Half-Day Small Group Tour in Mykonos

Group tour
By car
Up to 15 guests

Overview

Mykonos is a bare, windy island that made its living from the sea, and its famous looks are practical: the lanes twist to break the wind and to confuse pirates, the houses are whitewashed against the heat, the windmills faced the meltemi. This half-day tour takes in the quiet inland village and the harbour town.

The tour covers:

The Armenistis lighthouse and Kalafatis beach
Ano Mera and the monastery of Panagia Tourliani
Mykonos Town, its lanes and the windmills
Little Venice on the waterfront
Panagia Paraportiani and time for shopping

Please note that the tour order and the time spent at each venue may vary.

What you will see

A small group, a local guide and an air-conditioned vehicle
The Armenistis lighthouse and the north coast view
Ano Mera and the monastery of Panagia Tourliani
The windmills above Mykonos Town and its whitewashed lanes
Little Venice and the church of Panagia Paraportiani

Itinerary

Meeting at the port

Meeting at the gates of Mykonos port, where your local guide and an air-conditioned vehicle are waiting.
Armenistis Lighthouse

The Armenistis lighthouse on the northwest headland, built in 1891 after a British steamer went down in the strait, looking across to Tinos. The wind here is the meltemi that blows all summer and shaped everything about the island.
Kalafatis beach

Kalafatis beach on the east coast, a long stretch of pale sand and clear water. The same wind that bends the trees makes it one of the best places in Greece for kitesurfing and windsurfing.
Ano Mera

Ano Mera, the only real village inland, built around a square of tavernas where islanders rather than visitors sit. It is the quiet counterweight to the harbour town.
Panagia Tourliani Monastery

The monastery of Panagia Tourliani in the middle of Ano Mera, founded in 1542 and rebuilt in the 18th century, with a carved marble bell tower of 1806 and a Florentine wooden iconostasis inside, hung with old icons and silver lamps. Admission is a couple of euros and optional. There is time for a Greek iced coffee at a taverna on the square.
Mykonos Town

Mykonos Town, a deliberate maze of whitewashed lanes laid out to confuse pirates and to break the wind, with the row of sixteenth-century windmills above it. They ground grain for the ships that stopped here, and the island lived on that trade for centuries.
Little Venice

Little Venice, where merchants' and captains' houses were built with their wooden balconies hanging straight over the water, so that goods could be taken in below. It is the place to sit with a drink as the sun goes down.
Panagia Paraportiani

Panagia Paraportiani by the old castle's side gate, which gives it its name: five chapels built into one another between the 15th and 17th centuries and whitewashed into a single soft white shape. It is one of the most photographed churches anywhere. Time to browse the shops before the tour ends.