come for the food and the emptiness in equal measure, and the drive out, with the whole north of the island bare around you, is half the pleasure. You will need your own transport and the nerve for the last stretch of track, and it is worth booking ahead in high season, because remote does not mean quiet in August.

The move  Drive out for a late lunch or an early dinner, take the dirt track slowly in a proper car rather than a buggy, and book ahead in high summer despite how remote it feels.

Map  Fokos taverna

12

Eat

Kopanisti, louza and the Mykonian table

Behind the cocktails, Mykonos has a real island larder, and it is worth ordering deliberately. Kopanisti is the island's own cheese, a soft, spicy, peppery spread with a protected-origin pedigree, best eaten the local way as mostra, smeared on a barley rusk under ripe tomato. Louza is the Mykonian cured pork, the island's answer to prosciutto, salted, spiced with savory and pepper and hung to dry, sliced thin. There is a good local sausage too, and kremmydopita, a sweet onion pie. Ask for these by name and you skip the tourist menu entirely and eat what the island actually makes. In Ano Mera and the working tavernas they are a given, on the strip you will have to ask.

The move  Order kopanisti as mostra on a rusk, a plate of louza, and the local sausage to start, and ask whether the cheese and cured meat are Mykonian, because that is the point of eating them here.

Map  Ano Mera tavernas

13

See

The sunset that isn't Little Venice

Everyone is told to watch the sun go down from Little Venice or the windmills, which is why both are a crush at the golden hour. The finer sunset is at Agios Ioannis, a small cove on the south-west coast fifteen minutes from town, the beach made famous by the film Shirley Valentine. It looks straight across the channel at Delos, so the sacred island sits black against the last of the light, and the little white chapel of Agios Ioannis stands just back from the sand. There are a couple of tavernas here to take the evening slowly with a plate of fish, and the whole thing has a scale and a quiet the town cannot offer at that hour. It is the same sun, the same sea, without the audience.

The move  Drive out to Agios Ioannis for sunset instead of fighting for a spot in town, take a table at one of the tavernas above the sand, and watch the light go down behind Delos across the water.

Map  Agios Ioannis

14

Walk

The maze of the Chora, and how to walk it

The whitewashed lanes of Mykonos Town were built as a maze on purpose, to confuse the pirates who once raided the island and to break the wind that never stops, and the pleasure of the Chora is to get pleasantly lost in it. Give up on the map, pick a lane and follow it, past blue and green doors, bougainvillea, tiny chapels and the odd sleeping cat, and let the town lead you. Away from the two or three streets everyone knows, Matoyianni and the waterfront, the maze empties fast, and a few turns inland you have quiet corners to yourself even in high season. Do it early or after dark, when the light is kind and the crowd is thin, and keep a rough bearing on the sea so you can always find your way back out.

The move  Walk the Chora early or late, leave the two main streets behind within a few turns, and stop navigating: the pleasure is the getting lost, and the sea is never far to steer you back.

Map  Mykonos Chora

15

Do

A day-boat to Rhenia, the empty island next door

Beside Delos lies its uninhabited twin, Rhenia, once the burial island of sacred Delos and now empty of everyone but the goats. Small boats run day trips that pair the two, an hour or two among the ruins of Delos, then a short hop to Rhenia to anchor in a sheltered cove and swim in some of the clearest water in the Cyclades, often with a simple lunch aboard. It is the antidote to a crowded south-coast beach: turquoise bays with no road to them, no sunbeds, no music, only the boat and the sea. Choose a small operator over a packed party boat, and go on a calm day, because the water between the islands is open and the meltemi can make the crossing lively.

The move  Book a small-boat trip that takes in Delos and Rhenia together, choose a calm day for the crossing, and bring a mask, because the swimming off Rhenia is the reason to go.

