Mykonos

Fly into Mykonos Airport (or arrive by high-speed ferry from Athens/Piraeus) and transfer to your hotel in or near the Chora. Check in, then immediately walk the town before the crowds arrive — the labyrinthine lanes of Mykonos are most beautiful in the late afternoon when the light turns golden and the whitewash glows. Walk to Little Venice for a pre-dinner drink at one of the cliff-edge bars where the Aegean laps the foundations of the buildings, then dinner in the Chora's maze of restaurant lanes.

Morning coffee at a Chora cafe before 9am, when the town is yours — the morning light on whitewash is extraordinary and the lanes are navigable. Walk to the Kato Myli windmills at the town's edge — seven 16th-century Venetian windmills above Little Venice that are the island's most iconic image, at their best photographed from the water below in the morning. Pelican spotting in the Old Port (the town's famous resident pelican Petros patrols the harbor). Afternoon at Psarou Beach — a protected bay of calm turquoise water with the island's most upscale beach club, Nammos.

Delos is one of the most important archaeological sites in the ancient world — the mythological birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, once the religious and commercial center of the Aegean, now an uninhabited island 2km from Mykonos with some of the best-preserved ancient ruins in Greece. The Sacred Way, the Terrace of the Lions (marble replicas of the original Archaic-period lion statues), the mosaic House of Dionysus, and the dramatic Temple of Apollo all within walking distance of the small boat dock. Return by afternoon for a beach sunset.

The south coast beaches are Mykonos's reason for summer existence. Super Paradise is the most dramatic — a horseshoe bay of crystal water against red volcanic cliffs, with a DJ booth and sunbed service that runs all afternoon. Scorpios further west takes a more spiritual, sunset-focused approach — day beds, live music that builds toward an extraordinary sunset ceremony, fresh mezze, and a crowd that comes specifically for the evening experience. Book Scorpios well in advance.

Mykonos has a completely different face away from the Chora and the beach clubs — the island's interior and north coast are rural, quiet, and beautiful. Ano Mera is the island's only other village, centered on the 16th-century Monastery of Panagia Tourliani with its ornate marble fountain and Flemish-baroque iconostasis. The north coast road passes dramatic wind-scoured cliffs above a rough Aegean — completely different from the sheltered south. Afternoon back in the Chora for shopping in the luxury boutiques before a final evening in Little Venice.

Charter a small private boat for the day — the captain knows all the beaches inaccessible by road, the sea caves along the north coast, and the exact timing of the evening light. Visit Fokos Beach (completely undeveloped, no road access, extraordinary calm water), Mersini Beach on the east coast, and Agios Sostis (no music, no organized service, just excellent swimming and a single taverna). Return to the Chora for your last Mykonos evening.

Morning walk through the Chora one last time — buy sea sponges, local thyme honey, and a piece of Cycladic ceramics before heading to the airport or ferry port.