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Route · 14 days · one-wayYacht charter route · Cyclades

Mykonos via Naxos & Paros.

A two-week Cyclades circuit out of Mykonos, calling at Naxos, Paros, Milos, Sifnos, Serifos, Kythnos, Kea, Andros, Tinos and Syros.

The route

Day-by-day route

Click any pin on the map or any day in the route summary below to see that day's stop, story and photos.

Naxos
Day 1

Mykonos (Tourlos Marina) → Naxos

A fast 22-mile reach to Naxos, greenest of the Cyclades, where the Kastro lanes and the marble Portara gate make an easy first evening.

Distance

21 NM

Sailing

~4.2h at 5 kn

At a glance

Route at a glance

Best season

May – mid-October (peak Jun – Sep, meltemi Jul – Aug)

Duration

14 days

Departure

Mykonos

Sailing area

Cyclades

Route summary

Click any day to jump back to the map and see its photos, narrative and mooring tip.

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The full story

Day-by-day journey

Named anchorages, mooring notes and things to do for every leg of the week — the map follows along as you scroll.

Day 1 / 14
Naxos
1
Day 1

Mykonos (Tourlos Marina) → Naxos

The season's first passage runs 22 miles down from Mykonos, and if the Meltemi is up you'll cover it fast on a broad reach. Naxos is the big one, greenest and most fertile of the Cyclades, with the Tragea valley and Mount Zas climbing past the thousand-metre mark inland. The town harbour takes stern-to lines easily and stays calm in almost any blow, so there's no rush to grab a spot. Set the crew loose in the old Kastro lanes before dark. Everyone ends up at the Portara for sunset, a lone marble gateway left standing from an Apollo temple the ancients never finished, planted on the islet just off the harbour mouth. If you got an early start, Delos is worth a swing on the way past.

Things to do

Sunset behind the Portara marble gate

Hike Mount Zas from Filoti village

Kitron tasting at Vallindras distillery, Halki

Swim the long sand at Agios Prokopios

Graviera and potatoes in a Kastro taverna

Mooring tip

Stern-to on the town quay, roughly €30-50 a night, with good holding in any wind direction. Slots rarely fill even in August, so you can arrive mid-afternoon without stress.

Paros
2
Day 2

Naxos → Paros (Parikia Harbor)

Barely a passage, this one, six miles across the channel with the sails hardly warmed up. The turquoise shallows between Paros and Antiparos are too good to sail straight past, so most crews drop the hook off the Antiparos side for a long swim and a leisurely lunch first. Parikia is the practical overnight: a big, forgiving quay and lazy lines, far less of a scrum than pretty Naoussa up north. In town, the Ekatontapiliani draws you in, a low whitewashed Byzantine church behind courtyard walls, its stonework older than most of what you'll see all fortnight. Save an evening for Lefkes if you can rent a scooter; the old marble lanes catch the last light well, and the tavernas up there feed you away from the harbour crowd.

Things to do

Swim the turquoise Paros–Antiparos channel

Wander the Byzantine Ekatontapiliani church

Marble lanes of Lefkes at dusk

Wine tasting at Moraitis winery, Naoussa

Seafood on the old Naoussa quay

Mooring tip

Take stern-to lines in Parikia, around €30-50 a night, bigger and calmer than Naoussa, which fills fast and turns tight in a blow. If you want Naoussa's postcard harbour, get in before early afternoon.

Milos
3
Day 3

Paros → Milos (Adamantas Port)

The long leg of the trip, and the one to start early, is 38 miles southwest, a full day on a beam reach when the Meltemi is filling in. The reward waits at the far end. Milos is a drowned volcanic crater, and its inlet cuts so deep that once you're tucked into Adamas the sea goes flat whatever's happening outside. Break the passage at Sarakiniko if the wind's kind: white rock scoured smooth into something closer to a moonscape, with deep clear water for jumping in. It sits open to the swell, though, so only stop when it's genuinely calm. Ashore, Adamas has the tavernas and the dive shops; up the hill, Plaka's castle rock gives you the whole gulf at sunset. Leave time for the syrmata at Klima.

