Mykonos in September: Is It Still Worth Visiting?

This is the part people fall for. Highs average about 26°C. In the first few days you can still get the odd 30°C afternoon, but by the end of the month it's more like the low to mid twenties, which is lovely for walking around without melting. Nights sit somewhere around 19 to 22°C, a touch cooler towards the end, so dinner outside is still the obvious choice. You get roughly ten to eleven hours of sunshine a day, and the light gets warmer and more golden as the weeks go by. Photographers love it.

It rarely rains. Maybe a few short showers over the whole month, and occasionally the first autumn front blows through and gives you one grey, gusty day before the sun comes back. The days are getting shorter, though. Sunset slides from around 7:50 pm at the start of the month to about 7:10 pm by the end, and dinner tends to move a little earlier with it.

Here's the thing most people don't know. The sea is always a few weeks behind the air, because it takes the whole summer to warm up. It tops out at around 24°C in August, and in September it's still about 23.5°C. That's roughly two degrees warmer than June, even though June and September feel about the same on land. You notice it the moment you get in. No more tiptoeing in up to your knees and wincing.

Add gentler sun and emptier beaches, and you can see why a lot of us think September is the best month for swimming. On still days the water along the south coast goes glassy and clear, great for snorkelling or just floating for half an hour. And it stays warm into early October, so the last days of the month are still very much swimming days.

The meltemi, our dry north summer wind, is at its worst in July and August, but nobody told it to stop on 1 September. In the first half of the month it can still blow for two or three days in a row, and on a strong afternoon it reaches Force 5 or 6. When it does, the north coast gets choppy, boat trips get pushed back, and every so often a ferry is late or cancelled. It's annoying, but it also keeps the heat in check.

From around the middle of the month it's usually much lighter, and you get more of those still, flat days. Now and then the first autumn weather brings a southerly wind instead, which flips everything around. Our rule is simple. North wind, go south: Psarou, Platis Gialos, Ornos, Paraga. South wind, head north, where Agios Sostis and Panormos will be the calm ones.

September crowds just feel different. Once the schools go back, the families leave and the beaches open up. You can walk into a restaurant in Chora without a booking again (well, most of them), and the island feels lived in rather than bursting at the seams. The people who stay on are mostly couples and groups of friends, and the whole place has an easier, more grown-up feel.

The cruise ships are the exception. Like May, September is one of their busiest months, and on days when a few of them are in port at once, Chora, Little Venice and the windmills are packed from late morning until late afternoon. The good news? Most cruise passengers stay around town rather than heading to the beaches, and many ships sail in the early evening. The evenings are still yours.

Don't turn up on 1 September expecting a bargain. The first week is still priced like high summer, and a lot of hotels only start dropping their rates around the middle of the month. After that it gets better week by week. The end of September and the start of October are some of the best value you'll find all season, and most of the island is still open.

That said, September isn't exactly a secret anymore, so the nicest hotels and villas still go early. Book a few months ahead, especially for the first half. Restaurants are far easier than in August, although the well-known sunset tables still fill up on weekends. What really sells out is the closing parties. If there's one night you really want, grab tickets the moment they go on sale.

For most of September, the island is running at full speed. Beach clubs, restaurants, bars and the big clubs all carry on as normal, and the sunset sessions keep going all month. Closings start in the last week of September and trickle on until about the middle of October. Every place picks its own date, and it moves around from year to year. Somewhere that closed on the 25th last year might stay open into October this time.

Some people plan their whole trip around the closing parties, and we get why. They have a mood of their own. The regulars who come back every year are there, the staff are celebrating the end of a very long summer, and everyone stays for one last sunrise over the sea. Cavo Paradiso usually wraps up in the last days of September, and in 2026 its closing party landed on 26 September, a full moon night. Other clubs and beach venues hold their own finales around the same time. If you're curious how it all started, have a look at our openings guide.

September is when the island starts to feel like ours again. After months of running flat out, everyone slows down a little. The tavernas in Ano Mera and around the island are relaxed, the owners actually have time to sit and chat, and a lunch that was supposed to be quick somehow lasts until five.

If you're here on the second Sunday of the month, don't miss the grape harvest feast at the Agricultural Museum, right next to Boni's windmill on the hill above Chora. Local families bring food and wine, bread comes out of the old wood oven, grapes get trodden the old way, and someone always starts dancing once the bagpipe and drum get going. It's small and warm and very Mykonian, and hardly any visitors know it exists.

September is when you can actually do all the things on your list without the heat wearing you out by noon. It's a far better month for Delos than July or August, when there's barely any shade and the old stones bounce the heat straight back at you. Catch one of the first boats in the morning and it's cooler and quieter. If the sea is calm, a boat day to the beaches of Rhenia, just past Delos, is one of our favourite days out, full stop.

Back on Mykonos, it's the season for beach days that turn into long lunches, wandering the lanes of Chora in the late afternoon, and a drink in Little Venice as the sun goes down. Want a party? It's still there. Want to do nothing at all? That's easier too. Being able to have both in the same week is what we love most about this month.