Mykonos, Greece: Just Got Back

Mykonos, Greece

There are basically 3 things to do in Mykonos: wander the town, go to a beach, or take a ferry over to Delos (the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis and a UNESCO archaeological site). Unfortunately, on May 1, the water is too cold to go to the beach and Delos is closed due to their Labor Day holiday.

Delos Ferry provides half-day guided tours to Delos from April 25th through October 31st for €50 pp inclusive of the roundtrip transportation by ferry and an authorized tour guide. Mykonos is also a good beach island and Paradise Beach can easily be reached via local bus for €1.2. Since both of these options were out, we wandered the town. All of the buildings are painted white; with blue, red, or yellow trim, and the occasional blue domes.

We got off the ship at 7:30 am and took the first free shuttle bus to town (about 8 minutes). Walking takes about 30 minutes, but I'd advise against it. There is no sidewalk or shade once you exit the port and the road doesn't look safe due to the turns, hills, and traffic. Another option is to take a Sea Bus Water Taxi for €2 from the port directly into the heart of town.

Since we arrived early, we explored an empty town and got lots of good pictures before the rest of the 6,000 passengers from 3 cruise ships descended upon the pretty town and clogged the narrow streets. We walked beyond the windmills, coming back into town from behind them. We stopped in at Katrina's for a coffee and their homemade hibiscus lemonade. They also offered free wi-fi. We sipped our drinks on their open-air shaded balcony on the edge of the Aegean Sea with a great view of the town's iconic 16th-century windmills.

We wandered through the thick crowds, past the now-open shops, to explore more of the town before returning to the ship for a late lunch.

Complete, very detailed review of entire cruise and precruise preparation:

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/eastern-mediterranean.html

Thank you so much. I am loving your reviews! We will be going on this itinerary in a few months and your reviews are exceedingly helpful to me.

All of your reviews have been great reads! Thanks!!!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thanks for the pictures and info on Mykonos.

We are researching a cruise that visits Mykonos, so your comments are very helpful.

Thanks for a great review and necessary info. My sis has talked many times about the three of us taking a cruise to the Greek Islands ever since a friend's daughter took a summer Greece island tour three years ago.:D

Mac

Thank you so much for your detailed review; I fully appreciate the time and energy you put into such depth of information. Of particulR interest were your reports of Rome, Mykonos and Santorini. We will be sure to take your insightful comments into account for our upcoming cruise.

We really appreciate you sharing your experience in the detailed reviews. Your reviews of Mykonos and Santorini were of particular interest to us, as these ports are included in the Cruise of the Greek Islands that we are taking with Celestyal Crystal leaving July 2. I was planning to book the excursion from Mykonos to Delos that is offered by the cruise line (up to 4 1/2 hours for $89 per person). However, after reading your notes, I am considering an independent tour, mainly due to the possibility of a smaller group. I understand that unfortunately you were not able to visit Delos. However, you mention Dellos Ferry. My google search didn't find a specific operator under the name Dellos Ferry. There are many guided tours offered on the internet (e.g. viator by tripadvisor, delostours, etc.) Can you recommend any particular tour operator?

Thank you very much.

Marie

Marie,

That's because Delos Ferry only has one "L". : )

Here's the link: https://www.delostours.gr/en/

They are THE ferry to Delos.

You can take them roundtrip for 20 euro and do-it-yourself or find your own guide, or include the guided tour for 50 euro total.

I agree, there is no reason to book through the ship, nor is there any reason to book through the other middlemen you list unless they will guarantee a small group tour with an accomplished english-speaking guide.

Thank you, CaribbeanBound. Sorry about the misspelling. However, Mr. Google was kind to me, and I did find the link to delostours. I appreciate that you confirmed that this outfit is the Delos Ferry you had in mind.

Marie

Thanks for the great reviews, we're doing this in October - very helpful!

Have a great trip!

Wow such a detailed and helpful review :) We are doing a cruise to Greek Isles in Sep 2019. Its our first time to Greece and really appreciate all the info.

On 6/4/2018 at 8:19 PM, CaribbeanBound said:

Marie,

 

That's because Delos Ferry only has one "L". : )

Here's the link: https://www.delostours.gr/en/

They are THE ferry to Delos.

 

You can take them roundtrip for 20 euro and do-it-yourself or find your own guide, or include the guided tour for 50 euro total.

 

I agree, there is no reason to book through the ship, nor is there any reason to book through the other middlemen you list unless they will guarantee a small group tour with an accomplished english-speaking guide.

Thanks!

Planning a 7 night cruise and bookmarked the ferry site.

We used the delostours that CaribbeanBound recommended. and you are considering. We took the 50 euro guided tour and the guide was excellent.  I gave a short summary of our cruise on the Celestyal Cruises forum (Topic: Celestyal Crystal Are the cabins really that small) on July 11, 2018.  We loved everything about the cruise.

Marie

We will be in Mykonos in July. I know it will be so crowded but that's when I worked for us to go this year.  Is there a beach easy to access right there in the main town?  We are going to Delos and when we return we hoped to have the chance to just walk along a beach.  Thank you in advance for any suggestions anyone has regarding the beach or anything else in the main town.

7 hours ago, Summerprincess said:

We will be in Mykonos in July. I know it will be so crowded but that's when I worked for us to go this year.  Is there a beach easy to access right there in the main town?  We are going to Delos and when we return we hoped to have the chance to just walk along a beach.  Thank you in advance for any suggestions anyone has regarding the beach or anything else in the main town.

This is right in town, although not as nice as the ones you can take the bus to.

On 2/7/2019 at 5:36 AM, mskaufman said:

 

This is right in town, although not as nice as the ones you can take the bus to.

 

Thank you so very much.  This will be great! Is it easy to take the bus?  What would you recommend? Thank you again for your help. 🙂

Our ship docked on the Island and we gave them the $7 for the ride into town.  That decision was based on CC threads that spoke about there not being a good sidewalk on which to walk.  For us it was saving our energy for walking around town. Not sure exactly where you get left off if you tender in.  By the way, there was a beach near where we docked.  Here is the view from our veranda.

Thanks for the great review.

Question... you said "We got off the ship at 7:30 am and took the first free shuttle bus to town (about 8 minutes)." Did you tender in near Old Port or New Port? Trying to figure this part out...if you tender in to Old Port, you're basically in Mykonos Town and if New Port, then you must ride the shuttle or it's about a 40 min walk?

THANKS!