What's on in Mykonos, Greece through the year

Quiet — travelers describe it as quiet, Christmas holidays in Greece

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Island shuts down (1 Nov – 31 Mar)

Quiet — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Island shuts down (1 Nov – 31 Mar)

Shoulder season — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Island shuts down (1 Nov – 31 Mar)

Peak crowds — Orthodox Easter, Easter holidays (Orthodox) in Greece

• Holiday

  Orthodox Easter

  10–13 AprEaster & Holy WeekCrowded

  The island's real new year: Greek visitors arrive, the first hotels unshutter and Chora goes from village to resort inside a week. Source ↗

• Opening

  Beach clubs open

  20 Apr – 1 Jun · usuallySummer season opens

  Paradise, Super Paradise and the Psarou loungers stagger their openings through May, and the Delos boats start with them. Before that Chora is a quiet whitewashed town with two bars open. Source ↗

Shoulder season — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Orthodox Easter (10–13 Apr), Beach clubs open (20 Apr – 1 Jun (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Greece, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

• Rule

  Cruise passenger levy

  1 Jun – 30 Sep

  Greece charges a per-head levy on cruise passengers landing at Mykonos, at its top rate from June to September and lower in the shoulder months. Lines fold it into the fare rather than billing at the gangway. Source ↗

• Season

  Sea warm enough to swim

  10 Jun – 15 Oct · usually

  Warm through to mid-October, though which beach is swimmable on a given day is decided by the wind rather than the temperature.

Still on: Beach clubs open (20 Apr – 1 Jun (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Greece, school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  The meltemi

  1 Jul – 31 Aug · usuallyWind seasonRisk

  The windmills on the hill are not decoration. In high summer the north wind shuts the exposed beaches for days and the Delos boat is the first thing cancelled.

Still on: Cruise passenger levy (1 Jun – 30 Sep), Sea warm enough to swim (10 Jun – 15 Oct (usually))

Peak crowds — Greek August, XLSIOR

• Holiday

  Greek August

  1–25 AugSchool holidaysCrowdedBook early

  The dearest fortnight of the year anywhere in the Cyclades, with the 15 August feast in the middle of it. Sunbed prices at the named beaches roughly double against June. Source ↗

• Festival

  XLSIOR

  20–25 AugMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  One of the biggest gay dance festivals in Europe brings tens of thousands to an island of ten thousand people for a week in late August. Flights and rooms reprice around it. Source ↗

Still on: Cruise passenger levy (1 Jun – 30 Sep), Sea warm enough to swim (10 Jun – 15 Oct (usually)), The meltemi (1 Jul – 31 Aug (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Greece, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Cruise passenger levy (1 Jun – 30 Sep), Sea warm enough to swim (10 Jun – 15 Oct (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Sea warm enough to swim (10 Jun – 15 Oct (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Closure

  Island shuts down

  1 Nov – 31 Mar

  Almost everything closes from November: beach clubs, most hotels, the majority of Chora's restaurants. What is left is a genuine Cycladic town, and cheap, but there is little to do in it. Source ↗

Busy — Christmas holidays in Greece, school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Island shuts down (1 Nov – 31 Mar)