Greece · Aegean · Old Port & Platis Gialos
Almost everything worth sailing to from Mykonos lies west, in the strait between Delos and Rhenia — and the quay you sail from decides whether you land on the sacred island or only photograph it.
Quick answer
Fourteen well-reviewed boats work out of Mykonos, and the split that matters is between the ones that land on Delos and the ones that sail past it. The scheduled round-trip boat transfer at $34 lands you there in about 35 minutes; the Delos and Rhenia cruise with lunch at $102 is the most-booked boat on the island at 1,672 reviews. Catamaran days such as the $135 and $138 cruises swim at Rhenia and pass Delos offshore, because swimming anywhere along the Delos coast is prohibited by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades.
The landing boats all leave from one place: Deliana Pier at the Old Port, beside the chapel of Agios Nikolaos in Mykonos Town. Ferries and cruise ships use the New Port at Tourlos, two kilometres north, linked to the Old Port by the SeaBus at €2 a head. Catamarans and yachts load at Ornos and Platis Gialos on the south coast, a bus ride from both harbours.
Delos also charges twice: the boat fare and the €20 site ticket are separate transactions with separate sellers, so the cheapest way onto the island is nearer €45 than the fare you booked. For an evening rather than ruins, the sunset party boat at $44 is the cheapest three hours afloat, and the meltemi is why morning departures are the ones that sail.
Compare
The five kinds of day out that leave Mykonos, each shown with the cheapest well-reviewed example of its type. Durations, ratings and prices are the operators' own figures from the listings further down this page, re-checked in September 2026; the final column is the thing that actually separates them.
| Type of day | Time out | Lands on Delos | From | What decides it | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delos crossing, self-guided | 35 min each way | Yes | $34 | Cheapest way onto the island; €20 ticket extra | Details |
| Delos + Rhenia, guided, with lunch | 6.5 hours | Yes | $102 | Ruins and a swim in one run, food included | Details |
| Catamaran day, meals and transfers | 5 hours | No — passes offshore | $135 | Shade, a crew and a proper meal at anchor | Details |
| South coast beach cruise | 4 – 4.5 hours | No | $116 | The road-free beaches and sunset, no archaeology | Details |
| Sunset party boat | 3 hours | No | $44 | Music, one drink, back in town for dinner | Details |
The boats
Every boat below is bookable now and carries its operator's own rating and review count. Prices are per person. Where a listing loads at Ornos, Platis Gialos or Psarou rather than in town, the spec sheet says so — those are bus rides from both harbours, not walks. Re-checked in September 2026.
4.6★ (1672 reviews) · 6.5 hours · from $102
4.7★ (976 reviews) · 3 hours · from $44
4.7★ (626 reviews) · 5 hours · from $135
4.5★ (613 reviews) · 35 minutes · from $34
4.7★ (456 reviews) · 5 hours · from $138
4.9★ (448 reviews) · 4 - 4.5 hours · from $116
4.9★ (443 reviews) · 6.5 hours · from $134
4.8★ (362 reviews) · 4 hours · from $112
4.8★ (302 reviews) · 6 hours · from $159
4.4★ (295 reviews) · 4 hours · from $127
4.7★ (85 reviews) · 6 hours · from $169
4.5★ (67 reviews) · 4 hours · from $58
4.7★ (57 reviews) · 4 hours · from $115
4.1★ (37 reviews) · 5 hours · from $163
The piers
Mykonos runs two harbours two kilometres apart plus a string of beach jetties, and they send out completely different boats. Nothing here is walkable from everything else.
The Old Port sits at the north edge of Mykonos Town, minutes on foot from Little Venice. Its excursion quay is Deliana Pier, beside the small blue-and-white chapel of Agios Nikolaos, and this is where every boat that lands passengers on Delos ties up — the scheduled crossings and the guided Delos and Rhenia cruises alike. The Delos Tours ticket office is on the pier itself; party boats and cruise-ship tenders use the same water.
