Mykonos is not for the faint of heart.
The island is known as a glamorous destination for the world’s wealthiest and most famous. Come the booming summer months of July and August, and the island swells with the A-listers, B-listers, C-listers, and D-listers, along with hundreds of thousands of vacationers, hard-partying dance-music junkies, and cruise-shippers.
Measuring just 33 square miles in size, the sunny and cool island is stuffed with hip boutique hotels, thumping beach clubs, haute couture shops, white sandy beaches, whitewashed alleyways, and swanky restaurants.
If this all sounds a little like the Spanish party island of Ibiza, I’ll stop you right there: The cool rich kids have moved on. They’re in Mykonos now. If there were any doubts, a look off any bay on Mykonos’ coast reveals waters swamped with freshly scrubbed yachts, superyachts, and mega yachts.
Over the past several years, the number of international arrivals to Mykonos has nearly doubled.
But where does that leave the rest of the teeming masses jostling for a spot at Mykonos’ glittering carnival?
For us, visiting Mykonos is a far different experience. The doors that simply open for the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Richard Branson, Bella Hadid, and the billionaire Stavros Niarchos III stay closed for mere mortals. A day at a beach club can empty out a savings account, and that’s if you can even score a cabana at all. In the hottest of hot spots, the staff have the time to cater only to millionaires and billionaires.
At least, those were my assumptions before I stepped off the airplane to see what Mykonos was like for regular folks. Many proved to be right by the time I left the island a few days later. Other expectations, I found, were pleasantly incorrect.
Here’s what it was like to visit the world’s hottest party island in the peak of the season.
In the 1950s, the island was barely a blip on the map. But in 1961, the first lady Jackie Kennedy visited, setting off the first wave of tourism from the world’s monied and famous.
Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, and Rita Hayworth were just a few of the celebrities to vacation on the island in those days.
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I was picked up by Michael, the driver for the guest house I would be staying at and a 50-ish “financial refugee” from Athens.
“The thing you have to understand about Mykonos,” Michael said, in a riff that quickly turned Shakespearean, “is that Mykonos is absolutely nothing. There is nothing special about the island. It is a theater stage and you are the stars.”
From a distance, the blue-green waters looked as if they’d been ripped from the pages of Vogue. Around midday, the beach was packed.
Those staying at the Mykonos Blu Grecotel Resort also get loungers on the beach.
Rooms at the hotel start over $1,000 in July. A villa tops $3,000 a night.
The cool and hip and those desperate to seem cool and hip fill the loungers, which are so packed that they could survive a beach invasion.
Many come just for lunch, but even that will easily run $400 and up. When I looked, the waiting area was packed with wealthy vacationers trying to score a table.
Source: Nammos
That attitude starts with the loungers. Don’t expect to get front row, even if you show up at 8 a.m.
Lounges are priced by the row, with the price hitting hundreds of dollars the closer you get to the water.
A private cabana at Nammos can cost $5,000 a day, and Champagne can hit $140,000 a bottle.
I laid out my towel there and went for a dip. The water was cool and refreshing on the sunny day, with the calm water just reaching up to my chest.
But I hated that the view toward the sea was blocked by the armada of yachts in the distance.
Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider
I ordered a simple pork souvlaki for 10 euros and a bottle of ouzo, a classic Greek anise-based liquor, for 7 euros.
Note to self: Never order ouzo again. I drank half the bottle and got very nauseous. That fail is on me.
Source: Grill House Lefteris
Starting at about $600 a night in the high season (though much more for the nicest, sea-facing rooms), the resort isn’t quite where the millionaires and billionaires stay, but it’s certainly a nice spot for a well-off couple looking for some R&R.
While the terrace is unreal, the room itself is pretty standard. It goes for close to a $1,000 a night in peak season.
It’s a good time swimming in and around the rocky cliffs for a few hours. Most of the resorts are clustered around Platys Gialos, so for the people who don’t care about a beach party, it’s the beach of choice.
The beaches on the island’s north coast are known for being much quieter and nudist-friendly.
I kept it to the southern side, which tends to have more clubs, restaurants, and beach bars. From Platys Gialos, I walked along the water.
It’s even calmer than Platys Gialos and is home to some of the best tavernas on the island.
