Mylopotas Beach, Ios: The 1.5km Blue Flag Party Beach Where the Day Continues After the Night, With Homer’s Tomb in the Hills Above

Greece | Mylopotas | Ios, Cyclades

Mylopotas is the most visited beach in Ios Greece, located close to the main village, Chora. This is a long white beach with sunbeds for rent but also with some large and unexploited areas to lay your towel on for free.

The soft, sandy beach stretches for about 1.5 kilometres, providing ample space to relax and soak up the sun’s rays. Because of its unique geographical location, Mylopotas often enjoys calm waters, perfect for anchoring and stress-free swimming.

Mylopotas Beach is one of the most popular destinations on Ios island, but since it stretches over one kilometre long, you will rarely find it overcrowded. This is the specific honest quality worth leading with: Ios has a reputation for being a party island that can feel overwhelming, and Mylopotas has the Far Out Beach Club at its southern end drawing exactly the crowd that reputation implies. But the beach is long enough that the party end and the quiet end are genuinely distinct experiences. Choose where you put your towel accordingly.

Mylopotas is one of Greece’s 10 best beaches. Here you can find everything you could want: bars, hotels, shops and several good restaurants.

Getting There: Bus Every 20 Minutes From Chora, or the Old Donkey Track Shortcut — Easy Down, Steep Up

From the main village: you can either take the bus from Chora or walk for 20 minutes down the hill. Walking down is easy; it is going back up that is tough. There is a shortcut to the beach just after Hermes Hotel, where the main road makes a left turn — continue straight and you will eventually find yourself on an old donkey track leading down to Mylopotas beach.

The bus runs frequently from Chora and the port throughout the day. The donkey track shortcut cuts significant time off the walk but adds gradient — do not underestimate the uphill return, particularly in peak summer heat.

By car or scooter, the road from Chora takes about 5 minutes. Parking is available along the main road parallel to the beach and in dedicated lots behind the beach clubs.

The Beach: Long, Sandy, Blue Flag, Calm Water, Sunbeds or Free Zone — Your Choice

Cafes and restaurants stretch the length of the beach, but the Far Out Beach Club reigns supreme.

The organised sections have sunbeds and umbrellas throughout the length. The free zone — the unorganised sections between the beach clubs — is genuinely large and accessible. The tamarisk trees at the northern end provide natural shade.

The water is deep blue and clear. The bay’s protected position keeps it calmer than the exposed Aegean beaches on the island’s other sides, and the sandy seabed makes it suitable for long swimming sessions and for families.

Far Out Beach Club: 30 Years Old, Part Hotel, Hostel, Campsite, and Main Stage for International DJs

FarOut was founded 30 years ago by passionate people when Ios was still a hippies’ destination centred around music, meeting people and partying.

Far Out Beach Club is part hotel, hostel, and campsite, and you will be surprised by how fabulous the food is.

The Far Out complex is the single most established beach institution on Ios — it has a gym, basketball and tennis courts, a pool at Far Out Village, food, drink, sunbeds, and a growing list of international DJs who play the beach stage each summer. It anchors the southern end of Mylopotas and is the reason the beach’s party reputation exists.

Homer’s Tomb: 11km to the Northeast, Hilltop Burial Site of the Legendary Poet

In the island’s northeast, you can hike up to the hilltop tomb of legendary author Homer, whose epic poem The Odyssey is one of the best-loved works of ancient Greece.

The attribution of Homer’s burial to Ios is ancient — Herodotus mentioned it — though the archaeology is inconclusive. The tomb site (a walled rectangular enclosure on a hilltop in the north of the island) is accessible by a cycling and hiking trail from Chora that also passes the Skarkos prehistoric settlement, dated to 2800–2300 BC. The combination of Mylopotas beach morning and the cycling route to Homer’s tomb and Skarkos in the afternoon is a specific Ios full-day programme that uses both sides of the island’s character.

Meltemi Watersports and Diving

Meltemi Watersports at the south end offers diving, boat tours, and the usual array of watersports activities. Windsurfing, jet skiing, paddleboarding, and wakeboarding are the principal offerings. The calm bay conditions make Mylopotas specifically good for beginner-level watersports instruction.

Mylopotas Beach on Ios is the 1.5-kilometre Blue Flag sandy beach below Chora — rarely overcrowded despite the party reputation, bus every 20 minutes from Chora or the old donkey track shortcut (easy down, steep up), Far Out Beach Club at the southern end (30 years old, hotel/hostel/campsite/DJ stage), free zones between the beach clubs, Meltemi Watersports at the south end, and Homer’s tomb 11 kilometres northeast for the afternoon culture counterpoint.

Take the bus down. Walk the donkey track back if you want the exercise.

Far Out is at the south end. The free zone is at the north.