Mykonos🇬🇷

Five surviving 16th-century Venetian windmills lined along the ridge above Chora, with a panoramic drop to Little Venice and the open Aegean beyond. Built to grind wheat for the shipping trade and operational into the 1960s, they are now empty whitewashed shells you can walk freely among. There is no entrance fee, no gate, no closing time. Sunset is the obvious moment — arrive 60 minutes before for a place to stand, accepting that several hundred others will have the same plan in July and August. The lower mill (Boni's Mill) is occasionally open as a small folklore exhibit. A 10-minute walk uphill from the harbour.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most important archaeological landscapes in the Mediterranean — the mythological birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, occupied from the 3rd millennium BC and a religious and commercial pivot of the Aegean for a thousand years. The 3.5 km² island is uninhabited and open as a single museum site. Headline pieces: the Terrace of the Lions (replicas in situ, originals in the on-site museum), the House of Dionysus and House of the Dolphins mosaics, the Sanctuary of Apollo, the Sacred Lake. Boats depart Mykonos Old Port at 09:00, 10:00, and 11:30 (€25 round-trip); last return 15:00. Site entry €12. Allow 3–4 hours on the island itself; no food, almost no shade, bring water and a hat. Closed Tuesdays.

A row of 18th-century merchants' and captains' houses built directly into the sea on the western edge of Chora, balconies hanging out over the waves. Originally pirate residences with discreet sea-level access, they are now bars, cafés, and small restaurants. The waterfront pavement is narrow and the wave-spray real in meltemi conditions — chairs at Caprice, Scarpa, and Galleraki are the canonical sunset perch (cocktails €18–24). The view back at Paraportiani and the Kato Mili across the bay is the postcard shot of the island. Free to walk through; the bars start filling at 18:30 in summer.

Five small chapels fused into a single whitewashed organic mass at the entrance to the Kastro neighbourhood — the most-photographed church in Greece. Built in stages between the 14th and 17th centuries on the site of an older paraportiani (side gate) of the medieval fortifications. The structure has an almost sculptural quality, all curves and asymmetries, and looks different from every angle. Free to walk around the exterior; the interior is open only on saint days (largely Panagia, August 15) and for occasional weddings. A 2-minute walk from Little Venice.

Mykonos' famous whitewashed alleyway maze was designed during Cycladic pirate raids to confuse invaders — a tactic that works equally well on first-time visitors with mobile data signal. Matogianni is the main commercial spine, lined with luxury boutiques (Louis Vuitton, Falconeri, Soho-Soho), gelato counters, and the better restaurants. Kastro, the older walled section between Paraportiani and Little Venice, is where the alleyways genuinely turn into a maze — abandon the map and wander. Walk it twice: once at midday for the shops, once after 22:00 when the heat lifts and the bougainvillea is spotlit against the white walls.

A 200-metre crescent of pale sand and shockingly clear water on the south coast, sheltered from the meltemi and home to Nammos, the most expensive beach club in the Mediterranean. Sunbed pairs at Nammos start at €350 in shoulder season and routinely break €600 in August; lunch for two with a bottle of rosé runs €400+. The eastern half of the beach has free public access — bring a towel, accept the sand crunch under foot, and you have the same water for nothing. The ranks of tendered superyachts offshore tell you exactly where the season has peaked. 4 km south of Chora; bus or taxi.

The party beaches that built Mykonos' nightlife reputation in the 1970s — Paradise hosts Tropicana and Paradise Club (afternoon DJ sets sliding into 04:00 closes); Super Paradise (next bay east) hosts JackieO' Beach, the historically gay-friendly anchor of the island's LGBTQ+ scene that now skews mixed and very crowded. Both have organised sunbed sections and fragments of free public sand. Atmosphere ramps from 14:00; peak chaos 16:00–20:00. Beats fade by sunset. Sunbed pair €70–180 depending on club and date; cover charges at JackieO' for evening sets €30–60. 6 km southeast of Chora.

The 1891 Armenistis lighthouse on the northwestern tip of the island looks across the strait to Tinos and Delos and is the quietest sunset on Mykonos. Reached by a slightly rough 5 km drive from Chora, it has no entry fee, no facilities, no crowds — just a small whitewashed lighthouse, a low fence, and the open Aegean. Ideal for the evening when Kato Mili looks unworkable. Bring a torch for the walk back to the car. The peninsula path immediately around the lighthouse is unfenced and the cliff drop is real; stay back in dark conditions.

The only other proper village on the island and a deliberate counterweight to Chora's scale and prices. Centred on Panagia Tourliani Monastery (1542, restored 18th century, with a famous carved wooden iconostasis from 1775), Ano Mera has a quiet central square ringed by tavernas charging genuinely Greek prices — Niko's Place and the square cafés will feed two for €40 rather than €140. A 20-minute drive from Chora; almost no nightlife, which is the point. The monastery is open 09:00–19:00 in summer with a strict dress code (covered shoulders and knees).