Mykonos in September

The wind lets go in September, and on this island the wind decides more than the temperature does. The meltemi that has been driving down the Aegean since high summer eases through the month, and as it eases the difficult half of Mykonos becomes usable: boats leave when they said they would, the exposed beaches stop being a lottery, and the crossing to Delos stops being the plan that gets cancelled.

Why the wind is the month's real story

Mykonos is low, bare and almost entirely unsheltered. There is no ridge of any consequence to break a northerly, so the summer wind arrives on the north and east and keeps going until it hits something. In July and August that produces the pattern everyone eventually discovers: the sheltered south-coast bays are calm and packed, the northern beaches are spectacular and unswimmable, and any boat that has to cross open water is at the mercy of a forecast.

September softens all of it. The strong northerlies become intermittent rather than routine, and the sea holds the heat the summer put into it, its annual peak just behind rather than ahead. Warm water and a settled surface do not often arrive together here. September reliably delivers both.

What that buys you on the water

One genuinely unmissable thing here has nothing to do with the island's reputation, and it is a casualty of a strong blow. Delos sits a short, open crossing away, uninhabited and excavated, and in a windy week the trip is simply not run. In September it becomes reliable, which makes the Half-Day Delos Tour from Mykonos a plan rather than a hope.

The same easing changes what a boat day is worth. A shared sail such as the Mykonos Sail Cruise to Delos and Rhenia Islands spends its afternoon anchored off an uninhabited neighbour island, and calm water is the whole product. If a private day matters — a wedding party, an anniversary, anyone who wants the deck to themselves — the Private Mykonos Catamaran Day Cruise with Meals & Water Toys is worth locking in early, because the good weather windows are still competed for even as the crowds go.

Who else is here, and who has gone

European school terms restart at the beginning of the month, so families leave almost at once. What remains through the first half is a version of the August island with the pressure taken off: everything open, most things bookable a day or two out, and a Chora you can walk through in the evening without queueing to cross it. Through the back half the island begins standing itself down in stages, beach clubs and seasonal kitchens first, and the character shifts from a resort at full stretch to a place winding up its year.

Neither half is the wrong choice. The first is for anyone who wants the whole machine running; the second for anyone who would trade some of it for space. Whether the month is right at all is a question the season page answers properly, and what any of it costs belongs on the cost page.