Getting Around Mykonos

Chora of Mykonos is located on the west side of the island. The old port that serves the fast ferries is located 600m away from the town while the new port that serves the cruises and the slow ferries is located about 3km north from the town. You will need a taxi from there, there are some also some local buses but not very reliable.

By boat
The boat connection of Mykonos with Piraeus and Rafina ports is great. You can find many companies for Mykonos with regular ferries (about 30 euros one way, the ride takes 5,5 hours) or catamarans that goes faster (3,5 hours but double the price). You can also travel here by boat from other islands like Paros, Santorini etc

By plane
There are also daily flights from Athens with Olympic or Aegean airlines but also from other European cities and many charter flights too. The package groups come this way all the time. Mykonos airport is 3km out of Chora. Taxis will wait outside the arrival hall.

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Many of the hotels in Mykonos Town (Hora) are located on the hill overlooking the port. There is a pathway connecting the port with the hotels on the hill and this is easy to use when going down. Coming up is a different story altogether especially at night. It is quite steep and in some places rugged. The alternative is a taxi from the main square at the port. Cost is just 3 euro per party. So, if you are alone it is 3 euro or if you are part of a group it is 3euro for the entire group. If you are sharing the taxi with another group then each group pays 3 euro. It really is a bargain, and so much easier than trudging up the hill. You can see the entrance to the pathway in the centre of the photo.

Really, unless you are on an extreme budget, you should rent some kind of vehicle to get around. It really is somewhat inconvenient if you have to rely on buses, and taxis are SO difficult to get. Do you really want to spend a good deal of your vacation waiting for buses, or getting frustrated because you cannot get around? We originally thought we would rely on public transportation, but we learned very quickly that we were going to be very limited and without freedom, so we opted to rent a car and I am SO glad we did. We could go wherever we wanted whenever we wanted, and believe me, this helps. If you stay in Mykonos town, you're going to want to go out to the beaches. And if you stay at one of the beaches like we did, you're going to want to come into town often in the evening. So I just cannot stress enough how this helped our holiday.

There are rental agencies everywhere and it is not difficult to get one last minute, by the day or by the week. Not exactly cheap, somewhere around 40-50 Euros per day, but definitely worth it. We rented from Hercules (Telephone 228 902 3168) which is right at the entrance to the town when you are coming from the port, opposite the Museum of Mykonos and bus terminal, easy to find, but there are many others. Don't miss out!!!

Here are some other contacts:
Autorene, Maouna, Tel: 228 902 4552
Avis, at the port, Tel: 228 902 2960
Delos, in town, Tel: 228 902 3484
Eurocar, at the port, Tel: 228 902 7111
Euroclub, Town, Tel: 228 902 3791
Hertz, Airport, Tel: 228 902 7346
Pier 1, Old port, Tel: 228 902 4004
Sixt, Airport, Tel: 228 902 8862
Tomaso, Airport, website: www.tomaso.gr

Every day new and different cruise ships were arriving and the twn was being stormed by the masses. Going by cruise ship is a great way to see many Greek Islands. However, we felt it rather unfortunate that we saw many people each day coming from the cruise ships and had just a few hours to spend, wandered around Mykonos Tow during the day (when some of the shops are closed) and in the day there certainly isn't the pleasant and exciting atmosphere of the evening...and unfortunately many cruise ship passengers were rushing back to their ships already by 5 or 6 PM because either the ship was leaving or they didn't want to miss dinner aboad the ship which they had already paid for....it is a shame to be so cheated of Mykonos Island in a way...so I would say if you come by cruise ship, try to stay ashore in the evening, too, if you can, and if you ahve the chance, eat in one of the restaurants and don't go rushing back to the ship just because it is included!

We found out *after* spending a day motoring around Mykonos on a rented scooter (a great way to see the island, by the way) that Greek law requires a motorcycle license for scooter riders. What would have happened if we'd had an accident? I don't even want to think about it. Naturally, the rental agency made no mention of that little detail.

We were surprised to find extremely long queues of people in the town centre in the evenings waiting for taxis. For some reason we were informed that taxis were an easy mode of transport, but when we got there we were told by some locals that there are only 30 taxis on the whole island. Obviously in the summer this could become an issue with the hordes of tourists.

So I wouldn't recommend depending on taxis too much. Make sure you know of alternative transportation if you haven't rented a car or scooter. We mainly got around with our hotel shuttle bus.

A pleasant way to get around the island's south beaches is by caique. They're small boats operated by old Mykonians.

The main jumping off point for the beaches is Platys Gialos. The fare (with return) to SuperP is 5euros. Ask what time the last caique pick up is from your beach!!!

And, you may get hit on by people of the same sex while on board. I saw this quite a bit, and Tavis was even a target of an Aussie "news anchor". Haha!

I inquired about a scooter rental. I was told that it would be 15euro per day. I was also told that a license regulated for motorcycle operation was req'd, but that did not seem to be a problem until I mentioned it.

Prior to going to the island, I had read and seen other offers for scooters for 30euro per day. Perhaps that is the peak season rate.

There are places everywhere for scooter rentals. I'd say shop around...