On a Cyclades charter the wind picks the beach club before you do. The meltemi blows from the north through July and August, so the clubs on the sheltered south coast of Mykonos work on almost any day and the 2 on the north coast wait for a calm morning.
Mykonos carries 6 of the 8 entries because it is the one Cyclades island where the clubs are built around arriving from the sea. Antiparos and Ios give you the same afternoon with a fraction of the crowd.
Paros, Naxos and Santorini have fine beaches, but no club there that we know of publishes a tender landing, so they stay off this list.
Nammos for the long lunch, Scorpios for sunset, Solymar for a cabana at the quiet end of the island, Beach House on Antiparos when the group spans 3 generations. Below, where the yacht sits for each one and how the day runs from the boat.
1. Nammos, Mykonos
The long lunch, on the one Mykonos beach that built a deck for yachts.
Nammos publishes its yachting arrangement on its own site: a private deck at Psarou for yachts and superyachts, berthing services, and a Riva that collects you from the yacht if you would rather not launch your own. On Mykonos that is rare, and it is why Nammos leads this list rather than only the name.
The yacht sits in Psarou bay itself, on the sheltered south side of the island, or in Ornos next door, the anchorage we use most on Mykonos: 5 to 10 meters at the head of the bay, good shelter from the meltemi, gusty.
Both face south. From inside Psarou the tender is at the deck in about 2 minutes; from Ornos it is about 5.
Nammos publishes the deck and its berthing services but no length limit, so whether your yacht goes alongside or anchors off and sends the tender is a call your captain makes with the club when the crew books.
Book the restaurant as well as the beds, and book both in the yacht’s name. Arrive for a late lunch and let the afternoon run; sunset aboard or ashore is a decision for 6 o’clock, not for the morning.
2. Scorpios, Mykonos
The sunset ritual. Arrive late in the afternoon, not for lunch.
Scorpios is not a swim-and-lunch club. Its day starts when the sun drops: the music rituals on the terrace, a restaurant built for gathering, and the Sunset Beach that the venue’s own booking panel lists as a space of its own. Come at 4 and you are settled before the good part begins.
The yacht sits in the small Agia Anna cove beside Paraga: 3 to 6 meters, exposed only to the south and southwest, good shelter from the meltemi. The tender is round the headland and on the Paraga sand in about 2 minutes. The day-trip boats leave by evening, so the cove is free.
Scorpios says nothing about arriving by sea on its own site, so where the tender lands is the captain’s call, not something you count on. Reserve the Sunset Beach well ahead in July and August, and reserve the beach too. Scorpios is also on our Mykonos restaurants page, which covers the table.
3. Solymar, Mykonos
The group day at the quiet end of the island. A cabana for 8, and a bay of your own.
Solymar is the south-coast club that is not in the Ornos and Platis Gialos cluster. The yacht anchors off Kalo Livadi in 3 to 6 meters, a bay with reasonable shelter from the meltemi, and the tender lands on the beach in 2 to 3 minutes: Solymar publishes no dock of its own.
The day is built for a group: cabanas for up to 8 guests with their own service, sunbeds from 9 in the morning with arrival windows that close at 1 o’clock, and resident DJs through the afternoon. Our Mykonos restaurants page covers the table; here Solymar earns its place for the bay.
4. Branco, Mykonos
The slow morning. Breakfast on the beach, then back aboard for a swim.
Branco is a hotel with a beach club in front, so the day can start at breakfast. Tender in early, eat on the sand, take a gazebo, and be back aboard for a swim while Mykonos is still deciding on lunch. Stay, and the sea-facing lounge turns the volume up for the sunset crowd.
Platis Gialos sits 2 coves east of Ornos on the same sheltered south side, so it works on a meltemi day, and the captain picks between the 2 bays by how full each is.
From Ornos the tender is under 10 minutes; anchored off Platis Gialos itself, 2. Branco publishes no boat arrangement, so the tender lands on the sand beside the public jetty. Gazebos, and any group over 4, book by email.
5. Principote, Mykonos
The calm-day lunch. The north coast, when the meltemi rests.
Principote’s own yachting page mentions the club’s moorings in Panormos bay, and on a still day it is the lunch to arrive at by water: a beach facing the open Aegean rather than the south-coast traffic, sunbeds booked in morning arrival slots, restaurant tables in slots from 1 to 7.
In practice the captain anchors off Panormos on a calm day and the tender lands on the sand in about 3 minutes; the crew asks the club about the moorings when they book.
The condition is the wind. Panormos faces north, straight into the meltemi, so on a blowing July day the captain keeps the yacht on the south side. Either Principote moves to a May, June or September day, or the yacht stays at Ornos and you cross the island by car.
6. Alemagou, Mykonos
The boho sunset. The other north-coast club, and the one where the tender waits.
