Mykonos Airport to Elia Beach
About 11 km from JMK; buses run from the Old Port station rather than Fabrika, and a taxi is €25–35 with the surcharge.
The longest sandy beach on the island, on the south-east coast below a hillside of villas — organised at the centre with sunbeds and tavernas, quieter towards the ends.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Elia Beach, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €35). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €1.8) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car — so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo · 1 traveller | €1.8 | €35 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €3.6 | €35 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €7.2 | €35 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €1.8, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3–4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Taxi
Elia's access road drops steeply to the beach with limited turning space at the bottom, so drop-offs happen at the top of the slope in busy periods.
Where to catch it: Twenty minutes across the island; one of the longer fares on Mykonos and correspondingly priced with the surcharge on top.
Best for small groups in a hurryBus / shuttle
Cheap but it involves crossing the town on foot with luggage between two stations. In practice most people arriving at Elia take a car of some kind and use the bus later in the week.
Where to catch it: Airport bus to Fabrika, walk across Chora to the Old Port station, then the eastern beach route.
Best for solo & budget travellersPrivate transfer
The two-station bus arrangement makes this the sensible arrival option for the eastern beaches. Book the return as well — Elia is twenty minutes out and early flights beat the first bus by hours.
Where to catch it: Most of the accommodation above Elia is villas and small boutique hotels on the hillside, reached by private drives.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsCar rental
The east side is where hiring pays on Mykonos — Kalafatis, Agia Anna and Kalo Livadi are strung along a coast served by a bus that runs from the far station and stops early.
Where to catch it: Twenty minutes; parking above the beach, busy from mid-morning.
Best for travellers who want to exploreBuying tickets in Mykonos
Mykonos runs buses from two separate stations in Chora and confusing them is the classic mistake. Fabrika (South Station) serves the airport, the New Port at Tourlos and the southern beaches — Ornos, Platis Gialos, Paradise. Old Port (North Station) serves Ano Mera inland and the eastern beaches at Elia, Kalafatis and Agios Stefanos. They are ten minutes apart on foot. The airport service runs roughly hourly in summer (about 09:15–22:15) for around €3; other singles are €1.80–2.80. Cash to the driver — card acceptance is inconsistent. The beach routes run notably late in peak season: Platis Gialos until roughly 03:00 and the last bus back from Paradise around 02:30. Note that no vehicle enters Chora; the old town is entirely pedestrian.
Taxi scams & safety in Mykonos
The defining issue on Mykonos is not price but supply. The island's taxi fleet is capped at a few dozen vehicles for somewhere handling well over a million passengers a year, so when several flights land together the rank empties in minutes and does not refill quickly. Pre-booking is the norm here rather than a precaution. Fares themselves are regulated: roughly €17–25 to Chora plus a €2.85 airport surcharge payable in cash, with a higher meter between midnight and 05:00. That surcharge is legitimate, not an invention. Two further points: hire cars, quads and scooters cost well above other Greek islands and the coast roads have a poor accident record with enforced drink-driving checks; and most rental agreements prohibit taking the vehicle to another island by ferry.
Getting from JMK to Elia Beach
Elia is the longest sandy beach on Mykonos, eleven kilometres from the airport on the south-east coast below a hillside of villas — organised at the centre with sunbeds and tavernas, quieter towards both ends. Twenty minutes by road, and like everywhere on the eastern side of the island it is served by the bus station on the far side of Chora from where you arrive.
Two stations and a walk across town
The airport bus arrives at Fabrika, the South Station. Elia is served from the Old Port, the North Station, ten minutes away on foot through Chora. So the public route means a bus, a walk across the town with your luggage, and then a second bus — around forty minutes of actual travel and rather more in practice. Singles are €1.80 to €2.80. It works, but almost nobody arriving at Elia does it that way on the first day.
Twenty-five to thirty-eight euros in a taxi
Twenty minutes across the island, one of the longer fares on Mykonos, with the €2.85 airport supplement on top and a higher meter after midnight. The access road drops steeply to the beach with limited turning space at the bottom, so in busy periods drop-offs happen at the top of the slope rather than at the sand.
The water taxi is the better way to arrive at the beach
Not for the airport run, but worth knowing: boats connect Platis Gialos, Paradise, Super Paradise, Agrari and Elia along the south coast through the day in season. Ten minutes between beaches, cheap, and they avoid both the two-station bus problem and the hill. For moving around during your stay this is the sensible option; for arriving with suitcases it is not.
Hillside villas and private drives
Most of the accommodation above Elia is villas and small boutique hotels reached by private drives off the main road. A pre-booked transfer at €35 to €58 arrives knowing which one, which matters on a slope where the turnings are unmarked. Given the bus arrangement, this is the standard way people reach the eastern beaches — the fixed price is secondary to the fact that it works.
Long enough that the ends are quiet
Elia's length is its distinguishing feature. The centre is a full beach-club operation with rows of sunbeds and a restaurant behind, and the further you walk in either direction the thinner it gets — genuinely empty at the eastern end even in August, which is not true of Platis Gialos or Paradise. There is also a watersports centre and, historically, a clothing-optional section towards one end.
Book the return, because of the hour
The eastern beaches are twenty minutes from the terminal and early flights out of Mykonos beat the first bus by hours. Arranging the departure transfer when you book the arrival costs nothing extra and avoids competing for a car at six in the morning on an island where cars are the scarce resource. This applies across Mykonos and most sharply on this side of it.
Where hiring pays on this island
€35 to €90 a day. The east is where a car earns its keep on Mykonos — Kalafatis, Agia Anna and Kalo Livadi are strung along a coast served by a bus that runs from the far station and stops earlier than the southern routes. Parking above Elia is available and busy from mid-morning. If you are staying on this side for a week, the hire cost is easier to justify than at Platis Gialos.
Kalo Livadi and Kalafatis, further east
Past Elia the coast continues to Kalo Livadi, a long sandy beach with a couple of well-regarded restaurants, and Kalafatis, which is the island's windsurfing base thanks to the exposure on this corner. Both are ten to fifteen minutes on and both are quieter than anything on the south coast. The bus reaches them from the Old Port station on a thinner timetable, which is the standing argument for a car on this side.
Practically: €25–38 plus surcharge in a taxi, €35–58 booked if you are up a private drive, and the water taxis for everything after that.