The Island:
10 miles long (E-W), 6 miles wide (N-S)
Key Insight:
Dock vs. tender depends on ship size and port traffic. New Port (Tourlos) is 2.5 km from town—you cannot walk safely. Take SeaBus, shuttle, or taxi.
Whitewashed labyrinth of narrow lanes designed to confuse pirates. See the iconic Kato Mili windmills, the five-in-one Paraportiani Church, and Little Venice's sea-edge bars. Best explored on foot—allow 2-3 hours to wander properly.
Sacred birthplace of Apollo. Entire island is an open-air archaeological museum with ruins dating to 3000 BC. See the Terrace of Lions, House of Dionysos mosaics, and the on-site museum. Boats depart Old Port only. Zero shade—bring a hat, water, and sunscreen.
18th-century fishermen's houses with colorful balconies hanging over the Aegean. Adjacent Kato Mili windmills (16th century) are the island's most photographed landmark. Sunset drinks here are legendary—but check menu prices before ordering.
Best family-friendly beach closest to town. Calm, sheltered waters ideal for swimming. Multiple beach clubs and tavernas. Water taxi hub to south-coast beaches. Most affordable organized beach on the island. Book lounge chairs in advance during peak season.
Greece's most famous open-air beach club. Mellow mornings shift to full party mode by 4pm with international DJs. Lounge chairs €35+ each. Not a quiet beach day—come here for the energy. Free shuttle from Old Port runs in summer. No outside food or drinks allowed.
The island's only inland village, 8 km east. Visit the 16th-century Panagia Tourliani monastery with ornate marble carvings. The tree-shaded village square is lined with authentic tavernas serving local dishes at a fraction of Chora prices. A quieter, real-Greece experience.
Golden Rule: Never plan to arrive "at the pier" at all-aboard time. Plan to be back in your cabin. Your ship's all-aboard time is the LAST moment you can board—not when you should arrive.
RESULT: Leave beach by 3:30pm
Mykonos port-day questions, answered
Answers verified August 2026 against port-operator and official sources.
Usually, you will not know until that morning. Only one large ship fits the Tourlos berth, so the assignment depends on how many ships are calling that day and how big they are, and it can still change late if the wind picks up or another ship takes the berth first. Your daily program the night before is generally your first reliable confirmation. Plan a day that works either way - tendering costs you roughly thirty to forty-five minutes at each end, but it lands you in the middle of town, which is arguably the better outcome.
Yes, and it happens most often to the ships that are anchoring rather than docking. The Meltemi blows hardest from the north in July and August, and the channel between Mykonos, Paros, and Naxos is among the worst-affected stretches of the Aegean. Captains suspend tender operations long before they would abandon an alongside berth, so if your ship is the overflow ship at anchor your Mykonos day is significantly more likely to be disrupted. The Delos boats and the local ferries tend to stop first - treat their cancellation as an early warning.
Later than most people assume. The operator's published seasonal schedule lists crossings from Mykonos Town to the cruise dock every half hour throughout the day and into the evening, with final departures around midnight, so an evening in Chora is workable on a late call or an overnight. Tickets are around two and a half euros, sold on board, at the operator's offices in either port, or online in advance. All three vessels accommodate wheelchairs and strollers with level boarding, which matters because the SeaBus lands you inside the pedestrian zone that taxis and buses cannot enter.
You cannot buy the site ticket ahead - entry to the archaeological site and its museum, around twenty euros combined, is sold on Delos itself, so the only thing you book in advance is the boat. What you carry matters more than what you book: Delos has no shop, no cafe, and no shade whatsoever, so take water, a hat, and sunscreen from the ship. Nobody is permitted to stay overnight on the island, so the last boat back really is the last one. The site also closes for the winter, roughly December through March, with visits only by prior written arrangement.
You can put your towel down, and Greek law is on your side. Operators are required to leave a substantial share of every organized beach clear of lounge chairs - a higher share still on protected stretches - and lounge chairs must sit back from the waterline, while more than two hundred and fifty Greek beaches are designated completely free of lounge chairs. Enforcement is real, using drone surveys and a government reporting app called MyCoast, which also lists which operators are actually licensed. On an island where a front-row lounge chair can run into the hundreds of euros, that free strip of sand is worth knowing about.
Nowhere in particular, and more than one pelican bears the name. The original Petros was an injured pelican that a local fisherman rescued in 1958. The bird stayed and became the island's mascot; the pelicans you see today are his successors. They wander Chora at will - the waterfront, Little Venice, and the lanes below the windmills - on no schedule at all, and there is no enclosure or pelican spot to visit. Treat a sighting as luck rather than an itinerary item.
This guide draws on the official institutions below, cross-checked against current cruise schedules and traveler reports.
Listed sources are not affiliated with and do not endorse CruiseProdigy.
Researched and reviewed by Richard Nicholson, founder of CruiseProdigy. · Spotted an update? Report it →