Quick facts
Best subject: Little Venice, where eighteenth century houses with wooden balconies sit directly over the water.
Best sunset spot: Chora’s windmills, on the ridge above Little Venice, looking out over the harbour.
Best season for photography: May, June and September, for clear light and calmer conditions for any boat trip out to Rhenia or Tragonisi.
Golden hour: Little Venice and the windmills both come alive in the standard 45 minutes before sunset, when the waterfront bars and restaurants light up against the sea.
Getting around: a rental car, scooter or ATV covers the island well, though Chora itself is best explored on foot. See getting around Mykonos, Mykonos taxi and the Mykonos bus timetable.
Is Mykonos worth visiting for photography
Mykonos earns its reputation as one of the most photographed islands in Greece honestly, the row of windmills above Little Venice is one of the most recognisable images in the whole Cyclades, and the island backs it up with genuinely varied scenery beyond Chora, from beach club coves to a wild, undeveloped north coast and sea caves you can only reach by boat.
Best photo spots in Mykonos
1. Chora and its windmills. A row of stone windmills sits on the ridge above the harbour, one of the most photographed sights in Greece, especially with the town and the sea behind them at sunset. Read more in our Chora, Mykonos Town guide.
2. Little Venice. Eighteenth century houses with wooden balconies built directly over the water, one of the few places in the Cyclades with this kind of architecture, and at its best as the waterfront bars light up at sunset. Read more in our Little Venice guide.
3. Ano Mera and the Panagia Tourliani monastery. A quieter inland village built around a monastery founded in 1542, a calmer contrast to Chora if you want a shot without a crowd in it. Read more in our Ano Mera village guide.
4. Super Paradise Beach. A sheltered cove backed by cliffs, known for its clear water and its beach club scene, popular for a wider, more colourful kind of Mykonos beach shot. See our guide to Super Paradise Beach.
5. Fokos Beach. A wild, largely undeveloped beach on the north coast, pebbles and sand with a rocky seabed, a genuinely different, quieter side of Mykonos, particularly striking at sunrise or sunset. See our guide to Fokos Beach.
6. The Tragonisi and Rhenia sea caves. Tragonisi’s cliffside caverns are home to yellow sea anemones and the occasional monk seal, while the coves around the uninhabited island of Rhenia have some of the most vividly turquoise water near Mykonos, both reachable only by boat. See our guide to Mykonos’s best caves.
Best time of day to photograph Mykonos
Chora’s windmills and Little Venice both work best in the 45 minutes or so before sunset, when the light is warm and the waterfront starts to light up for the evening. Arrive a little earlier if you want Little Venice’s lanes without a crowd, since the bars and restaurants along the water get busy quickly once the sun starts going down.
Fokos Beach is worth shooting at either end of the day, sunrise or sunset both work, since it faces open water with nothing built up around it to block the light.
Best season for photography in Mykonos
May, June and September give you the clearest light and calmer seas for reaching Tragonisi and Rhenia by boat.
July and August are Mykonos’s busiest months by a wide margin, and the meltemi wind is a genuine part of the island’s identity here, it is the reason the windmills were built in the first place, so expect it to pick up strongly through the afternoons, which is worth planning for if you are shooting anything on the water or on the exposed ridge above Little Venice.
Practical photography tips
Get to Little Venice early. The lanes and waterfront fill up quickly in the evening once the bars open for sunset, so arrive with time to spare if you want a clean shot before the crowd does.
Book boat trips with the light in mind. Tragonisi and Rhenia are usually seen as part of a tour, so ask the operator about timing in advance rather than assuming it will suit the shot you want.
Allow extra time to reach Fokos. The north coast is quieter and less developed than the rest of the island, so do not expect the same facilities you would find near Chora or the main beaches.
Check current drone rules before you fly. Greece follows the EU’s common drone regulations, which generally require operator registration for anything over 250 grams, and there are no fly zones around the airport and around Chora itself given how busy it gets. Rules can change, so check the current requirements from Greece’s Civil Aviation Authority before your trip.
Book a local photographer
If you would rather leave the camera work to a professional, a local Mykonos photographer will know the quiet hour in Little Venice, the right boat for Tragonisi and Rhenia, and the best light for the windmills, far better than a first visit ever could.