The New Port at Tourlos, two kilometres north, is the ferry and cruise harbour: Blue Star, SeaJets, Fast Ferries and Golden Star berth here, as do the large cruise ships. No Delos boat leaves from it. The link is the SeaBus, a passenger launch running the twelve-minute hop roughly every thirty minutes from early morning to around midnight for €2 one way, cash only; KTEL's port bus does it by road for about €3.
The south coast jetties — Ornos, Platis Gialos, Psarou and Elia — are where most catamarans and yachts load, because that is the sheltered side when the north wind is up. Platis Gialos has the only permanent concrete dock on the beach circuit. KTEL singles from Fabrika run €1.80 to €2.80, so a listing with transfers included, like the $135 and $138 catamarans, has solved a real problem. One listing here does not start on Mykonos at all: the Paros and Antiparos cruise sails from Pounta on Paros.
| Pier | What leaves from it | Distance from Mykonos Town | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old Port — Deliana Pier | All Delos landings, Delos and Rhenia cruises, party boats | In town, walkable from Little Venice | Delos Tours sells the crossing here; the site ticket is not sold at this pier |
| New Port (Tourlos) | Ferries and cruise ships only | 2 km north — SeaBus €2, port bus about €3 | No excursion boat to Delos departs from here |
| Ornos | Catamarans and yacht cruises | 3 km south — KTEL from Fabrika | Sheltered when the meltemi is blowing from the north |
| Platis Gialos | Catamarans, yachts and the beach water taxi | 4.5 km south — KTEL from Fabrika | The only permanent concrete dock on the beach circuit |
| Elia / Psarou | A few small-group yacht cruises | 8 – 10 km south-east by bus or taxi | Last buses back run past midnight in peak season |
The arithmetic
The scheduled boat and the archaeological site are sold by two different parties, and comparing a guided cruise against the cheap crossing means adding the second one in.
The crossing is run out of Deliana Pier by the Delos Tours boat owners at a published €25 return for adults, €12 for children aged six to twelve and free under six, sailing from the beginning of April to around the tenth of November. Departures run through the morning — the standard pattern is 09:00, 10:00 and 11:30, with an afternoon sailing in high season — and returns are timetabled in fixed pairs, so you get about three hours ashore in the morning or roughly two later. Entry is a separate €20 adult ticket, €10 reduced, sold on the island by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades and covering the ruins and the museum; EU citizens under 25 go free with photo ID.
So the cheapest way to stand in the House of the Dolphins is roughly €45 per person, and the $34 round-trip transfer here is the boat half of it, not the whole. Against that, the $102 cruise with lunch adds a licensed guide, the site ticket, a Rhenia swim stop and the food; the $159 all-inclusive version adds drinks and a smaller group. Delos Tours' own guided half day, sold at its pier office, is €79 with entry included — the reference point for judging whether a cruise price is doing any work.
What €45 does not buy is a swim. Swimming anywhere on the Delos coastline is prohibited, because the whole island is the protected site — the same reason nobody may stay overnight: around twenty guards and staff are the only people who sleep there, and every visitor leaves on the last boat. The swim on every Delos cruise happens at Rhenia, the uninhabited island across the strait, where boats anchor off and passengers go in from the ladder.
The same arithmetic runs on the south coast. Paradise, Super Paradise, Agrari and Elia all have KTEL services from Fabrika at €1.80 to €2.80, and the beach water taxi run by Mykonos Sea Transfer links Ornos, Platis Gialos, Paraga, Paradise, Super Paradise, Agrari and Elia on a €20 all-day hop-on pass with no single tickets. What neither buys is the coves with no road to them, the shade, the anchor time or the food — which is what the $115 yacht cruise and the $116 dinner cruise are selling.
Prices
Three bands, drawn from the fourteen listings on this page rather than a market average. Mykonos has almost nothing between the $58 island tour and the $102 Delos cruise — the gap is where the catamarans start.
The $34 Delos transfer and the $44 sunset party boat are the only two genuinely cheap tickets afloat here, joined by the $58 small-group island tour for cruise passengers. All three are short. None of them feeds you, and the Delos transfer still needs the €20 site ticket on arrival.