Map  Rhenia island

16

Drink

Matoyianni after dark, and the strip done honestly

Matoyianni is the spine of the Chora, the busy shopping and drinking lane that runs up from the waterfront, and after dark it is where the town's energy gathers, shop windows lit until midnight, bars spilling into the lanes, people-watching at its densest. It is worth an evening walk for the atmosphere alone, but be clear-eyed: this is the expensive, branded, see-and-be-seen Mykonos, and a drink here costs what it costs. Use it for the stroll and the theatre of it, then peel off into the quieter lanes on either side for a bar with a fairer price and room to hear yourself. The pleasure is in the wandering between, not in paying a premium to sit still on the busiest corner.

The move  Walk Matoyianni for the atmosphere, then step one lane off it for your actual drink, where the price is fairer and the room is quieter, and keep the strip for the passing show.

Map  Matoyianni Street

17

Know

The pelicans, and the thing not to do

The unofficial mascots of Mykonos are the pelicans that stalk the waterfront of the Chora, descendants in spirit of Petros, an injured pelican nursed back to health by a fisherman in the 1950s and adopted as the island's own. When he died the island replaced him, and today a few pelicans still patrol the harbour and the fish market, unbothered and enormous, and coming across one at close quarters is one of the small delights of the town. Enjoy them, photograph them, but keep your distance and do not feed them or herd them for a picture, they are wild birds, not a prop. Early morning by the old port, before the crowds, is the likeliest and quietest time to meet one.

The move  Look for the pelicans along the old harbour and fish market early in the day, keep a respectful distance, and never feed or corner them for a photograph.

Map  Mykonos old harbour

18

See

The Armenistis lighthouse on the north cape

On the north-western cape of the island, some six kilometres from the Chora, the Armenistis lighthouse has stood since 1891, a stone tower on a bare headland looking across the water to Tinos. It is a quiet, unpackaged alternative to the sunset scrum in town: a short drive, a walk out to the point, and a wide view over the channel with the wind in your face and hardly anyone about. The lighthouse itself is not usually open, so it is the setting you come for, the cape, the sea, the light going down over Tinos, rather than the building. Take a drive out here in the late afternoon and you trade the crowd on the windmills for an empty headland and the better view.

The move  Drive out to the Armenistis cape for the late afternoon, walk to the point for the view over to Tinos, and take the sunset here in the quiet rather than in the crush of the town.

Map  Armenistis lighthouse

19

Eat

Honest gyros, where the island actually queues

Not every meal on Mykonos costs a fortune and comes with a view. For the cheapest good lunch on the island, join the line at a proper gyros or souvlaki grill in the back lanes of the Chora, where locals and workers queue for pork or chicken wrapped in a warm pita with tomato, onion and chips for a few euros. It is fast, filling and honest, the antidote to a week of eye-watering beach-club bills, and the queue of Greeks rather than tourists is how you tell the good one. Eat it standing, on a step or a low wall, cash in hand, and save the sit-down money for a dinner that earns it. On an island this expensive, a proper gyros is a small act of sanity.

The move  Find the grill in the back lanes with the longest line of locals at lunch, order a pork gyros to go, and carry small cash, since these places rarely take cards.

Map  Chora for gyros

20

Buy

Amygdalota and cheese, the things to carry home

Skip the branded shops on Matoyianni for the edible things the island actually makes. Amygdalota are the local almond sweets, soft and fragrant with a note of rose, shaped into little ovals and baked, and a box of them is the proper Mykonian gift to carry home. A pot of kopanisti, the spicy protected-origin cheese, travels well wrapped and turns any cheeseboard back home into a memory of the island, and a piece of louza, the cured pork, keeps for the journey too. Buy them from a real bakery or a grocer in the Chora or in Ano Mera rather than an airport counter, where the price doubles and the quality thins. These are the souvenirs that mean something, and they cost a fraction of a Matoyianni label.

The move  Buy amygdalota from a proper bakery and a pot of kopanisti or a piece of louza from a grocer in the Chora or Ano Mera, not the airport, and ask them to wrap the cheese for the flight.

