Review - Mykonos Resort
Gift shop,main village
Overall - Recommended
There’s an updated review! Please click here
The more I get into the world of SL hotels,resorts and vacations, the more I see how in some ways things are not so different to RL. Take how different nationalities and cultures react when they arrive at a resort and what they look for.
Though I’m not originally British, the UK is where I’ve lived most of my life, so attitudinally and culturally I am.
And like many Brits, when I go somewhere in RL, I kind of just want to be handed the keys and resort map and left to get on with it.
Actually being an introvert on top of that the self-check in apps with digital room keys from the likes of Hilton are a great invention.
I mention all this because the Mykonos Resort, where I’ve just stayed for two days does things differently. Like half a dozen or so Second Life Resorts, Mykonos offers a pretty detailed RP-resort experience (as opposed to just a resort experience).
First of all, it’s a closed Sim. Unlike say with the Rizzi or Lotus you can’t just walk in and look around or meet someone at the bar. You book both rooms and activities via a website, just like in RL, and get a check-in time
Check-in then involves someone meeting you - in this case you are transported by private plane to the resort, while the guide encourages you to take pictures of yourself drinking champagne.
You are then handed to another guide who (on voice) guides you around the resort before showing you to your room.
As Sparklebottom Lasertits, who was my travel companion for these two days, reminded me, American audiences very much welcome (even expect) this level of personal care and service.
And the level of dedication shown by our two guides was impressive. It must represent a huge time investment to do this for every single person who arrives, but then I guess the best RP does.
You’re also actively encouraged to take part in (and book) activities, some of which of course cost extra - for example dinner, wine tasting, spa experiences, even ‘painting’ on the terrace.
Onto the resort itself: Mykonos is built in the style of a traditional Greek village with a blue / white colour scheme. There are villas on islands around the village, and one (which we stayed in) in the village itself.
The underwater / dive experience
The village has a bar, restaurant, shop, yoga area, church, information area, beach, dive and watersports centre. There’s also an under the ocean dive area, with two more villas. For us this was actually the most impressive part of the resort.
The overall look and feel
One of the private villas
A few parts of it (especially at the entrance with the couples throne and mock classical columns) resemble Greece in the same way that the Venetian Hotels in Las Vegas or Macau resemble Venice.
But overall the resort has a nice feel about it, especially the small alleyways and some of the little island villas. Plus this is SL after all, why not have some leeway and a bit of fun.
As mentioned, the dive experience, where you can walk, dive and also stay in an underwater environment is the part of the resort we liked the most. They should really make the most of this.
Rating - 4/5
The facilities
You get pretty much the same as in other SL resorts - bar, restaurant (in this case an underground restaurant), spa, watersports area.
What puzzled us a little bit was the extent to which the resort tries to sell on things like ‘couples soak 45 mins’ for 2000L in a jacuzzi.
You can buy an actual jacuzzi on marketplace for that. Actually you could buy two! Similarly, the painting on the rooftop for 1000L, Granted I am not much of an RP-er but I am not sure what you’d get from this..
For sure, places like this must cost a fair bit to run, so why not just increase the room prices a bit, which are already quite reasonable compared to other RP resorts.
Rating - 3.5/5
The room / villa
Bathroom - the underwater villa
We stayed in the group villa, which has three bedrooms spread around an alleyway in different buildings. There are also two private pools. If going with friends, or say as two couples, this would be a good bet.
One of the pool terraces of the group villa
The villa itself is nicely designed, but personally if I was to come here again with just one other person, I’d pay extra and stay in the under the sea villa.
Rating - 4/5
The anims
One of the ‘throne’ anims at the entrance, for us this took a little bit of adjustment
‘The nicer the design, the worse the anims’ is something Sparkle said to me, and so the bed in the villa was actually two on top of each other with a ruckus frame (which has the better anims but doesn’t look as good) underneath a main bed.
There are the usual cuddle, and sometimes adult anims around the resort, and yes this is an adult sim.
One thing that I did think about after talking to Sparkle was how much of SL (much like RL) is built for me - a straight male, something I of course pretty much take for granted. This goes for the anims too. This is a common resort problem, that they don’t cater more for LGBT couples.
This is a bit of a missed opportunity. The real Mykonos after all is very much a gay destination. I’ll be coming back to this point in a later post and review.
Rating - 3.5/5
Other things to consider
Is the resort adult? Yes
Privacy - The village was pretty empty when we were there. However, the villas outside the village are definitely private. Also one bonus of this being a closed sim, is that you won’t have daytrippers walking around and zooming / walking in.
Lag - For me (a 2016 macbook pro user) there was a little. I could get by fine walking around on a medium graphics setting. Turning it up to ultra for photos was a challenge here and there, but nothing major to affect the experience.
Prices - Range from 800L a night to 2500L a night for the underwater villa. That’s more than resort hotels like the Essencia, Rizzi or Lotus, but it’s actually quite a bit cheaper than some of the other RP resorts on closed sims where starting prices of 3000L a night seem to be the norm.
As mentioned, if I were them, I’d do away with some of the add ons, and just add a bit to the rooms.
Overall - Recommended
Mykonos is a pretty and well designed sim, with dedicated staff who really go the extra mile. The underwater experience is really well done, I would go for this alone.
No SLURL as the Mykonos is a closed sim, but the website is here.
With thanks to
My travel companion for this visit was the amazing Spaklebottom, who definitely pointed out some things I may have missed and also made me think a bit more about how badly served some of SL is for MM and FF couples - to the point that I want to address this in a later review.
Sparkle is a really skilled photographer with a great Flickr page. Also, check out her Discord channel where you can follow her photo edits in real time!
