Mykonos Greece Travel Guide
Visiting the Greek isles is a trip I’ve been dying to go on since I was little. I think it was another destination I found flipping through Conde Nast Travel magazine with my Mom on an airplane back in the day. Ever since then it has been on the top of my bucket list.
In college I studied abroad during the summer all around the main island of Greece, but we never made it to one of the isles. During that time I absolutely adored the history, culture, kind people, and incredible fresh food of the Greek life. It only added fuel to my fire of wanting to visit one of the isles.
Naturally, a Greek isle (mainly Santorini or Mykonos) was my number one trip I wanted to do while living in Italy. Due to a combination of the Rona and my husband’s TDY schedule, we finally made it happen our last summer living here.
P.S. if you’re new around here, welcome! My husband is in the military and TDY’s are usually periods of time he is away for work, sometimes only a week, but usually a month or two at a time. Alas, the Air Force did nearly make us cancel this trip, but we finally got to make my dream trip come true!
I truly didn’t mind if we went to Santorini or Mykonos. I knew I wanted that white and blue Greek style with a hotel pool looking over the ocean and a gorgeous sunset. In all honesty, flying to Mykonos was easier and cheaper for us, and that is why we ended up going there. I definitely want to make it back to Santorini, Corfu, and Crete (a bit less of the blue/white vibe, but the natural landscape is stunning) in the not so distant future!
Oh Mykonos, what a dream. When I started researching for our trip, I was seeing everywhere that Mykonos is known as “the party island.” I’ll admit that at first this made me nervous. Would it be dirty? Would it be sort of in your face? But friends, that was not our experience at all. It really was what I hoped it would be and did not disappoint in one bit. It was so clean, the people were so kind, and the partying was definitely there if you wanted it, but didn’t interfere if you didn’t. We went for a full week, but you could absolutely shorten that and do a couple other islands as well. There are so many flight and ferry options it would be a really easy island hopping trip to do.
Right before our trip, we had just gotten through a really busy few months in our life, so our goal was to soak up a lot of sun, with a little site seeing on the side. So we spent our days at the pool and ventured into the town in the early evening to walk around, shop, and head to dinner. We did rent an ATV for a day to do a little site seeing, but besides that we really did soak up the sun! For that reason, I’m going to give you a little list version of a travel guide as opposed to my normal itinerary style of travel guide. I’ll show you where we stayed (which was a big factor in how much we enjoyed our trip), where we ate, where we drink, and what sites to see along with a few other hotels, restaurants, bars, and sites that we ourselves didn’t get a chance to visit.
Let’s hop in!
Where To Stay:
The view from the pool at the Anax Resort and Spa is unbeatable.
Y’all know our loyalty to Marriott boutique hotels in Europe by now. It took us nearly a month to decide between the Santa Marina Luxury Collection hotel by Marriott, or the Anax Resort and Spa. The two looked so similar to me in terms of rooms and restaurants. My one wish was to have a pool that looked out into endless ocean in front of us with a view of the sunset. The Anax had the most stunning pool while the Santa Marina had a much larger beach but a smaller pool, with a little bit less of a view. We ended up choosing the Anax (which was also cheaper, and we booked during a promo for five nights and one night free, be on the lookout for those!) and we were so happy with our decision. The room was gorgeous, every room has a stunning view of the sunset, the pool was hard to beat, it had a small private beach with delicious restaurants (the best breakfast buffet), and a gym. What more could you ask for?
A few other place we were looking at are:
Where to eat
My friends, why is greek food so dang good? I could eat it forever! So fresh and healthy, I just love it. I’m not sure if you can even go wrong anywhere that you eat. We did end up canceling a couple of our dinners to stay at the pool and watch the sunset during dinner, and another time to find gyros instead of a traditional sit down restaurant! So the only restaurants we actually ended up visiting for dinner are:
Kastro’s
Kastro’s
Kastros - our favorite. Stunning view and the food was just as good. Definitely try the sea bass and the baklava, and definitely make a reservation. Seating is first come first serve even if you have a reservation, we arrived a bit before 6 and got a great table.
The view from Vegera
Vegera
Vegera - such a fun location for people watching and a great view of the old Saint Nikolas Holy Orthodox Church. The food was also delicious. A bit more “touristy” maybe, but very good!
