hen the party’s over, kick back in one of Mykonos’ best bedrooms, with sensational views of the Aegean Sea, exclusive access to private beaches, tasting menus designed by top chefs, northern winds for kite-surfing, family-friendly suites and secret swimming pools. These are the eight hottest hotels in Mykonos.
- SOHO ROC HOUSE, PARAGA BEACH
- Soho House’s first Greek outpost is designed with a London crowd in mind: bacon baps at breakfast, Cowshed bath products and Roberts radios are all familiar motifs to the British members, who tend to make up the majority here. It swerves predictability, though, with North African art, kilim cushions and Moorish arches throughout the property, which provides a comforting crashpad for those who want to party hard and pamper soft (dump your bags in a bedroom facing Paraga beach and book an open-air massage in the rattan cabana). The hotel is within walking distance of some of the island’s latest and greatest clubs, with Tropicana, Paradise and Cavo Paradiso dotted along nearby Paradise beach – it gets noisy, though, which can generate a serious case of FOMO on your days away from the buzz. Soho House members and guests get priority access to Scorpios beach club, which has its very own record label, offers spiritual sunset rituals and serves up a Mediterranean mash-up of on-trend ingredients to holistic – and hungover – visitors.Address: Soho Roc House, Paraga Beach, Mykonos, Greece
- Telephone: +30 22890 27474
Price: Doubles from £200
Website: sohohouse.comRead our full review of Soho Roc HouseSoho Roc House, Mykonos: first inPLACES TO STAYSoho Roc House, Mykonos: first in
KATIKIES, AGIOS IOANNIS
- Boutique brand Katikies has brought the success of its sister hotel in Oia, Santorini, to Mykonos, with a spacious, whitewashed sanctuary on the island’s south-west coast. Compared to other properties, where A-Listers preen and everyone else stays to be seen, this is a discreet hillside enclave of timeless buildings that are secluded enough to catch your breath but close enough to the action that you won’t miss out (Scorpios and Nammos restaurant are less than 20 minutes away by car). Soak up the scenery from the swimming pools overlooking the tiny island of Delos, known as Apollo’s birthplace, to which you can also catch a boat from the pier. If the nightlife hasn’t got the better of you, rise early to claim the four-poster wooden daybed at ground level and order sushi from Seltz Champagne Bar. Bright bedrooms are cool and calming with private terraces and plunge pools, plus there’s a subterranean spa for when you need a break from the blistering heat.Address: Katikies, Agios Ioannis, Mikonos 846 00, Greece
- Telephone: +30 2289 027890
Price: Doubles from £650
BOOK YOUR STAY
- Telephone: +30 2289 027890
SANTA MARINA, ORNOS BAY
- Family-run and family-friendly, Santa Marina offers parents and children the best of both worlds, an unusual feat on this party-hard island. A renovation by owner Christiana Papageorgiou, whose father bought the estate in the late 1970s, has brought it up to date with Greek go-tos such as bamboo furnishings and rattan textures; it’s polished but not precious, smart but not stuck-up (a relief for parents letting little ones loose here). Perched on a cliff overlooking Ornos Bay, it’s designed like a small village – albeit one with lifts – and is one of the only retreats to have its own private beach with shallows, shade provided by the palm trees and domed wicker daybeds.Address: Santa Marina, Ornos Bay, Mikonos 846 00, Greece
- Telephone: +30 2289 023220
Price: From £1,510
BOOK YOUR STAY
- Telephone: +30 2289 023220
BOHÈME, MYKONOS TOWN
- The lemonade served on arrival is homemade from fruit grown in the hotel’s walled herb garden, a delightful little enclave where candles twinkle in jam jars at night and the scent of rosemary hangs in the air. Look closely and you’ll spot a bamboo treatment hut for massages and a deck for yoga in among the olive trees. Up a level from this wholesome spot is the more decadent pool bar, a hill-top sun-trap and the real hub of Bohème. Here guests laze around the kidney-shaped pool on grand super-loungers and bean bags; at night, bearded bartenders turn out flawless Negronis at the chic Bilo Bar, just the place for a sharpener before taking advantage of the hotel’s superb location, a two-minute walk from Mykonos Town and its many lively restaurants. Polished concrete floors give the bedrooms a modernist quality, but knitted rope light fittings and splashes of colour stop it all becoming too sombre. Breakfast is served on private balconies, for when you want to lie low the morning after sampling the mixologist’s magic.Address: Bohème, Mykonos Town, Greece
- Telephone: +30 228 902 3300
Price: Doubles from about £255
BOOK YOUR STAYCHRISTOS DRAZOS
- Telephone: +30 228 902 3300
BILL & COO COAST, AGIOS IOANNIS
