Travel Information - How to get there

The following instructions are for getting you to the island either by air or by sea. A second installment with island details like hotel transportation etc. will follow soon.

It is recommended to go to mykonos by air. Mykonos airport (JMK) is well connected to Athens as well as to a number of European cities with direct flights. The flight from Athens airport is quite short (around half an hour)

Important: Note that the checkout from the school is on Friday October 1st. So if you choose a flight that leaves after that day you will be responsible for finding accommodation in the island.

Please feel free to contact Aggelos Kiyaias at aggelos(at)di.uoa.gr for comments on the above, corrections and additions if you have any.

Travel by air

There are two major Greek airlines (that are actually set to merge by the end of the year but at the time of the school they will still be separate).

Aegean airlines (Star Aliance) has 3 flights per day to Mykonos from Athens at 05:45, 11:00 and 19:15. You will fly with an Airbus 320 in all these flights. Similarly there are 3 flights per day going back to Athens specifically at 6:55, 12:10 and 20:25. Aegean's web-site is www.aegeanair.com and you can get e-tickets from there.

Olympic airlines, has 3 flights per day (2 on saturdays) from Athens. You will fly on a turboprop in these flights likely the DHC-8. The times are 06:00, 18:00, 20:00 and for return 07:20, 19:10, 21:10 (the latest of the 3 flights is skipped on saturdays leaving only two options). The web-site is www.olympicair.com and you can also book online and get e-tickets from there.

From outside of Greece, you can of course fly to Athens airport with your favorite airline and get to one of the flights mentioned above.

Most major European airlines fly to Athens daily. Athens airport is pretty nice to hang out (for an airport) and it offers 45 minutes free Internet so you can check your e-mail while you wait for your connecting flight.

Flights from USA

There are three options for a direct flight to the Athens airport.

From New York (JFK) there is a daily flight by Delta that departs at 16:15 and arrives the next day at 09:20. The returning flight leaves Athens at 11:20.

From Newark (EWR) there is the option of Continental that departs at 17:50 and arrives the next day at 10:20. The return flight is at noon. US Airways has a flight from Philadelphia (PHL) to Athens that leaves daily at 16:10 and arrives at 09:00. The return flight is at 11:45. As expected direct flights to Athens from the USA will typically be priced higher than flights that go through some of the major European hubs like Heathrow (LHR), Paris (CDG), Amsterdam (AMS) or Frankfurt (FRA) so plan accordingly to your budget.

Flights from Europe

For European travelers depending on where you live you may be able to get a direct flight to Mykonos (note that some of these flights are departing from secondary airports and may be unsuitable for a multi-legged itinerary - if you are coming, say, from the USA I recommend connecting through Athens airport for your last leg).

UK: You can get an Easyjet flight from London's Gatwick airport

(LGW) to Mykonos on Sunday 26th of September at 07:05. There are two return flight possibilities : on Friday October 1st at 14:20, and Sunday October 3rd at 13:45. You will be flying an Airbus 320.

Germany: There is a German Wings flight from Cologne airport (CGN) to Mykonos on Sunday 26th of September at 5:20 in the morning. The return flight is on Sunday the 3rd on 10:00. You will probably be flying an Airbus 320 variant. There are also flights by AirBerlin from Nurnberg (NUE) and Munich (MUC) but annoyingly they are always on wednesdays so they will be unsuitable for the majority of you (unless you want to spend more time in Mykonos).

Italy: There is a daily Easyjet flight from Milan Malpensa (MXP) to Mykonos that departs around 11:00 (this is for all days between 24th and 26th of September) and returns at 15:40 (for all days between 1st of October and 3rd of October). You will be flying some Airbus 320 variant. On the 26th of September you can also catch a Meridiana flight from Verona (VRN) departing on 06:55 with an Airbus 320 if you prefer. It seems that Meridiana stops service end of September so for your return flight you will have to try something else.

Switzerland: There is a flight by Edelweiss Air from Zurich airport (ZRH) to Mykonos that departs on Sunday 26th of September at 08:25 in the morning and returns on Sunday 3rd of October at 12:50. You will be flying an Airbus 320.

Travel by sea

For those of you that prefer taking different means of transport there is also the option to take a ferry and go by sea. Athens has two ports, Piraeus which is very big and reachable via the Athens metro (www.amel.gr) and Rafina which is small and more difficult to get to. There is frequent daily service from both ports (like 4 times daily).

The time is approximately 2 hours if you take one of the fast boats and about 4.5 hours for the slower ones. The choice of going by boat is sub-par compared to air but can be preferable in case that (i) you bring a car, (ii) you want to get to Mykonos cheaply.

A reasonable web-site to explore these options is www.danae.gr.

Note that the really cheap tickets may not be available for an e-ticket as they are offered by companies that are not too much into this e-ticketing thing. At the same time bear in mind that for your comfort it may make sense to avoid these companies.