This is where Mykonos really prices a boat: $102 for Delos and Rhenia with lunch, $112 for the port-call tour, $115 and $116 on the south coast, $127 for the open-bar sunset boat, $135 and $138 for the catamarans with meals and transfers. Ratings across the band run 4.4★ to 4.9★, so the money buys format, not quality.
The $159 all-inclusive Delos and Rhenia cruise, the $163 Ornos catamaran with paddleboards, and the $169 sailing day with prosecco, a BBQ and a Delos stop. What the top band buys over the middle one is a smaller passenger list and, on the sailing yacht, an engine that gets switched off.
Boats
The hull decides more than the itinerary on a windy island. These are the types working out of Mykonos, with the cheapest example of each from the listings above.
| Type | From | Typical day | Sails in a meltemi? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled excursion boat | $34 | 35 min each way to Delos | Usually — heavy, short crossing | Independent visitors on their own clock |
| Motor cruiser | $102 | 6 – 6.5 hours, Delos and Rhenia | Usually, in the morning slot | Ruins plus a swim in one run |
| Party boat | $44 | 3 – 4 hours at sunset | Often cancelled when it blows hard | Evenings with music, no archaeology |
| Catamaran | $135 | 5 hours, meals aboard, Rhenia swim | First to be cancelled | Shade, stability and a table |
| Sailing yacht | $169 | 6 hours under canvas with a Delos pass | Sails, but the route moves | Anyone who wants the engine off |
Season
Sea temperatures are the long-term monthly averages published by Climates to Travel; the sailing notes are what the Delos schedule and the meltemi actually do to the timetable here.
Rain almost never cancels a boat on Mykonos. The meltemi does. It is the dry north wind of the Aegean, it starts appearing around mid-May, and it is at its most persistent through July and August, building through the day and peaking in the afternoon; gusts above 70 kph are ordinary and the strongest days reach force 7 to 8 on the Beaufort scale — the level at which high-speed ferries stop and the Delos boats and light catamarans are pulled. Mykonos, exposed in the strait, gets it harder than islands further south.
Three things follow. Take the earliest sailing offered: the wind builds through the day, so the 09:00 and 10:00 Delos boats sail on days when the 17:00 does not. Choose a heavy hull if the forecast is marginal — motor cruisers keep going in conditions that ground the catamarans. And put Delos on the first full day of your stay rather than the last, so a cancelled morning has a second chance. September quietly wins here: a 23.5 °C sea, an eased wind, and every boat still on its summer timetable.
Two closures to diary. The site follows the Greek ministry's calendar, so it does not open on 1 May, and it closes to general visits from the start of December until spring, when only written applications are accepted.
| Month | Sea | Crowds | What it means on the water |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | 16 °C (61 °F) | Thin | Delos boats restart at the beginning of the month; catamarans mostly not yet running |
| May | 18.5 °C (65 °F) | Building | Full Delos schedule, cheapest cruise prices, wind still light most days |
| June | 21.5 °C (71 °F) | Busy | Long days, warm enough to swim at Rhenia, everything sailing |
| July | 23.5 °C (74 °F) | Peak | The meltemi establishes; afternoon sailings are the ones that get pulled |
| August | 24 °C (75 °F) | Peak | Warmest sea of the year and the windiest fortnight of it, often together |
| September | 23.5 °C (74 °F) | Easing | The month to pick: warm water, wind dropping, boats still on full timetable |
| October | 21.5 °C (71 °F) | Quiet | Swimmable, but the water taxi thins out and catamarans start finishing |
| November | 19 °C (66 °F) | Very quiet | Delos sailings stop around the tenth; day cruises effectively end |
| December – March | 15.5 – 17 °C (60 – 63 °F) | None | Delos closed to general visits; ferries run for residents |
Extras
Mykonos charges more small sums at the quay than most Greek islands, and two of them are routinely mistaken for part of the boat fare.