Things to do

Swim the moonscape rocks at Sarakiniko

Snorkel the Papafragas sea caves

Sunset from Plaka's castle rock

Photograph the Klima syrmata boathouses

Farm-table dinner at O! Hamos taverna

Mooring tip

Stern-to on the Adamas town quay, about €30-50, with first-class shelter from every direction once you're inside the inlet. Pollonia in the northeast is cheaper but lies open to a northerly Meltemi.

Kamares
4
Day 4

Milos → Sifnos (Kamares Harbor)

An easy 18 miles north brings you to the island that eats better than any other in the Cyclades. Kamares, the ferry port on the west coast, is the natural overnight, well tucked from the north and northeast where the Meltemi usually sits. Watch the forecast, though. By late August the wind sometimes swings a touch west, and when it does the swell curls straight into Kamares and the night turns rolly; that's your cue to slip round to Vathi on the south coast, which stays glassy. Sifnos gave Greece its first celebrity cook, and it shows on every menu: chickpea stew slow-baked overnight in a clay mastelo, lamb braised with dill and red wine, honey-cheese pies. The whitewashed lanes of Apollonia and Artemonas climb the ridge above, and the pottery that made those cooking pots is still thrown here.

Things to do

Clay-baked chickpea revithada in Artemonas

Walk to Chrysopigi monastery by Faros

Throw a pot at a Sifnos workshop

Swim the sheltered south bay at Vathi

Sunset over medieval Kastro on its cliff

Mooring tip

Anchor on sand at 5-8 metres in Kamares or take the little quay for €20-30. When the Meltemi picks up a westerly slant, move to Vathi on the south coast, which is fully closed off from that direction.

Serifos
5
Day 5

Sifnos → Serifos

Fourteen miles north, likely on the wind, and worth reading the anchorage carefully when you get there. Livadi is a long, sandy bay on the south coast that funnels the Meltemi down its length, so you can find yourself sitting in more breeze than you'd expect. The sand holds well once you're properly dug in, so lay plenty of scope, dive on the anchor to be sure, and hang around aboard for the first hour before anyone heads ashore. Dragging is the classic Serifos mistake. Once you trust the hook, the reward is one of the finest hilltop Choras in the Aegean, stacked in white cubes above the port and reached by a stepped donkey path that takes about half an hour to climb. Time it for the windmills at sunset.

Things to do

Climb the donkey path to Chora

Chickpea revithada at a village kafeneio

Swim the fine sand at Psili Ammos

Sunset among the Chora windmills

Old iron mines at Megalo Livadi

Mooring tip

Anchor on sand at 5-8 metres in Livadi with long scope, or go stern-to on the town quay for €20-30. Above about 22 knots the drag risk is real, so dive the anchor before you leave the boat.

Serifos
6
Day 6

Serifos → Serifos

No passage today, and after Milos you'll have earned it. Serifos rewards a slow day. Depending on where the wind's sitting, lift the hook and reposition for a swim, Vagia on the north coast tucks in behind the land when it's blowing from the south, while Psili Ammos on the south side stays calm under a northerly. Back at anchor, put the crew ashore and walk the old donkey path up to Chora, maybe forty minutes of stone steps, and drop back down by the road. Lunch at a kafeneio table on the ridge, looking out over the whole south coast. If there's an afternoon to spare, the abandoned iron mines at Megalo Livadi make a strange, quiet ramble, with rusting machinery and an old loading pier from the island's mining century. Overnight back on the Livadi sand.

Things to do

Day-anchor swim at Vagia Beach

Stone donkey path up to Chora

Rusting mine ruins at Megalo Livadi

Kafeneio lunch on the Chora ridge

Windmill sunset above the port

Mooring tip

Stay put on the Livadi sand or shift to a day-anchor at Vagia or Psili Ammos depending on the wind, then come back for the night. Long scope everywhere on this island.

Kythnos
7
Day 7

Serifos → Kythnos (Merichas Port)

Fifteen miles up to Kythnos, and the real prize sits a little further on. Merichas is the workaday ferry port on the west coast, an easy stern-to and the sensible choice if the wind's building. Break the run with lunch at anchor in Apokrousi cove, snug under a northerly. But if the day's calm and you've time in hand, push another six miles north to Kolona, a spit of pale sand joining the island to a low islet, water either side, reachable only from the sea. It's the anchorage everyone remembers. Kythnos is the one Cycladic island with genuine hot springs, and at Loutra the thermal water runs warm straight into the sea. Inland, the tile-roofed lanes of Dryopida are worth a wander, with a taverna or two doing sfougato, the local baked cheese.

