The island of Mykonos is known as the Greek Ibiza thanks to its party scene and celebrities who visit. However, you can rent a car, take a beach adventure, and the holiday will take on a whole new dimension. With the main town of Mykonos resembling Santorini style and countless beautiful beaches, you will immediately fall in love with this island. When it comes to cars here, the smaller the better, because the streets all over the island are narrow and traffic is hectic. And don’t forget to visit the supermarket at the airport, where a DJ is playing 🙂

Detailed Google map with attractions

What to see in the main town of Mykonos?

The main town of Mykonos is definitely the biggest attraction of the whole island. The blue and white houses and streets are in the style of Santorini and come alive every evening. We recommend parking your car at the free parking lot in the old port (Mykonos Old Port). We used to wander through the narrow streets here regularly at sunset every evening of our stay 🙂 And still, we always found a different spot for a perfect sunset and then enjoyed a meal in a cozy restaurant. Some of the TOP attractions to mention are:

• Little Venice – the most beautiful part of the city, picturesque houses with colorful wooden balconies, surrounded by water like in the Italian Venice. We recommend coming here before sunset and then just wandering through the endless labyrinth of streets after sunset
• Windmills of Mykonos – characteristic windmills standing on a hill above the town, an indispensable part of the city’s panorama, we recommend coming here before sunset
• Paraportiani Orthodox Church – a white church from the 17th century composed of 4 separate smaller churches, bound together by walls, providing the base for a fifth church on top
• Boni’s Windmill – a windmill with a chapel where you can watch the sunset, upwards there is the Mykonos Lookout Point and downwards there are beautiful streets and another windmill called Anemómylos
• Kastro Panigiraki – a ruin for another beautiful sunset, accessible for free. Located next to the popular bar 180º Sunset Bar, offering supposedly the best sunset view, but they make sure to charge you well for it (reservation entry 50€/person, non-reservation entry 20€/person, mixed drinks starting from 20€ and the entrance fee is consumable)
• Matoyianni Street – a shopping street with luxury brands, most shops in the city stay open until midnight, so you can wander around as long as you please

TIPS for Restaurants in the City

• Captain’s – Food for Sharing – excellent seafood (they also have gluten-free versions of dishes)
• Niko’s Taverna – good value for money, we tried the lobster salad
• Souvlaki Story – if you want something smaller, like a tasty kebab in pita bread
• Baboulas Ouzeri – affordable restaurant by the water with a sunset view

Overview of the Most Beautiful Beaches on the Island

Kapari Beach

One of the most beautiful beaches with white sand and large flat stones where you could lay down. There are no services or sunbeds on the beach, so here you have a perfect relaxation unlike party beaches. During our stay, we encountered jellyfish on the beaches and Kapari Beach was no exception. Apart from waveless swimming, you could also enjoy snorkeling here. You can park a short distance from the beach on the access off-road path.

Agia Anna Beach

A very nice and laid-back beach on the eastern coast. Just a few meters from the shore, there are huge underwater stone slabs where you could snorkel effortlessly, and in the gaps between the slabs, there were dozens of little fish. The beach has a separate section with sun loungers for the resort and a separate area for regular people. Additionally, you can hike up to the island’s tip where there’s a picturesque chapel along the way.

Lia Beach

Lia Beach is located a bit further east from Agia Anna Beach. Upon entering the area, they will try to have you park your car, so it’s better not to enter the area, go around it from the left side, and park directly on the beach. Lia is a large open beach with white sand and a good entry into the water. We settled down to the left near the rocks because we wanted to be in the shade, but when we saw a relaxing sea urchin here, we immediately changed our minds 🙂 From this beach, a path leads over the hill to a smaller beach called Mini Lia Beach, which is cozier and without sunbeds. On the way back, there are beautiful views of Lia Beach.

Agio Sostis Beach

Another purely natural beach where there are no services. Agio Sostis is a large bay in the north of the island where you can comfortably swim or snorkel. During our visit, there were also jellyfish, so it’s better to look at the bottom with goggles. On the left side of the cliff, there is a beautiful little church. You can park for free on the main road.

Psarou Beach

This beach is labelled as a celebrity beach because supposedly celebrities mainly come here. And they also demand celebrity parking fees of 15-20€. If you want to park for free near the road, you must go back to the main road before the hairpin bends. Before the beach entrance, there are luxury stalls with perfumes, and of course, I can’t skip mentioning the luxurious Nammos restaurant. On the other hand, there was nothing to fault about this beach – fine white sand, smooth seabed, and an ideal entrance for swimming and snorkeling.

Panormos Beach

Panormos Beach and its venue Principote was our encounter with the most expensive establishment on the island. In the menu, we spotted a 6L bottle of Dom Pérignon champagne for €28,000. Quite the high rollers must come here 🙂 So we settled for a coffee and a non-alcoholic beer for €20. As for the beach, it is a larger cove with beautiful white sand, as well as sand dunes and a baywatch tower.

Paradise Beach

As the name suggests, Paradise Beach is one of the main party beaches on the island. There are several venues where you can party until the early hours of the morning. However, during our time in Mykonos, music was banned, so we could only imagine the party vibes. The beach itself has a stone barrier a bit off the shore, breaking the waves, so you can swim up to this breakwater at most and then you need to climb onto the rocks.

Super Paradise Beach

Super Paradise Beach is the smaller brother of Paradise Beach, which is mainly popular among the LGBT community or nudists. The left part of the beach is said to be more conservative, with a calm bay without waves, perfect for comfortable swimming or snorkeling.

Other Interesting Places

Armenistis Lighthouse

The lighthouse is located north of the main town and can be reached by car. It offers views of the open sea and nearby islands such as Tinos, Delos, or Rhenia. An interesting fact is that it has been in operation for over 120 years and had a special patent related to kerosene, which won a special prize in Paris.

Ano Mera

A small village in the center of the island, where you can visit the central square with a variety of delicious Greek taverns. From history, the monastery of Panagia Tourliani from 1542 has been preserved, but it is only open at certain hours.

Delos and Rhénia Islands

If you have enough time, I recommend visiting the Delos Islands (round-trip ticket 20€), where there are rare historical excavations, and Rhénia (accessible only through an agency), which boasts beautiful beaches.