Jaunted

The story highlights the Belvedere Hotel as the "gold standard of Mykonian chic," and I think they nailed it there. Turn up the volume and watch the video on the hotel website. Sure, it's a bit Euro-cheesy, but you know you want it. We couldn't afford the Belvedere so we stayed in Hora town at the Philippi Hotel, which was grand and had an excellent garden restaurant. Our balcony overlooked Kaloyera Street, and we got quite a view of the revelers celebrating the Greek soccer team's victory in the 2004 Euro Cup. Groups of vacationing Greeks were singing, dancing, and shooting dangerous-looking fireworks in the air and at each other. It was awesome.

Their beach advice seems sound as well, calling out Agios Sostis on the north side for those who want to avoid the crowds, and anointing Elia as the new gay party beach, having recently overtaken Super Paradise. We took a caique shuttle boat to both Paradise and Super Paradise (ridiculous names, to be sure) and found them both fantastic. There were all kinds of people, just doing their own thing, nothing too outrageous. But then, we arrived early in the day, and the beach bars don't get hopping until late.

Speaking of late, everything on Mykonos happened later than we expected it to. People don't really get to the beach until 4:00 p.m. (We would arrive at 11:00 a.m.) Dinner at midnight is commonplace. Downtown jewelry shops are open at 3:00 a.m. If you follow the Times advice and visit Raya for breakfast at 10:00 a.m., you might have the whole place to yourself.

Sure, Mykonos is a party island, and if you're really looking for serenity you might try Paros or Naxos, but it's just so good that even cruise ship crowds can't ruin it. Glad to see it's on the up and up, but hard to imagine it down.

[Photo: Victor Ozols]

Related Stories:
· 36 Hours in Mykonos, Greece [The New York Times]
· Greek Islands Coverage [Jaunted]