Mykonos is a small, dry, wind-blown island in the heart of the Cyclades, and for more than half a century it has been the most fashionable place in the Aegean. The reputation is built on its beaches, its nightlife, and a particular kind of glamour that has drawn artists, jet-setters, and a famously open, anything-goes crowd since the 1960s.
The heart of the island is Mykonos Town, known as Chora, a maze of whitewashed lanes, blue-domed churches, and bougainvillea, laid out deliberately to confuse the pirates who once raided it. Today it confuses tourists just as well, in the best way, opening onto the waterfront cafes of Little Venice and the row of old windmills above the sea.
The beaches define the rhythm of a Mykonos day. The south coast holds the famous ones, Psarou, Paraga, Super Paradise, where the beach clubs turn lunch into an all-afternoon event with a DJ and a crowd. The north coast is wilder and quieter, beautiful and often nearly empty, the side of the island most visitors never bother to find.
Mykonos is also the gateway to Delos, the tiny sacred island just offshore that was one of the most important religious and trading centers of the ancient Greek world. The contrast, ancient ruins one day, a beach club the next, is part of what makes the island work.
