Santa Marina, A Luxury Collection Resort

Santa Marina holds a card no other Mykonos hotel can play: a genuinely private sandy beach, on a peninsula enclosing one side of Ornos Bay. While the island's famous beach clubs run on shared sand and daybeds by reservation, guests here walk down through bougainvillaea terraces to water and loungers that belong to the resort alone—an increasingly precious commodity on Greece's busiest glamour island.

The whitewashed Cycladic buildings cascade down the hillside with rooms, suites and a substantial villa collection, many with private pools and all angled at the bay's protected, family-friendly water. The style is polished international-Aegean rather than bohemian, matching a clientele that arrives by yacht as often as by air; the resort's jetty handles both moods.

Buddha-Bar Beach brings the island's high-gloss dining-and-DJ energy on site, balanced by Greek seafood tables and quieter terraces, while the Ginkgo spa and kids' provision widen the offer beyond the party. Mykonos Town is ten minutes away for windmills and nightlife. As a base that combines island glamour with actual privacy and swimmable calm, Santa Marina has no direct rival.