Alemagou at Ftelia is the un-glossy one: an all-day beach bar and restaurant with a sunset lounge and DJ sets, boho rather than polished. This is the entry where the tender waits until after sunset, not the one with dinner aboard.
Ftelia works by the same rule as Principote: it faces north, so on a meltemi day it is a car ride from Ornos, and on a calm day the yacht comes round, anchors off Ftelia, and the tender is on the sand in about 3 minutes.
The difference is register: Principote is the polished lunch, Alemagou the sunset with your shoes off.
7. Beach House, Antiparos
The family one. A small cove the venue invites you to enter by boat.
Beach House sits in Apantima, a small cove on the east coast of Antiparos: shallow water over pale sand, sunbeds for hotel and day guests, an 8-room hotel behind. The venue invites guests to arrive directly into the cove by private boat, and calls it protected from the Aegean wind.
It is quiet and all-day, which is why it belongs on a list that is otherwise Mykonos. The yacht anchors off Apantima or off Soros next door, both on the east coast and in the lee of the ridge in a meltemi, and the tender is on the sand in about 3 minutes.
A larger yacht that will not fit the cove sits in the Despotiko channel or off Agios Georgios, as on our Unspoiled Cyclades route, and sends the tender round the southern tip: 15 to 20 minutes, so plan it as the whole afternoon. Beach reservations go by phone or WhatsApp.
8. Erego, Ios
The one outside Mykonos with its own yacht dock. 30 meters of it.
Erego at Koumbara, north of Ios port, is the only club on this list outside Mykonos that publishes a dock: a private 30 meter one, with a request to phone or text ahead with arrival date, boat type, measurements and draft.
The club runs from 11 to 8, so this is lunch and an afternoon. A yacht longer than the dock anchors off and sends the tender.
Erego describes Koumbara as a calm, protected bay with the open Aegean on its other side.
Whether the yacht anchors there for the afternoon, 2 minutes from the dock, or waits in Ios port and sends the tender round, about 5 minutes, is the captain’s call on the day, as it is for the Ios stop on our Mykonos round-trip route.
How a Beach Club Day Works From the Yacht
3 moves, all the crew’s. The captain picks the bay by the forecast, not by the club: on a meltemi day that means the south coast of Mykonos, Kalo Livadi round to Ornos, and the north-coast clubs wait for a calm morning. On Antiparos the yacht sits off Apantima or Soros.
Then the tender. Once the yacht is in its bay every Mykonos club here is a run of 2 to 10 minutes; Antiparos is 3 minutes from Apantima and 15 to 20 from the Despotiko channel, and Ios is 5 from the port.
Only Nammos, Principote and Erego publish somewhere to tie up, Beach House invites boats into its cove, and everywhere else the tender noses onto the sand. Tell the crew when you want collecting.
Then the booking. For July and August give us the 2 or 3 clubs that matter when you book the charter, and your chief stew reserves in the yacht’s name. None of the clubs on this page publishes a rate; the figure comes back with the booking.
The last decision is at 6: sunset from your own deck, or ashore with the tender waiting.
Tell us which of these are on your list
Give us the 2 or 3 clubs that matter and the week you have in mind, and we will shortlist the yachts for your Cyclades charter whose captains know these bays and whose crews make these calls every summer.
People also ask
Can you get to Nammos by tender from a yacht?
Yes. Nammos publishes a private deck at Psarou for yachts and superyachts and offers a Riva to collect guests from the yacht. The yacht anchors in Psarou itself, or in Ornos, the next cove west, if Psarou is full; the tender run is about 2 minutes inside the bay and 5 from Ornos.
Which Mykonos beach clubs work on a meltemi day?
The south-coast ones. Nammos at Psarou, Scorpios at Paraga, Solymar at Kalo Livadi and Branco at Platis Gialos all sit in bays that face south, out of the north wind. Principote at Panormos and Alemagou at Ftelia are on the exposed north coast: a calm day, or a car ride from Ornos.
Who books the beach club on a crewed charter?
Your crew do, in the yacht’s name. Give us the clubs you care about at inquiry, and your captain or chief stew handles the reservation, the arrival slot and the tender timing.
Is there a Santorini beach club you can reach by yacht?
Not that we know of. The caldera anchorages are exposed, so in a meltemi the yacht shelters on the south coast off Vlychada or Perissa, where Santorini’s beach clubs sit. None we know of publishes a tender landing, so treat it as a beach afternoon from the yacht. Mykonos, Antiparos and Ios are the answer.
How far ahead should a Mykonos beach club be booked in July and August?
Name them when you sign the charter, not the week before. Nammos handles yacht guests through its yachting page and Scorpios books its Sunset Beach as a separate space; in July and August neither is a same-day call. May, June and September are easier, and the north coast opens more often.
