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Greece · Day 2 of the voyage
Mykonos
The gay capital of the Aegean — and darling, she knows it. Beach clubs by day, drag and disco by night.
The gay capital of the Aegean — and darling, she knows it. Beach clubs by day, drag and disco by night.
Mykonos will charge you €9 for a bottle of water, so eat where it earns the drama. Three ways to do it right:
Perched on the Little Venice waterfront — windmills on one side, open Aegean on the other. Come for sunset cocktails; stay for what regulars swear is the best Greek salad on the island, no contest.
Proper, unfussy Greek cooking a few steps from the gay bars — the kind of place you end up back at three nights running. Gay travelers order the saganaki at basically every meal.
Boho-glam beach club on Paraga: communal tables, a resident DJ, and a sunset ritual of drums and beautiful bodies that's pure Mykonos theatre. Less a dinner, more an event.
When the prices have humbled you: a gyro from a Chora hole-in-the-wall — locals point to Local Mykonos for the island's best souvlaki — is €4–6 of pure salvation.
The gay bars cluster in Chora's whitewashed maze, close enough to crawl between in heels — and the crowd spills into the lanes for an open-air-festival vibe. Most open late afternoon and run till sunrise. The scene shifts year to year, so confirm what's still standing.
The beating heart of gay Mykonos, just below the Paraportiani church. Two floors, nightly drag in high season, a sea-view terrace, sunset cocktails poured straight off the beach-club menu. Start here.
The two cozy, character-packed bars a stumble from Jackie O' — Lola for camp glamour, Porta for the cruisier late-night energy. Between them the whole lane becomes the party.
The Super Paradise outpost: infinity pool, drag shows, DJ sets and day-drinking with a sea view, busy every day of the season till ~1 AM. The daytime answer to the Town Bar.
Now the gay beach (Super Paradise has gone mostly mixed). Head to the far-right end, past the rainbow flag — it gets more nude and cruisy toward the rocks; quieter Agrari is just over them.
Chora is a designer maze — equal parts boutiques, local craft, and "do I really need this." You do.
The main artery of Chora shopping — international fashion houses, jewelry, and people-watching that costs nothing (the only thing here that does).
Hand-made leather sandals are the island's signature — sturdy, gorgeous, and they'll outlive your tan. Look for an actual cobbler, not the tourist racks.
Tucked in the side-alleys: silver, gold, and hand-painted Cycladic ceramics. The classy "I went to Greece" flex.
Between beach and bar, a few genuine stunners — most walkable from the old port.
18th-century captains' houses with balconies hanging right over the water. Claim a ledge, order a cocktail, watch the sun drop. The shot everyone takes — for good reason.
The thatched 16th-century windmills on the hill above Little Venice — built to harness that infamous meltemi, now the postcard of Mykonos.
A sculptural white church near the old port — five chapels melted into one whitewashed dream, and one of the most photographed in Greece. (After dark, the lanes behind it are a known cruising spot — you didn't hear it here.)
A short boat from the old port: an entire uninhabited island that's one vast ancient site — the mythic birthplace of Apollo.