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Mykonos Travel Guide For Those Of Us Who Work Hard & Player Harder

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ykonos 2018 Travel Guide

This tiny island in the Mediterranean has something to offer for anyone looking for a luxurious escape from their everyday lives. We had the pleasure of visiting in May of 2018 for 5 nights and got to experience everything this amazing island has to offer.

We dined on a gastronomic, tasting-menu feast, captured IG-worthy pics on the most idyllic streets of Mykonos town, ate and drank all day long at a beautiful beach club, and visited more than 6 unspoiled, beautiful beaches.

If you’re the type of traveler always looking for that something special and authentic, keep reading for our picks for the best restaurants, beaches, bars and what to do on your next holiday. Plus, I show you how we flew on a private bed in the sky for using just airline miles.

Make sure to follow us @Lifetailored for behind the scenes on our trips in our stories.

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here you should stay in Mykonos

The last time we visited Mykonos, we stayed at the Myconian Villa Collection near Elia Beach, which is a good 30 minute drive from Mykonos town, and while the property was beautiful, we felt we were stranded on the resort.

So this time, we chose to stay in Mykonos town, home to the famous little Venice, and all the beautiful shots you’ve seen of the quaint town. We stayed at Bill & Coo, which was just a quick 10 minute walk into town, and being New Yorkers, we need our walk, and it was a great morning ritual to wake up and walk into town.

This property was definitely on the chill and & relaxation side, but if you want a hotel that’s home to more nightlife, I definitely recommend San Giorgio, owned by the same team that runs the Scorpios beach club.

Bill & Coo gives you a magic phone that can summon a driver anywhere on the island within 30 minutes.

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here to party in Mykonos

Scorpios, situated on a huge plot of land right on the water, Scorpios is an all-day restaurant, bar and beach club. They have their own private beach, on two different levels, and a third level with their bars, dining rooms and lounge space. The entire scene reminded me of the Soho House, transplanted in Mykonos. We felt like we finally found our place in Mykonos. Plan to head here around 1pm and eat both lunch and dinner here and to party all night.

Located on an amazing secret beach in Mykonos, at the northern end of the island, Alemagou is a bar, restaurant and night club famous for parties that last until sunrise. The food is surprisingly good, but make sure you secure a dinner reservation as it gets crazy crowded.

If you’re looking for the jetset crowd that regularly frequents The Hamptons, and Jose Ignacio, then Nammos is your spot. Arrive for lunch, and relax while you take in the beauty, and fine-dining with views of some of the most amazing beaches in the world.

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hat to do in Mykonos

Little Venice is beautiful, and worthy of a lengthy stroll. It gets busy during the day from the throngs of tourists from the cruise ships, but turn a corner and you can find a narrow street that looks straight out of a movie.

Take a boat trip around the island. You will be at awe of the beauty around the island. The waters are clear and clean and its just so relaxing and fresh. I do have to warn you about the wind, though: Mykonos is famous for being windy, and you really feel it out in the open. You can forget a nice hairdo and hats that aren’t properly secured. It might also get a bit choppy, so be careful if you get sea sick easily!

Head to Kastro’s Bar & Restaurant to get the amazing shot of the cafe tables perched right against the water. Grab a cappuccino freddo and take in the sights. If you want to get the shot like we did, expect to wait, we had to wait an hour for the area to finally clear up.

Louis Vuitton and DSQUARED2 have outposts here, and the shopping is quite good. Be prepared for hefty prices, I came across a linen Henley from a brand I’ve never heard of that ran $300.

The windmills are one of the most iconic shots in all of Mykonos. It’s busy pretty much all day, but when we arrived around sunset, it was surprisingly vacant, so grab drinks during the day and walk by at sunset.

Rhapsody is in little Mykonos and plays hip-hop, rap, and any music you can dance to with lyrics. Drinks are well priced, and the wait staff is super friendly.

When in Greece, always order a Greek salad, you’ll never be disappointed

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here to eat in Mykonos

Popolos For breakfast, grab some Greek coffee (or a cappuccino freddo) to pair with their yummy sandwiches. The staff is super friendly here so be prepared to be wooed.

Kounelas Fish Tavern For dinner, you’ll love this local taverna with seafood straight from the Aegean sea. Order whatever is the local special fish of the day.

Veranda Bar If you’re planning to photograph or just peruse the windmills, stop by Veranda Bar, its got excellent views of the windmills and is the perfect way to wind down a long afternoon of walking.

Bill & Coo Restaurant hits the spot if you’re looking for a gastronomical tasting menu. The dishes were beautifully plated and the ingredients were super fresh. When you go, make sure to order the half-baked cookie, I’m still thinking about that today.

Negrita has some of the best views of the ocean in Little Venice. The waters rush right up to the edges of the tables, and if you’re not careful you’ll get splashed if you sit too close. The drinks are pricey at 25 euros for my Mint Julep (and way too sweet), but if you go with an Alpha beer or local wine you’ll be set.

Everyone recommends you get a car or ATV, but we were able to get by just fine using the driver on the property.