Map  Chora bakeries

21

Know

The meltemi, and which coast to read it from

Mykonos is called the island of the winds, and the meltemi, the dry north wind of the Aegean summer, is the single fact that should shape your day. When it blows, and in July and August it often does for days on end, the north coast is churned and the sand stings, while the south coast, sheltered by the island's hills, stays calm and swimmable. Read the forecast each morning and let it choose your beach: north on a still day, south when the meltemi is up. It matters for the boats too, the crossings to Delos and Rhenia and the fast ferries all feel it, and a strong meltemi can cancel or roughen them. The wind is not a nuisance to be ignored, it is the information that makes or breaks a day here.

The move  Check the wind every morning and pick your coast by it, south when the meltemi blows, north when it drops, and build a buffer around any boat or ferry, since strong wind cancels crossings.

Map  Mykonos

22

Know

New port, old port, and the boat between them

Mykonos has two harbours and it pays to know which is which before you arrive. The new port at Tourlos, a couple of kilometres north of the Chora, is where the big ferries and most cruise ships dock, a working port with no town around it and a scramble of transfers when a ship lands. The old port, in the Chora itself, is the pretty one, used now by smaller boats, the Delos and Rhenia excursions and some ferries. Check which your ticket names, because arriving at the wrong one with luggage is a costly mistake, and there is a small sea-bus that shuttles between the two in season. Book your transfer for the correct port ahead of time, and know the name, because the two are not walking distance apart.

The move  Check whether your ferry uses the new port at Tourlos or the old port in town, book your transfer for the right one, and use the seasonal sea-bus if you need to hop between them.

Map  Tourlos new port

23

The rule

Skip the buggy, and how to get around instead

The open ATVs and buggies for hire look like the free-spirited way to see the island, and they are the single most avoidable danger on Mykonos. Every summer these light, open machines are behind a steady toll of tourist injuries across the Greek islands, ridden by people with no experience on steep, narrow, gravel-strewn roads, often after a drink, with little protection when something goes wrong. The island's dirt tracks to the north beaches are exactly where they come unstuck. Unless you genuinely ride and are properly insured, skip the buggy: take the buses, which run cheaply to the main beaches and Ano Mera, book taxis and transfers, or hire a small car with four wheels and a roof. It is the one piece of Mykonos glamour that is not worth the risk.

The move  Give the ATV and buggy a miss unless you truly ride. Use the cheap public buses for the main beaches and Ano Mera, book taxis and transfers, or hire a small car for the north and the tracks.

Map  Mykonos bus station

24

Eat

Breakfast like a resident, not a guest

Skip the hotel buffet for one morning and eat the way the island does. A bakery, a fournos, in the Chora or up in Ano Mera will sell you a warm cheese pie, a koulouri or a bougatsa fresh from the oven for a couple of euros, best eaten on a step with a Greek coffee from the kafeneio next door. Early, before the shops open and the first tenders land, the town is quiet and cool and belongs to the people who live in it, and you get the real rhythm of the place with your coffee. For something sweeter, look for the amygdalota, the island's almond sweets, in the same bakeries. It costs almost nothing and it is the most local hour of your day, before the island turns back into a resort.

The move  Have one breakfast at a village fournos rather than the hotel, order a cheese pie and a Greek coffee, and take it slowly in the quiet of the early Chora or Ano Mera before the day heats up.

Map  Chora bakery

25

Know

The nightlife, done without losing the island

Mykonos earns its name for the night, and there is no point pretending otherwise: the beach clubs of Paradise and Paraga and the bars of the Chora are a genuine spectacle, and for a night or two they are part of why people come. The trap is letting them become the whole trip, and paying beach-club prices every day for the privilege. Do it once, properly, then get your balance back: a quiet dinner in Ano Mera, an early swim off the empty north before the island wakes, a sunset at Agios Ioannis away from the noise. The island that survives the party is the one worth remembering, and the people who love Mykonos are the ones who know when to leave the strip and let the other Mykonos, the wind, the sea, the villages, take over.

The move  Give the famous nightlife one good night if it is your thing, then reclaim the day with an early swim, a village lunch and a quiet sunset, and let the other Mykonos have the rest of the trip.

Map  Paradise beach