I went to Nikolas Taverna at the recommendation of the hotel. It’s known for being many people’s favorite place to get authentic Greek food.
The club is known for playing pretty esoteric house music (think Burning Man-type sets) and is styled in Mediterranean-meets-Moroccan decor.
But the place is also known for being packed and for having a pretentious attitude whether you have a reservation or not. Parties are known to go from sunset to midnight.
But I had been told you could always find an empty street if you wander a bit. No one seems to walk on the residential alleyways, so you can get a photo like this, too.
The area has been converted into restaurants and bars, with chairs overlooking the surf, which frequently splashes up toward the seats.
But if you don’t have a reservation or get to one of the restaurants super early, you’re better off watching by the windmills.
Mykonos is not the kind of place to skimp on reservations. Unless you plan on eating at the corner gyro joint — which I did — call ahead.
The bar grew steadily busier and the music bumped so loud that you couldn’t speak. It was a young, rambunctious crowd.
As the night goes on, it turns more clubby. By the time I left, there was a line out the door.
While not an exclusive place, Skandinavian has been rated one of the best places to party on the island since the ’70s.
The light show on the dance floor is pretty impressive. The music tends toward mainstream electronic dance music and house music. You could easily lose a few hours dancing in here. I did.
This photo was taken before the night got underway, but when I returned close to 3 a.m., the outside area was packed with the see-and-be-seen crowd.
Astra has turned into a superrich hangout spot. Unless you are buying bottles, you won’t get outside. And getting a tiny spot in the small interior will run you $50 without a drink.
I opted to hang in the streets and people-watch. It was good entertainment.
Tickets cost about $30 to $60. Considered a legendary venue by international DJ superstars like Afrojack, it’s easily the best deal in town. You can get there via a late-night bus from town to Paradise Beach.
The made-to-order strawberry and Nutella crepe might as well be dessert, and the freshly made cucumber-apple juice was life-giving. I would probably still be doubled over in bed if it weren’t for those two items.
While generally I had a fine time during my few days in Mykonos, it felt like a completely different place than it would if I were spending thousands of dollars.
That could be said of lots of holiday destinations, but I’ve never felt that way in New York, Paris, the Caribbean islands, or other places I’ve visited.
If you are a millionaire, billionaire, or even just a wealthy person who doesn’t care about blowing $5,000 or more on a night out, the island opens itself up in ways that just isn’t the case for a regular Joe. Staff at the hotels and restaurants seem primed to ignore you unless they identify you as a high roller.
The top spots on the island are littered with reviews espousing a pretentious and exclusive attitude for even people on a modest luxury budget. That said, maybe exclusive isn’t the right way to describe it. If you have the money to spend, you can get in anywhere, which just isn’t the case in certain rarefied places in New York or Miami.
The island is beautiful and, with 25 beaches, you can find one that suits your preference and price level — it just may mean that you are sitting on your towel while the big shots pop Champagne from cabanas nearby.
I hated that there were 20 or 30 yachts spread out in front of nearly every beach on the southern coast. It makes you feel as if you are swimming in a marina. I’m sure it’s nice for the superrich, who can hop a tender back and forth to the beach party, but it seems to kill the vibe for everyone else.
Lastly is the trash. The island is packed in the summer with hundreds of thousands of tourists. One thing I didn’t expect, but maybe should have, is that tons of places smell of hot garbage and the grass is littered with empty bottles. I’m sure the people going from private car to beach club to villa don’t see or smell it, but, for the rest of us, it ruins the relaxed experience.
After spending the next few days in Tinos, a quiet nearby island, I felt as if I probably wouldn’t need to come back to Mykonos in the near future. Tinos, and other quieter islands in the Cyclades, are half the price and just as beautiful.
What’s interesting is that I heard from some repeat visitors that the VIP atmosphere is relatively new. People used to come to Mykonos to escape the closed-off air of places like Ibiza or Saint-Tropez and party in a bohemian atmosphere. That wasn’t the vibe I got.
Mykonos is the place to go if you are looking for a party, but just be prepared to spend mightily.
If the dance music see-and-be-seen carnival isn’t what you are looking for, don’t bother. There are plenty of other Greek islands that will give you more bang for your buck.