Things to do

Anchor lunch in Apokrousi cove

Swim the Kolona sandbar detour

Soak in the Loutra thermal springs

Sfougato in a Dryopida taverna

Wander the tile-roofed lanes of Dryopida

Mooring tip

Stern-to on the Merichas town quay, roughly €20-30, and reasonably tucked from a northerly Meltemi. Loutra on the north coast is the alternative if you want the hot springs on the doorstep.

Kea
8
Day 8

Kythnos → Kea (Korissia/Vourkari)

Another fifteen miles north, back toward the mainland's edge, to green and oak-clad Kea. Two harbours face you at the top of the island. Vourkari, the little yachting cove on the northwest, has lazy lines and better shelter for the night; Korissia next door is the bigger free quay, fine as long as the Meltemi stays under about 18 knots. Either way, aim to be tied up before four in the afternoon, since once it's blowing over twenty a swell works into the Korissia entrance and makes the approach awkward. Vourkari's waterfront is one of the better places to eat on the whole route, a row of ouzeris doing octopus and small plates. Up the hill, the old capital Ioulida rambles across two ridges, and a short walk beyond it stands the archaic Lion of Kea, carved smiling from the living rock.

Things to do

Walk out to the archaic Lion of Kea

Snorkel the Patris wreck off Koundouros

Octopus and ouzo on the Vourkari quay

Marble lanes of Ioulida at dusk

Hike the old stone paths inland

Mooring tip

Stern-to with lazy lines in Vourkari, about €25-35, is the calmer bet overnight. Korissia's town quay is free but sits open to a northerly above 18 knots, and its entrance builds a swell by mid-afternoon.

Andros
9
Day 9

Kea → Andros (Batsi Port)

A proper sailing day: 32 miles east-northeast, a long beam reach if the Meltemi cooperates, angling up toward the top of the island chain. Andros catches you off guard. Where the other Cyclades are bare and burnt, this one runs with water, springs bubbling in the villages, streams tumbling to the sea, old stone footbridges you'd expect in the mainland mountains. Batsi on the southwest coast is the small, friendly charter port and tucks in nicely from the north; if it's full, Gavrio further up is bigger and holds you well in anything. The island rewards a car. Drive inland to the Pithara falls above Apikia, wander the marble spine of Chora with its surprisingly good contemporary art museum, and find a kafeneio doing froutalia, the hearty herb-and-potato omelette that turns up nowhere else quite like this.

Things to do

Hike inland to the Pithara waterfalls

Chora's marble street and modern art museum

Froutalia omelette at a village kafeneio

Swim the river estuary at Achla

Cross an old stone footbridge inland

Mooring tip

Stern-to in Batsi, about €25-40, with good shelter from the north. If the quay's crowded, Gavrio a few miles up is roomier and protected from any direction.

Tinos
10
Day 10

Andros → Tinos

Twenty miles southeast, and the channel between Andros and Tinos has a reputation, since it squeezes and accelerates the Meltemi like a funnel, so expect the strongest wind of the day here even though the hop itself is short. Reef early and enjoy it. Tinos is two things at once: the marble-carving heartland of the Aegean and the holiest island in Greek Orthodoxy, its great pilgrimage church looming above the port. Inland, it's quieter and stranger than the coast suggests. Hundreds of ornate Venetian dovecotes stud the terraced valleys around Falatados, the boulder-strewn village of Volax looks half-invented, and up at Pyrgos the marble workshops still turn out reliefs by hand. Eat the artichokes if they're in season, braised the old Constantinople way, and don't leave without trying the local louza and kopanisti.

Things to do

Marble workshops at Pyrgos village

Dovecote trail above Falatados

Braised artichokes à la polita

Boulder-strewn village of Volax at sunset

Light a candle at Panagia Evangelistria

Mooring tip

Stern-to in the new harbour, about €25-40, on moderate sand, so set the anchor with plenty of scope and check it holds. When the Meltemi tops 25 knots, the inner small-craft basin is noticeably calmer.

