Mylopotas beach in Ios

If I were going to do a top ten of the ten most beautiful beaches in Greece, Mylopotas would come high on that list. The view of the beach is so aesthetically attractive that one have to rub one's eyes. Mylopotas is for me the mindset of how a perfect beach should look like. It takes about five minutes by bus from Chora to the beach, and around 20 minutes to walk. I prefer to walk so I can enjoy the amazing view as long as possible.

View of Mylopotas beach and the beautiful surroundings. Chora to the right.

The approximately one kilometre long sandy beach.

If you choose to go on foot to Mylopotas (which I recommend), you will see a mythical villa by the sea a few hundred metres before you turn into the path to Mylopotas. It's a beautiful house with a location that makes you drool. When I first came to Ios I heard a rumour that it was Cat Steven's house, then it was Bob Dylan's house, and after a few years it was David Bowie's house.

After a little research, it turns out that neither Cat Stevens, David Bowie nor Bob Dylan have owned the house, or even been in the house. The house was built in the 1960s by the Frenchman Jean-Marie Drot with the help of the Greek artist Yannis Gaitis. Jean-Marie Drot died in 2015 and then his son Jean-Marie Drot Jr took over the house together with his siblings Margaret and Jean-Phillipe.

Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan or David Bowie's house before Mylopotas beach.

Jean-Marie Drot Jr is a director, writer and art collector, mainly he collected art from Haiti. Today he lives in Montreal and no longer travels to Ios, but his sister and his brother do. Today, however, the house is owned by a musician, unclear who. However, I know who doesn't own it.

Read more about Bob Dylans house here »

The beach is about 1 kilometre long and is covered by light brown sand, in its places mixed with fine-grained gravel, mainly at the beginning of the beach. At the far end it is fine-grained sand. There lies the young crowd's paradise, Far Out Village, which attracts young people from all over the world. Far Out Village is like Ios' Mecca. If you like a bustling beach life, you do not have to go anywhere else in the world. Many people stay here their whole holiday.

Mylopotas beach in the other direction.

One do not even have to go to the beach when staying at Far Out Village, there are several swimming pools, bars and restaurants, mini-market, billiards, laundry, water toys, internet and anything else you can imagine. Of course there are all types of accommodations as well. Far Out Village is paradise - if you belong to the right target group.

The last part of Mylopotas beach. Taverna Drakos on the left in the picture.

Opposite Far Out Village - where the beach ends - lies a fish taverna named Drakos. The taverna has been here from time immemorial, or at least since the seventies. Then there was no road to Drakos, you had to go by boat or to trudge through the sand. It did not stop people from coming. Drakos is still popular among locals. It's almost impossible to get a table on Sundays. If you want to eat fresh fish, you should do it here. They even have an employee who clean the fish. Do not miss.

Mylopotas beach seen from Drakos Taverna.

Most tourist amenities, such as shops, hotels and pensions, are located at the beginning of the beach. Here lies the Ios Palace Hotel, a rather luxurious hotel, which was strongly questioned when it was built. Who on earth wants to stay there? Who wants to swim in a swimming pool so close to one of Greece's best beaches? Many it appeared. The Ios Palace Hotel was like a trendsetter, today there are several hotels with the same or higher standard. If you go to the right of the hotel you will come to a bathing-place with rocks. At the far end lies Restaurant Harmony that has been extremely popular for many years.

There are many different kinds of water toys to have fun with.

The Ios Palace Hotel is on the left in the picture.

Mylopotas beach.

NOW IT'S GOING TO BE NOSTALGIA WITH OLD PHOTOS FROM MYLOPOTAS

The top picture is from 1970 (Drakos already existed then) and the lower picture is from the present.

In 1986 I went to Ios to finish writing a novel that I had been mulling over for many years. I went down already at the beginning of March and I was going to stay for a long time. One problem was that my money would last a long time. I hadn't intended to work on Ios, as many others did, so that was out of the question.

Mylopotas beach 1984.

One way to make money could be to sell photos from Ios, I thought. So I developed black and white photos that I would sell for 250 drachmas each to tourists on Ios. I had my own photo lab, so it didn't cost much to produce a few hundred photos of four subjects. The picture above is, as you understand, one of these pictures.

My room cost 500 drachmas in low season and 1000 drachmas in high season. So I needed to sell two pictures per day in low season and four pictures per day in high season to pay the rent. When I went out in the evenings to dine and party, I always took 1,000 drachmas with me. That sum was enough for a long time. Those were the days!

Far Out Cafe in May 1986.

I myself am not in the picture above (I am a photographer), but many of my former Ios friends are. There are clear signs that the picture is old. Some examples are that several have ice hockey hairstyle, no one is tattooed, you don't wear a flannel shirt when it's 30 degrees today, the shape of the bottles, the chairs and that there were a lot of cigarette packs in front. No one is wearing a cap either, and few have sunglasses. But the big difference is that no one sits and stares at their mobile phone.

This is what it looks like today where Far Out Cafe used to be.

ACCOMMODATION AT MYLOPOTAS BEACH

If you want to stay close to a beach, and think that Mylopotas is too trendy, it's very nice to stay in the port, or between the port and Chora. Below are suggestions for good hotels at Mylopotas beach.

Book Aegeon Hotel here »

Book Hotel Katerina here »

Book Dionysos Seaside Resort here »

Book Island House Hotel here »

Book Villa Anna Maria here »

WHAT YOU MUST NOT MISS IF YOU LIKE FINE SANDY BEACHES

Don't miss Manganari beach, which you can read about here »

READ MORE ABOUT IOS