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ow to get to Mykonos

To get to Mykonos, we flew out of Newark by way of Athens on Emirates. We used Alaska Airlines miles to book business class for 90k miles each-way. The flight is 9 hours, and we had a 1 hour connection from Athens to Mykonos. Our flight landed 45 minutes late, and we missed our connection. It took us about 30 minutes to go from gate to gate (you have to grab your luggage and check back in, but going forward I would recommend 2 hour connecting time through Athens just in case you have a late arrival. The flight from Athens to Mykonos was less than 30 minutes and as soon as the stewardess came out to hand snacks, they were putting away the cart and we were touching down.

We were greeted at the airport by the Bill & Coo driver, and 10 minutes later we arrived in paradise.

The above review of Mykonos is our TLDR version, and below we have the full breakdown of everything we thought about Mykonos in full review-mode for those of you who like to read a play by play.

Bill & Coo Review

Located just a 10 minute walk from Mykonos Town, and situated on a cliff with beautiful views of the beach and sea, we loved our stay at Bill & Coo. The design is modern, chic and reminds us of a sophisticated hotel in Miami.

The rooms are simply decorated in shades of white, with massive showers, and a bonus steam room! The room has built-in USB chargers, which is a great touch in Europe, as we’ve come across some properties that didn’t even offer an adapter for power.

The staff are some of the most kind people we’ve come across, thank you again Matilda for going above and beyond during our stay. Every morning, we woke up to complimentary breakfast in the dining room, with a full selection of delectable treats. I went with the egg white omelette with all the fixings.

The infinity pool has beautiful views, and the table side service was impeccable. The sunlight lasts from early morning to close to 8pm, and thanks to the breezes, you never feel too hot in the sun.

We dined at the restaurant, and partook in their tasting menu. The dishes were well prepared, and beautiful. Prices, like everywhere on the island were high, I think a basic burger runs around 27 Euro, but the food never disappointed us. Our only wish was that we could order from a more simplified menu during the day (I could always go for chicken skewers, Greek salad and meatballs and don’t always need something gastronomic).

We booked the Bachelor Suite, which had plenty of room, an extra seating area with couch and a beautiful balcony view. Rates for us, during May, were $500/night which compared to other properties is rather reasonable.

Scorpios Review

Situated on a huge plot of land right on the water, Scorpios is an all-day restaurant, bar and beach club. They have their own private beach, on two different levels, and a third level with their bars, dining rooms and lounge space. The entire scene reminded me of the Soho House, transplanted in Mykonos. We felt like we finally found our place in Mykonos.

We arrived at 130 for lunch, and were seated in the main dining room, which is situated at the top of the property, 100 feet above the beach.

Lunch was local fare, with fresh ingredients, simply prepared. Our favorites were the penne pasta, breads and dips, fried meatballs and Greek salad. While the majority of the cocktails are vodka-based and super fruity, we were able to score two liquor-forward cocktails. Mine had tequila, mezcal, and watermelon liqueur and was superb.

After lunch, we went down to the main beach, right on the water, and were setup with our own beach bed. Beach beds, by the way, are complimentary, which came to us as a surprise, but I’m sure if we lounged and never ordered anything we might get the side eye. Here’s what you should order beach-side: cappuccino freddo (for first-timers, this is a cappuccino shaken with ice and served super foamy), the perfect way to wean yourself off a couple too many drinks at lunch.

Once the sun went down, we asked our server if we could transition to higher elevation. They whisked us up to the third floor, perched right along the coast with the best views of the sunset. The sunsets in the Greek isles are magical, because the sea seemingly goes on forever, #flatearth, making for amazing pictures.

After sundown, the entire restaurant turns into a beach club. The music, described as “world” music, is relaxing and fun for the first hour, but 8 hours of music with no lyrics really got to us. We were craving some Cardi B real hard.

Alemagou Review

Having just come from Scorpios, this was a bit of a letdown. The crowd was younger, less refined, but more attractive. There is a giant beach area, with around 50 beach beds, and to the right of the beach are multiple lounging pods, backed up by the bar, and then the restaurant seating surrounding the bar to the right and left.

We arrived at 5pm, and scored two seats right next to the water. The crowd had overwhelmed the wait staff, and the sun was setting, so getting service was tough. If we had come earlier, this would be a great way to waste away the day. The beach and views looked like a shoot straight out of Bali.

After the beach, we head up to the bar to wait for our reservation at 630. To pass the time, we grabbed drinks by the bar, I ordered a spoiled negroni, which had vanilla beans infused in the Campari, and it was fantastic.

Make sure you get reservations ahead of time. By 6pm, the bar area had spilled into the “dining room” and people were everywhere. We ended up stranded in between the bar and the dining room for about an hour waiting for our table. Our 630 resy turned into a 7pm, and had we tried to walk-in for a reservation, we probably would have gone home hungry.

Considering how hard the crowd was partying, the dinner was really good. I loved the meatball sliders, mykonian salad, and the spinach pie. The food came out quickly, and was well plated, fresh and tasty AF.

The music at Alemagou was the same as Scorpios, more beats without words, and by the end of dinner we were in dire need of Cardi B. We headed straight from Alemagou to Mykonos Town, and found the first bar playing music with lyrics and requested the DJ play some Bodak Yellow. Mission Accomplished.

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