- Back in 2014, Mykonian hotelier Theodosis Kakoutis worked with hip Athenian architects K-Studio to begin a radical overhaul of the original Bill & Coo, upping the ante from unassuming honeymoon hideaway to super-slick hangout with a buzzy vibe. A few years ago, after an impossible-to-turn-down piece of land became available on the Agios Ioannis peninsula, he opened Bill & Coo Coast, a gorgeous, suites-only hotel overlooking a perfect crescent of sand. Built in rugged stone, bleached wood and cast iron, it feels a lot more private and peaceful than its sibling; a place for A-listers to unspool rather than party. Each of the 15 lovely bedrooms has secluded terraces and is done out in a cool, calm colour palette of light grey and powdery whites with the occasional jet-black vase thrown in for contrast. For lunch, old-school taverna staples have been given a light, modern makeover, with standouts such as humble but delicious sardines on bread, and slow-cooked rooster pasticada served with pasta and truffles. For dinner, guests can catch the five-minute transfer to the original Bill & Coo, whose chef Athinagoras Kostakos creates serious tasting menus with a strong Greek accent. Back by the pool at Coast, there are a couple of gazebos (one of which doubles as a therapy tent for outdoor massages), with views of the charming Greek Orthodox church of Agios Ioannis, where black-clad widows mourn on the steps and village lads scoot past on mopeds.Address: Bill & Coo Coast, Agios Ioannis, Mykonos, Greece
- Telephone: +30 228 902 6292
Price: Doubles from about £420
BOOK YOUR STAYVANGELIS PATERAKIS
- Telephone: +30 228 902 6292
LYO, SUPER PARADISE BEACH
- Just when you thought Mykonos didn’t need another Japanese restaurant, up pops chef Nam Truong at this out-of-the-way new hotel. And guess what? He’s turning out some of the best sushi on the island. The German banker-turned-chef trained in Japan, and his black cod with miso-yuzu buttercream and sensational tuna-belly nigiri are reason enough to brave the winding road to Lyo, which sits high on a slope above Super Paradise Beach. Being removed from the intensely developed parts of the coast has allowed the owner, Tasos Zouganelis, to create a more sprawling hotel than is usual in the Cyclades; the 18 bedrooms are spread beneath a series of low-rise buildings, giving the feel of an intimate hill-top hamlet. Its pristine spaces have a kind of upscaled Nineties look, which makes a refreshing change from the boho-mania that dominates current hotel design, with unabashedly smart and contemporary wire furniture, and bright-white, sky-blue and geometric colour schemes: the opposite, basically, of the murky modern palette. In high summer, Super Paradise’s beautiful sandy bay, a five-minute stroll down the hill, transforms into a heaving, hedonistic party zone with crowds drawn to beach clubs such as the magnificently razzly Jackie O. Those who prefer to sip rather than spray their Champagne will probably plump for Lyo’s super-quiet, open-air bar with sublime sea views.Address: Lyo Boutique Hotel, Super Paradise Beach, Mykonos, Greece
- Telephone: +30 228 902 2535
Price: Doubles from about £210
BOOK YOUR STAY
- Telephone: +30 228 902 2535
WAVES, KORFOS BEACH
- Above the beach in Korfos Bay, on a narrow isthmus in the south-west of the island, brightly coloured kites fly through the air like brilliant birds of prey hitching on a thermal. The beach below may not be the prettiest on Mykonos, but its horseshoe shape and exposure to the northern winds make it one of Europe’s best spots for kite-surfing. How clever, then, for born-and-bred Mykonian George Syrianos to turn the land where he once grazed his goats into the first hotel on the island aimed squarely at wave-riders. It’s a laid-back, hands-off, DIY kind of place where all eight suites are accessible straight from the beachside pool area, meaning there’s no lobby to drag your board through, no carpets to drench with your kit. Unsurprisingly, this chilled approach goes down well with young families, and the interiors are fittingly pared-back and solid; whitewashed rooms are made homely with chunky wooden furniture and gauzy curtains. There is no restaurant, but simple breakfast baskets are delivered every morning, and each suite has a fridge and hob to prepare meals using ingredients from the cluster of shops at the other end of the beach, which include a couple of good bakeries, an independent butcher and a surprisingly chic fishmonger. For more sheltered sunbathing, the bars and day-beds at Ornos beach are a 10-minute walk away on the other side of the isthmus, and Mykonos town is just a 10-minute drive.Address: Waves, Korfos Beach, Mykonos, Greece
- Telephone: +30 228 902 6402
Price: Doubles from about £190
BOOK YOUR STAYCHRISTOS DRAZOS
- Telephone: +30 228 902 6402
KENSHŌ, ORNOS BEACH
- With its snug, tucked-away bars and secret swimming pools, hot-tub grottoes and multi-storey sun terraces, Kenshō feels like one of Escher’s impossible fantasies lavishly realised as a boutique hotel, each surprise staircase leading to another unexpected delight. It is owner George Nikitidis’s first hotel and he’s picked a great spot up the hill from Ornos beach: close enough to walk to, but far away enough not to hear the bass from its beach clubs. The design is slick and contemporary, with lots of sliding glass doors, white walls and adult-sized wicker bassinets by the pool. Each room is subtly individual; some have freestanding baths, others plunge pools on the terrace, and all have a different signature piece by first-rank Italian furniture-makers such as Riva 1920, Baxter and Mogg. The open-sided restaurant is heavy on attention-grabbing touches – vast metal light shades, plate-glass tables – which keep pace with chef George Stylianoudakis’s high-concept food, including dishes such as red mullet with artichoke. The body-beautiful crowd lounge decorously around the pool, or in the spa, with its low-lit treatment rooms where therapists practise reiki.Address: Kenshō, Ornos Beach, Mykonos, Greece
- Telephone: +30 228 902 9001
Website: kenshomykonos.com
Price: Doubles from about £525BOOK YOUR STAY
- Telephone: +30 228 902 9001
Source: cntraveller.com