From Athens I got a boat to Hydra. I didn’t know much about the island but it was recommended very highly in Lonely Planet guide and the pictures looked stunning. It’s relatively close by boat to Athens, just a short one hour boat. The boat arrives right In the main town of Hydra and so I booked a hotel close by to the front to avoid a long walk. Hydra is completely car free and the only form of transport is either by foot or by donkey, and I didn’t fancy lugging my heavy bags across the island. There’s donkeys lined up at the port ready and waiting to help, but to be honest they stunk and I would feel bad for a donkey having to hike my bags in the heat. I stayed at the Glaros Guesthouse, which although not luxurious, was perfectly located right in Hydra Town.
On our first full day in Mykonos we met up with our friends Richard and Stephanie who had booked a cabana at Skorpois. Stephanie is super organised so had booked these literally two months in advance and I’m so glad she did. We had the best spot at the beach club, perfect vantage point to people watch and importantly out of the wind. Skorpios is absolutely stunning and I could easily see why it had recently been bought by Soho House Group. It has a very similar laid back, chic aesthetic. Sunday is far and away their busiest day, they reckon in the evening there is several thousand people at the open air night club. Thankfully at midday it’s much more sedate. Beautiful cabana boys and girls bring you drinks and food and it really is idilic. The sunset in the evening there was stunning, very instagrammable.
I’d been wanting to go to Mykonos for years so when my friend JP said he had some spare holiday time I suggested a Greece trip. We booked quite late so direct flights to Mykonos were non existent, so we decided to fly to Athens and get a boat to Mykonos from there. JP is a regular flyer for work so using a companion voucher and air miles we flew BA business from Heathrow. As a BA Gold Card holder JP was able to use the First Wing Lounge, a step up from the usual BA Galleries Lounge which regular business class flyers are entitled to use. We were travelling early in the morning so it was a good chance to have a proper non-airplane meal before the flight.
Everything ran on time and on arriving into Athens the transfer to the port was pretty easy. The ferry was fine, but it was a bit slow and to be honest if I was doing the trip again, I’d probably make sure I got a flight direct to Mykonos, the whole fly to Athens and get the ferry thing was a bit of a faff. We didn’t arrive in Mykonos til nearly 6pm and so that was annoying. Thankfully the hotel we had booked sent a car for us. We stayed at the Rochari, which JP had stayed at before, and it was really nice. The room was simple but very chic and included a lovely terrace with sea views and also Jo Malone toiletries in the bathroom. It was also right in Mykonos Town which is where we really wanted to be for the bars and nightlife. One side note accommodation in Mykonos is notoriously expensive, even a very basic hotel in town will set you back €200 a night. The Rochari was significantly more than this, but JP and I were sharing a room and considering the price of some of the other hotels it was pretty decent value for Mykonos.