Mykonos

Is Mykonos safe?

Yes, if you mean crime against your person. Police recorded 1 homicide and 7 robberies in the whole Cyclades in 2024, according to Eurostat, in a region of about 117,000 residents that fills with visitors every summer. What goes wrong for visitors on Mykonos is more mundane: a beach-bar bill several times what they expected, a quad crash, or an injury that has to be treated in Athens.

We score Mykonos 73, a point above Santorini (72) and above Athens (71). The two Cyclades islands share the same crime, road and night figures. Mykonos does better on natural hazards, because it sits away from the faults and the volcano that shook Santorini in 2025, and a little worse on theft and scams because of its padded bills.

This page covers the whole island: Hora, the main town, with Little Venice and the windmills; the beaches and beach clubs along the south coast, such as Platis Gialos; the villages inland; and the ports and airport. The crime figures are for the Cyclades as a whole, because Greece publishes none for Mykonos alone.

Bills, beach bars and theft

Overcharging is the scam that Mykonos is known for. In 2022 two American women were charged €600 for two drinks and a portion of crab legs at a restaurant on Platis Gialos beach where, the mother said in her lawsuit, the menu listed no prices. Tourism Ministry auditors then went through the business's books, found seven or eight violations and fined it €31,000, Greek City Times reported.

The defence is simple. Ask the price before you order, above all for fish and seafood sold by the kilo, champagne and sunbeds in the front row. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary notes that Greek restaurants must by law give you an itemised bill; ask for one, check it, and keep the receipt.

Ordinary theft is less of a problem. Police recorded 455 thefts in all the Cyclades in 2024, about 387 per 100,000 residents, a third of the rate in Attica. The FCDO's warning about pickpockets in Greece is aimed at the Athens metro. On Mykonos the moments to watch your phone and wallet are the evening crowds in Little Venice and the lanes of Hora, and the beach, where bags are left on sunbeds while their owners swim.

Nights out in Hora

Mykonos sells itself on nightlife: the Greek tourism board's own page promises dancing at beach bars and clubs. The streets of Hora are busy until late and serious violence is rare, but the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary's advice for nights out in Greece applies here in full. Watch your drink so that it is not spiked, do not let a friend walk back alone, and use pre-booked transport. Greek police arrest people for rowdy or indecent behaviour, and courts can impose heavy fines or prison.

For walking at night we use the EU's 2023 survey of city residents. Mykonos was not surveyed, so like every Greek island it takes Heraklion, the only island city in the survey, where 68% of residents felt safe walking alone at night. Athens, at 40%, is a poor guide here: the Cyclades recorded about 6 robberies per 100,000 people in 2024, close to Heraklion's 3 and a tenth of Attica's 60.

Quads, roads and getting hurt

ELSTAT counted 36 road deaths in the South Aegean in 2024, 11.0 per 100,000 people, the second-highest rate of Greece's 13 regions and well above the national 6.4. Tourist traffic inflates the per-resident figure, but it is also tourist traffic that crashes. On Mykonos, rented quads share the roads with buses, taxis and delivery vans.

In August 2025 a tech billionaire was badly hurt in a quad crash on the island. He was treated and intubated at the Mykonos health centre, the medical team on his insurer's helicopter would not take him, and Greece's ambulance service EKAB flew him to a state hospital in Athens, Proto Thema reported. The case shows the chain any serious injury on the island follows.

The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary warns that quads kill people in Greece every year, that many travel insurance policies exclude them and that hire firms usually sell only third-party cover and may charge for any damage. If you must ride one, wear a helmet, check that your licence covers it, and never ride back from a beach club.

Healthcare is the island's other weak point. The FCDO says care on Greek islands may be limited and some have serious ambulance shortages, and AFP named Mykonos among more than a dozen islands facing ambulance and health-care shortages in 2023. Take out insurance that covers air evacuation.

Weather, earthquakes and the 2025 swarm

Mykonos is calmer underground than its neighbours. In early 2025 thousands of quakes shook the sea between Santorini, Anafi, Amorgos and Ios, about 100 km to the south, and Greece declared a state of emergency on Santorini, AP reported. The US Geological Survey lists only two quakes of magnitude 5.3 or more within 120 km of Mykonos since 1990, both from that swarm.

The everyday hazards are the ones the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary lists for all of Greece: summer heat, wildfires from April to October and flash floods in storms. Avoid long walks in the midday sun in July and August. Turn on emergency alerts on your phone so that Greece's 112 warnings reach you.

How we scored it

Violent crime (90) is Mykonos's strongest factor, on the same Cyclades figures as Santorini. Theft and scams (74) sits two points below Santorini because of the island's record of padded bills. Traffic safety (46) is the weakest factor. Walking at night (77) uses Heraklion's answer to the EU's 2023 survey, as for every Greek island.