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Nobody agrees on the number — locals say anywhere from six hundred to over a thousand — but the churches of Mykonos are everywhere once you start looking: wedged between boutiques in Chora, alone on headlands, tucked into farmyard corners with a single bell and a blue door.

Why so many?

Most are votive chapels, built by families as thanks for a safe return from the sea or in memory of those who did not come back. They are private but rarely locked, maintained by grandmothers with whitewash brushes, and used perhaps once a year on the saint’s day — when a tiny courtyard suddenly fills with candles and food.

Where to start

Paraportiani in Chora is the celebrity — five chapels fused into one melting white sculpture, best photographed before nine. For the opposite experience, walk the headland paths beyond Agios Ioannis at golden hour, when the lone chapels light up against the sea and you will not meet another soul.

Dress with a little respect if you step inside, leave a coin in the box if there is one, and close the door against the wind — the grandmothers will thank you. The desk keeps a hand-drawn map of our favourite seven; ask and we will mark the walk on it.