Tokyo Joe - we went for the sushi, left loving the appetizers. Honestly, we didn’t love the sushi. I’d recommend it for a drink and the appetizers, otherwise I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it if sushi is what you’re looking for.
Kyma at the Anax Resort - Get the Greek salad with watermelon!
180 Sunset Bar
180 Sunset Bar
180 Sunset Bar - we originally planned on eating dinner here, but the food was more of a snack situation than a meal. We ended up headed back to the pool bar at the hotel for pizza of which I had the best vegan pizza of my entire life. Go to Neraki pool bar at the Anax for that and thank me later.
Pepper - this was our choice for our gyro night. Sadly, we ended up ordering the souvlaki which we thought was like a big deconstructed gyro and unfortunately it was not! Looking back, I wish we’d gone to one of the takeaway style gyro shops, or meatlicious for gyros instead.
The two other restaurants I planned on going to but ended up cancelling are:
Two bakeries we stopped for baklava and definitely would recommend are:
Odos Araxame
Gioras Pastry Cafe in old town
If you’re a fan of baklava our favorite was at Kastros!
Other restaurants I had saved that we didn’t get to:
Mykonos Vioma Organic Farm (a vineyard)
Lalala Mykonos - looks like such good breakfast
Where to drink:
There are truly a plethora of options for bars in Mykonos. Cozy and quaint in the town, or a table on the water with a view, there are so many to choose from. We went to town for drinks a few times before dinner and the places we chose are:
Gallareki - for a gorgeous view and great drink menu.
The dip platter from Mamalouka
Mamalouka - a gorgeous courtyard vibe, the food also looked delicious. It’d be a great option for dinner as well.
But the real experience was at 180 Sunset Bar. It’s a fully outdoor bar at the top of the island with a gorgeous view of the sunset. It is definitely pricey, and at first I was like there is no way this is worth it. But, let me tell you, that sunset was unbeatable! And the drinks were very good. I can’t remember the names of them and unfortunately the menu isn’t available online, but I loved the tequila cocktail and my husband loved the whiskey one! Definitely give those a try, be there for the sunset set to an orchestra being played by the DJ, and you will definitely enjoy it!
A few other bars we had saved but didn’t get to:
Negrita - very famous but honestly not worth the $ for us. It’s very common in Mykonos to have minimum spend amounts for bars and restaurants (180 Sunset has one as well), but there were so many other bars with a very similar view that I thought were much more reasonable!
What to do:
The island is quite small, so seeing most of the sites in a day or two is very doable. We rented an ATV on one of the windier days to do some site seeing as opposed to a pool day. I’d definitely recommend this to visit some sites or to go to a beach or beach club. It’s really common to rent an ATV instead of a car in Mykonos.
So, some sites to see are:
Beach Clubs - I saved Solymar
Ano Mera - An old Greek village in the middle of the island. We went during the day but I’ve heard its a really fun place for dinner as well.
Windmills in the town
Sunset from the top of the island
Rent an ATV
Take a boat to Delos - an archaeological island and UNESCO world heritage site
Hike from Ano Mera to Lia Beach
There are also plenty of beaches to choose from.
How to get around the island:
The island only has 30 taxis available. Most blogs and even the hotel warned against relying on taxis. But I must say, we never waited more than 15 minutes for a taxi. Granted we went into town around 5 and came home around 9 every night, but it didn’t seem that difficult to us. We were there in mid-May, so maybe July is another story, but as long as you’re willing to wait it’s not too bad.
Renting a car does not seem like a great option to me. Parking in the town is a literal nightmare. Renting a moped or an ATV is a much more viable means in my opinion and very popular to do!
Alright friends, that’s it! I hope you have the best trip and I can’t wait to see where you visit!
And that’s it folks. I hope you enjoyed yet another travel blog. As always, I actually have a“travel hacks” highlight where I explain how to use google maps to save places that you want to visit in the future, whether you have a trip planned or not! Click here to view that, go through these places and be sure to save your favorites! I’d love to hear which ones you end up going to! Never hesitate to DM me on Instagram or shoot me an email here, I love hearing from you!
Until next time, XO,
Di