Tinos
11
Day 11

Tinos → Tinos

A day off the boat to get properly into the interior. Grab a rental car in town and make a loop of it. Pyrgos first, up in the marble north, where you can watch sculptors at the Museum of Marble Crafts and see the work that keeps the tradition alive; there's a good taverna in the square for lunch. Wind back down through Volax, where houses sit wedged among boulders the size of cars, then out to Kolymbithra on the north coast, two sandy bays that pick up enough swell for a surf when the Meltemi's running, or an easy swim when it isn't. Save the evening for Agios Fokas, just south of town, where the light drops behind the ridgeline over the water. Back aboard for a second night in the harbour.

Things to do

Museum of Marble Crafts at Pyrgos

Boulder houses of Volax village

Surf or swim the twin Kolymbithra bays

Taverna lunch in a Falatados square

Sunset over the water at Agios Fokas

Mooring tip

Stay in the new harbour or the inner basin for a second night. If you fancy a swim break first, day-anchor at Kolymbithra when it's sheltered from the south, or at Agios Fokas, before heading back in to re-moor.

Syros
12
Day 12

Tinos → Syros (Ermoupoli Port)

Fourteen miles west, quick and lively, since the Tinos-Syros channel does the same funnelling trick and you'll carry a good five knots more wind than the open sea, so it's a spirited beam reach across. Ermoupoli makes up for it. The harbour runs deep and the long town quay is about the most forgiving stern-to on the whole trip; you drop your own anchor and pay nothing. And what a town to arrive into: the 19th-century capital of the Cyclades, all pale neoclassical façades stepping up two hills, the marble expanse of Miaouli Square at its heart with a miniature opera house on one side. Climb the lanes to the medieval Catholic quarter of Ano Syros for the view back down. Buy loukoumi and halvadopita where they've been making it since the 1830s.

Things to do

Climb to the Catholic quarter of Ano Syros

Loukoumi from an 1830s confectioner

Marble Miaouli Square after dark

Swim the rock platforms at Asteria

Rebetiko night in an Ano Syros bar

Mooring tip

Stern-to on the Ermoupoli town quay costs nothing and you use your own anchor, with fine shelter from any direction. If the quay's full, Manna marina takes you for €60-80 a night.

Mykonos
13
Day 13

Syros → Mykonos (Tourlos Marina)

The last real sailing day loops 22 miles back east to Mykonos, and it passes close by Delos, reason enough to break the passage. Drop anchor in the strait and take the tender across for a few hours ashore on the sacred island where Apollo was said to be born: the ranked marble lions on their terrace, the mosaic floors of merchant houses, a whole abandoned town in the sun. It closes at sundown and no one stays the night, so watch the clock. Aim to be into Tourlos marina by five, which leaves the evening free to sort gear for tomorrow's handover. Book the berth online ahead of time in July and August, since it fills. Then head into Chora for a farewell dinner along the waterfront at Little Venice, waves breaking under the balconies.

Things to do

Tender across to the ruins of Delos

Marble lion terrace and House of Cleopatra

Farewell dinner in Little Venice

Sunset drink at Scorpios beach club

Photograph the windmills above Chora

Mooring tip

Stern-to in Tourlos New Marina, €70-110 a night at peak, and book the slot online well ahead, as it sells out in summer. The Mykonos town quay is only safe under about 18 knots of northerly.

Mykonos
14
Day 14

Mykonos → Check-out

Handover morning. Bases like the boat back clean and empty by nine, so get the packing done the night before and give the cabins a last wipe-through early. Walk the boat with the base manager rather than leaving them to it, going over the hull, the tender and the inventory together, and photograph anything they flag before you sign so there's no argument later. The deposit comes back within a week once the inspection's done. If your flight's not until afternoon, Tourlos leaves you time for a last swim; Agios Stefanos is a short walk round the bay, an easy sandy beach to close the fortnight on. Mykonos airport is barely ten minutes up the road, so there's no need to rush off. One more frappé in town before the transfer.

Things to do

Final walkthrough with the base manager

Last swim at Agios Stefanos beach

Farewell frappé in a Chora café

Ten-minute transfer to Mykonos airport

Mooring tip

Hand the boat over at Tourlos before nine. Photograph any damage the manager notes before you sign, and expect the deposit back within seven days of the inspection.

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