Mykonos, Cyclades
The bold and the beautiful flock to fashionable Mykonos to savour its unrivalled reputation for hedonism – and photogenic windmills. It’s Greece’s Ibiza, blending exclusivity with wild parties day and night. The south coast beach clubs of Paradise and Super Paradise, the gay clubs and nightclubs of Hora (Mykonos town), the superyachts in Ornos Bay, the fashionable restaurants and luxury boutiques all conspire to create Greece’s most decadent island.
Stay
Mario Hertel and Thomas Heyne, who founded Mykonos’ famous Paradise Club in 2004, now run San Giorgio (hotel. qantas.com.au/sangiorgio mykonos), a sophisticated 33-room hotel sited on a small peninsula above Paradise and Paraga beaches. It’s an oasis of hammocks and palms handy to their venue Scorpios (scorpiosmykonos.com), renowned for some of the island’s premier parties.
Eat and drink
Fittingly for a playground of the rich and famous, Mykonos has outposts of high-end restaurant groups, including Matsuhisa (Nobu by another name) at the Belvedere Hotel in Mykonos town, where guests graze on sushi in a mid-19th century mansion (belvederehotel.com). The founders of London’s hauteAsian Hakkasan chain are behind Ling Ling (lingling. hakkasan.com), an ultrapricey Cantonese eatery serving dim sum, set menus and Peking duck with Iranian beluga caviar at $560 a serve. For something more Aegean, Kiki’s Tavern (Agios Sostis Beach) offers marinated octopus and chargrilled pork chops on a shady terrace.
Explore
Tiny Delos – one of the most sacred Greek islands and regarded as the birthplace of Apollo – is a World Heritage site rich with archaeological treasures and an easy daytrip by boat from Mykonos (delostours.gr). For a quiet night, the open-air Cine Manto screens evening features in a charming garden in the heart of Hora (cinemanto.gr).