The journalDestinations
July on Mykonos, and the case for a quieter cove
Mykonos in July is wind, whitewash and a town that does not sleep. Ibiza, the same month, is a different decision. Neither should be booked as a picture.
2 min
July is the month the Cyclades are themselves: meltemi wind, hard light, and a harbour at Mykonos that is busy from late afternoon until a time that is no longer evening. The island is small. The difference between a good stay and a tiresome one is usually a few hundred metres and a refusal to sleep in town.
A villa above a beach on the south coast, with a pool and a cook, is the form that suits a party who want the island without living in its harbour. A suite in town suits a short visit, or people who intend to be out. Pretending one is the other is how July becomes a complaint.
The boat is a day, not a personality
A day on the water is the right use of Mykonos: a cove, a swim, a return before the wind gets up in earnest. It does not need to be a week aboard. The island’s harbours are small and spoken for in July. If a boat is wanted, it is a named day in the brief, with a crew who know the local water, not an open-ended idea of ‘a yacht’.
Ibiza, in the same month, answers a different brief. The island is larger. The north and the west can be quiet in the morning even when the south is not. A house there suits a longer stay, and a party that wants coves more than a scene. Choosing Mykonos because a photograph was beautiful, when the party actually wants silence, is an expensive confusion.
Write the heat into the plan
Nothing important should be scheduled between one and five. Lunches at the house. Swims when the wind allows. One dinner out, not four. A car and a driver who are used to the town’s one-way habits in the evening. An airport transfer that does not assume the ferry of a romantic timetable.
July is glorious if the stay is lazy on purpose. It is miserable if the stay is a tour. The house will plan the lazy version without apology.