| Item | Amount | Who collects it | When it applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delos site and museum entry | €20 adult / €10 reduced | Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades, on Delos | Every landing — including the $34 transfer, which is the boat only |
| Delos crossing | €25 return adult / €12 child 6–12 | Delos Tours, Deliana Pier office | Self-guided visits; guided cruises already include it |
| SeaBus, New Port to Old Port | €2 one way, cash | Mykonos SeaBus | Ferry and cruise arrivals joining a boat in town |
| KTEL bus to the beach jetties | €1.80 – €2.80; port and airport about €3 | KTEL Mykonos, from Fabrika | Any south-coast departure without a transfer |
| Beach water taxi day pass | €20, no single tickets | Mykonos Sea Transfer, Platis Gialos dock | Hopping Paradise, Super Paradise, Agrari and Elia yourself |
| Greek cruise passenger levy | €20 June – September, €12 April, May and October | The Greek state, billed to your onboard account | Stepping ashore from a cruise ship at Mykonos |
On the water
Everything sails west. Delos and Rhenia sit in the strait three nautical miles off Mykonos Town; the Old Port sends the boats that land there, the New Port at Tourlos sends none of them, and the catamarans load on the south coast at Ornos and Platis Gialos.
Questions
The ones that land on Delos leave from Deliana Pier at the Old Port, in Mykonos Town beside the chapel of Agios Nikolaos. Nothing bound for Delos leaves from the New Port at Tourlos — that harbour is for ferries and cruise ships, two kilometres north. Catamarans and yacht cruises load on the south coast at Ornos, Platis Gialos, Psarou or Elia. The SeaBus links Tourlos and the Old Port every half hour for €2, cash only.
Yes, and it catches people out. The crossing and the site are sold separately: €25 return with Delos Tours at Deliana Pier, and a €20 adult ticket (€10 reduced) collected on the island by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades for the ruins and the museum. The $34 boat transfer is the crossing only; guided cruises such as the $102 and $159 ones include the entry.
Neither. Swimming along the Delos coast is prohibited because the entire island is the protected archaeological site, and overnight stays are banned for the same reason — only the guards and staff, fewer than twenty people, remain after the last boat. That is why every Delos cruise swims at Rhenia across the strait instead, and why the site's opening hours are effectively your deadline for leaving.
About three hours on a morning sailing and roughly two in the afternoon — the boats run in fixed out-and-back pairs, so the return you can catch is decided when you buy. Three hours covers the Terrace of the Lions, the theatre quarter, the House of Dionysus and the museum at a walking pace; two covers the main street and the museum, not the climb up Mount Kynthos. There is no shade and no shop, so carry water.
Most do not land. The $135 and $138 catamarans and the $169 sailing day pass Delos and anchor at Rhenia, because landing needs an Ephorate ticket and a berth at the Delos jetty, and swimming off Delos is banned anyway. If the ruins are the point, book a listing that names the site visit — $102 or $159 — or take the scheduled crossing and walk it yourself.
Mainly in July and August, when the north wind is most persistent and builds through the day into force 7 or 8. Catamarans and small sailing boats are pulled first, heavier motor cruisers keep going, and morning departures sail far more reliably than afternoon ones. Operators refund or reschedule for weather. Book Delos early in your stay so a blown-out morning has a second chance.
September, then May. September holds a 23.5 °C sea, a wind eased off its August peak, and full timetables with fewer people aboard. May has an 18.5 °C sea and the lowest cruise prices of the running season, though the water is cold enough that the Rhenia swim stop is a quick one. July and August have the warmest sea, 23.5 to 24 °C, and the most cancellations.
Only with the timetable in front of you. Ships berth at Tourlos or tender into the Old Port; the Delos boats leave from Deliana Pier on fixed pairings, and the return you are locked into may land after your all-aboard time. If the ship docks at Tourlos, add the €2 SeaBus each way. The safer options are the port-pickup tours timed to a call — $112 or $58. Greece also bills a €20 levy for coming ashore here between June and September, €12 in April, May and October, charged to your onboard account.
Nearby
Or browse every boat tour and day cruise by port.
An hour by fast ferry, and the start point for the Antiparos cruise listed on this page
Island hopping ▸ SantoriniGreeceThe other Cycladic cruise stop — caldera sailing and a volcano landing instead of ruins
Sunset & caldera sailing ▸ AthensGreeceThe mainland end of the ferry line, and the Saronic islands in a single day from Piraeus
Island hopping ▸