Old Port

The Old Port of Mykonos sits at the northern end of Chora, the island's main town, where the waterfront curves around a small natural harbour that has been in use since antiquity. Before the New Port at Tourlos was built to handle large ferry traffic, this was the point through which virtually everyone and everything arrived on the island — fishing boats, traders, travellers, and the occasional Aegean squall.

Today the Old Port retains a working, unhurried quality that distinguishes it from the polished boutique lanes just a few minutes' walk inland. Fishing caiques are moored alongside small excursion boats, and the quay is one of the more straightforward places in town to simply stand and look out at the water without being funnelled through a bar or a shop. The panorama from here takes in the open Aegean to the north and west, with the silhouette of Delos visible on clear days roughly nine kilometres away.

The category assigned to this entry in some listings is "museums," which reflects how the Old Port functions culturally rather than institutionally — it is an outdoor record of Mykonos's maritime identity, readable in the architecture of the small harbour buildings, the placement of the windmills on the ridge above, and the rhythm of the boats that still work out of it every morning.

What to Expect

The harbourfront is narrow and mostly flat, lined with low whitewashed walls and a few cafes and tavernas that face the water. The scale is intimate compared with the main pedestrian streets: the buildings here were built for function first, and the proportions show it. Stone steps lead up from the quay in several places toward the Kastro quarter and the neighbourhood known as Alefkandra, where the famous waterfront chapel of Paraportiani sits just above the shoreline.

The water in the immediate harbour is calm in most weather conditions, sheltered enough for small boats to moor safely. You can walk the length of the quay in under ten minutes. Several excursion operators use the Old Port as a departure point for day trips to Delos and Rhenia, so mornings — particularly between 09:00 and 10:30 — see a modest flurry of activity as passengers board.

Looking back from the water, the ridge of windmills (the Kato Myli, or lower windmills) forms the skyline above the port. These 16th-century grain mills are among the most recognisable features of Mykonos Town and are best photographed from the harbour level, where the whitewashed sails stand against the sky without obstruction from buildings.

The area directly around the quay is accessible at all hours. There are no fences, admission charges, or formal visiting rules — it is a public waterfront that happens to carry several centuries of maritime history.

How to Get There

The Old Port is walkable from virtually anywhere in Mykonos Town. From the main square (Manto Mavrogenous Square), head northwest along the waterfront road for roughly five to seven minutes; the quay opens up on your left as the street widens near the Paraportiani area. From the New Port at Tourlos, taxis and the local bus (KTEL Mykonos) cover the roughly two-kilometre distance into Chora in under ten minutes, dropping passengers near the main square from which the Old Port is a short walk.

Parking in central Chora is severely limited in summer, and the lanes around the Old Port are too narrow for cars. The practical approach for drivers is to use one of the designated car parks on the town's periphery and walk in. Mobility is relatively straightforward along the quay itself, which is paved and mostly level, though some of the connecting lanes up toward Kastro involve steps and uneven cobblestones.

Best Time to Visit

Early morning is when the Old Port feels most like itself. Fishing boats return, the excursion vessels to Delos prepare for departure, and the light from the east catches the white walls at a low angle. The crowds that fill the lanes of Chora from mid-morning onward tend to arrive later here.

Sunset viewing from the harbour is popular but faces west-northwest, meaning the windmills and the far edge of Little Venice catch the last light rather than the open sea directly. If a true sunset sea view is the priority, the ridge near the windmills is marginally better positioned.

July and August bring the highest visitor numbers to Mykonos as a whole. The Old Port area is less concentrated than the shopping streets, but the cafe tables along the quay fill quickly in the evening. Shoulder season — late April through June and September through October — gives more room to move and considerably cooler temperatures for walking.

The meltemi, the strong north wind that blows across the Cyclades in summer, can make the open harbourfront feel exposed in the afternoons. Mornings are typically calmer.

Tips for Visiting

• If you are taking a day trip to Delos, confirm with your excursion operator whether departure is from the Old Port or the New Port at Tourlos, as some services have shifted; the distinction matters for timing your morning.
• The windmills are best photographed from the harbour level in the morning, when the sun hits the sails from the east and the sea is in the background.
• The lane connecting the Old Port to Paraportiani chapel is short and easy to miss from the main waterfront road — look for a narrow opening in the wall to your left as you walk northwest along the quay.
• A handful of tavernas along the quay serve fresh fish; boats unloading catch in the morning is a reasonable indicator of what will be on the menu that day.
• The Aegean here is clear and very blue in good weather, but the Old Port is not a swimming area — for beaches, the closest options are Megali Ammos to the south of town or Tourlos beach near the New Port.
• Chora's main streets become extremely crowded between 18:00 and 23:00 in peak season; if you want the harbour in relative quiet, aim for before 09:00 or after midnight when the excursion boats are gone.
• Do not rely on finding street parking near the Old Port in July or August — it effectively does not exist in that part of town.
• The view toward Delos is clearest in the morning before any haze builds; binoculars make the island's ruins visible from the quayside.

History and Context

Mykonos has been a stop along Aegean maritime routes since ancient times, sitting at the crossroads of trade between the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, and mainland Greece. The island's position made it commercially useful rather than strategically powerful, and its port served generations of merchants and fishing communities long before it became known for anything else.

During Venetian and later Ottoman control of the Cyclades, Chora developed in its characteristic compact, labyrinthine form — streets designed to confuse raiders, no straight lines that might funnel an attack from the sea. The Old Port was the point of both vulnerability and livelihood in this arrangement, and the neighbourhood above it, the Kastro (castle) quarter, reflects the defensive logic of that era in its layout.

The windmills on the ridge above the harbour were built primarily in the 16th century by the Venetians to process grain, taking advantage of the reliable meltemi winds. They operated commercially for several centuries and are now protected landmarks. Their position above the harbour is not accidental — grain arrived by boat and could be moved uphill to the mills with relative efficiency.

In the 20th century, Mykonos shifted from a fishing and trade economy toward tourism, a transition that accelerated sharply from the 1950s onward when artists, writers, and eventually a broader international crowd began arriving. The Old Port remained the main landing point until Tourlos was developed to handle modern ferry vessels. That shift moved the volume of arrivals away from Chora's edge, which has, paradoxically, helped preserve the older quarter's character.