These Are the 15 Best Hotels and Resorts in Greece

While most travelers tend to think of Greece as a summer island destination, there are treasured places across the country that make it a fantastic place to visit at any time. That’s especially true in 2024, as a number of new and renovated hotels and resorts open their doors in advance of high season, offering visitors more ways than ever to explore the country’s diverse landscapes and cultural offerings.

While you should keep these hotel openings on your radar, there’s an overwhelming variety of superb existing accommodations to choose from, from whitewashed boutique hotels on the beach to urban bolt holes. For our Hotels We Love installment dedicated to Greece, we’ve selected our favorite retreats, many away from the country’s overtouristed areas, that are worth booking on your next Greek odyssey.

Amanzoe

• Location: Porto Heli
• Why we love it: Contemporary-meets-classic Greek architecture and boundless space
• Book now

Amanzoe was one of the first ultra-luxury resorts by a global brand in Greece when it opened back in 2012 in pretty Porto Heli, on the east coast of the Peloponnese. Since then, it has become a much-loved retreat with monumental architecture, all soaring columns and vast expanses of marble that call to mind Greece’s ancient heritage sites.

The resort’s beach club has four pools, cabanas, a Japanese restaurant, and a seaside spa, and it’s from here that water sports and island-hopping cruises set sail. Lavish guest rooms are divided into either pavilion accommodations or larger villas, all with private pools. The most lavish of all is the Ed Tuttle- and Marios Angelopoulos-designed Villa 20, which doubled as Miles Bron’s island home in British murder mystery Glass Onion; it includes 9 bedrooms, 11 pools, a private spa, 2 barbecue areas, and its own Greek taverna. From $1,400

Canaves Ena

Courtesy of Canaves Ena

• Location: Santorini
• Why we love it: A rebirth of one of Santorini’s original icons
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Imagine a Santorini hotel room, with its whitewashed walls and clifftop infinity pools, and chances are it looks something like Canaves Ena. A reimagination of longtime favorite getaway Canaves Oia, originally opened in 1985 in the family owners’ 17th-century wine caves, the new iteration features 18 suites with pared-down interiors in neutral hues and natural materials that let the views take center stage.

It’s a Cycladic dreamscape, best enjoyed from your private pool with views out over the Aegean blue and Santorini’s famous caldera. Adami restaurant serves Greek classics with more of those views on the side. For an education in Santorini grapes, join a winetasting of local labels, from ever-popular Assyrtikos to lesser known Mavrotraganos and Mantilarias. From $700

Dexamenes

Courtesy of Dexamenes

• Location: Kourouta, Peloponnese
• Why we love it: Industrial design meets endless sea on the west coast of the Peloponnese
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Set on a quiet stretch of beach on the Peloponnese’s west coast, the 34-room Dexamenes is a lovingly restored former winery dating back to the 1920s. Rooms are housed in old wine tanks, which is a lot less claustrophobic than it sounds. The sturdy walls and industrial-chic design offer a sense of comfort, with chunks cut out of the concrete for doors and windows, letting light in.

The courtyard, where grapes were once offloaded from horse carts, is home to a restaurant serving hyper-local cuisine, and a pair of huge metal silos sits at the center of it all, casting dramatic silhouettes and functioning as spaces for spa treatments, yoga, and the occasional wedding. It’s one of the most distinctive design-focused hotels in Greece, and one well worth trekking to this far corner of the Peloponnese for. From $165

The Dolli

Courtesy of the Dolli

• Location: Central Athens
• Why we love it: The bijou pool’s views of the Acropolis are some of the best in the city
• Loyalty programme: Grecotel Privilege Club
• Book now

Athens is full of boutique hotels of varying quality, but you don’t have to worry about an Instagram-vs-reality moment at the Dolli. The hotel’s much-photographed rooftop pool is even better in real life than it is in the photos. Go early morning when the Parthenon reflects in its mirror-like surface, mid-afternoon to cool off from the Athens heat, or for sundowners when the illuminated Acropolis casts a magical radiance over the city. The hotel’s 46 guest rooms are equally as delightful as its rooftop, all high ceilings, minimalist decor, and serenity, in spite of its location on one of the Greek capital’s busiest streets. Look for original works by Jean Cocteau and Picasso in the lobby. From $590

Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens

Courtesy of Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens

• Location: Vouliagmeni, Athens Riviera
• Why we love it: A proper resort on a pine-covered peninsula within easy reach of the city
• Book now
  

When the Four Seasons opened on the Athens Riviera in 2019, it breathed new life into a stretch of coast that had been synonymous with Greece’s bold and beautiful since the 1960s. Embracing its midcentury roots, the 303-room Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel—spanning two separate buildings and 61 bungalows along a pine-covered peninsula—features touches of retro-chic design and light-filled spaces to deliver a mood of seaside glamour.

Dining is top-notch, from elegantly plated seafood at Michelin-starred Pelagos to casual seaside mezze at Taverna 37 and punchy Latin American flavors at Helios. The Spa is an ode to Hippocrates’s teachings with treatments based around pure organic Greek ingredients, the dreamy swimming pool is shaded by olive trees, and it’s one of the closest spots to the capital where you’d actually want to jump into the sea. From $730

Grecotel Corfu Imperial

Courtesy of Grecotel Corfu Imperial

• Location: Kommeno Peninsula, Corfu
• Why we love it: Practically an entire village, with something for everyone
• Loyalty program: Grecotel Privilege Club
• Book now

Corfu Imperial is vast, sprawling across an entire peninsula covered in green gardens with shimmering coves, and hidden bays. Accommodations here cover everything from 350-square-foot deluxe rooms and swim-up bungalows to vast private estates. A new collection of waterfront villas and palazzos has been added for summer 2024, along with new penthouse suites and family rooms.

If it all sounds a bit overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be. While the property feels like an entire village, you can easily stay put in your own little (or not-so-little) part of it, although it’s worth venturing out to try the seafood at overwater Yali and a sunset sail. This is also a family-friendly property, with kids-go-free dining offers, family movie nights, a lazy river, and plenty of activities at the Grecoland kids club. From $270

Hotel Aristide

Courtesy of Hotel Aristide

• Location: Syros
• Why we love it: A handsome blend of classic and contemporary interiors in a neoclassical mansion
• Loyalty program: Invited (Small Luxury Hotels of the World)
• Book now

Lovely Syros is often overlooked in favor of its other Cycladic neighbors, but the neoclassical architecture of the island’s main town, Ermoupoli, is a draw in itself. The nine-suite Hotel Aristide takes up residence in one of these handsome mansions, all Doric columns, sculpted plaster ceilings, and oak floors complemented by contemporary lighting fixtures by Tom Dixon and Gino Sarfatti, and carefully curated art by names like Christy Lee Rogers and Antigone Kourakou. Some suites have their own small plunge pools or stone baths. Food centers on the produce of the island, served in the shade of trees in the garden for breakfast and on the elegant sea-view rooftop in the evening. From $330

Hotel Grand Bretagne, a Luxury Collection Hotel

Courtesy of Hotel Grand Bretagne, a Luxury Collection Hotel

• Location: Syntagma Square, Athens
• Why we love it: An Athenian grande dame synonymous with the history of modern Greece
• Loyalty program: Marriott Bonvoy
• Book now

The Hotel Grande Bretagne, or GB as everyone in Athens calls it, sits on the city’s central Syntagma Square, surveying the comings and goings of the Greek capital as it has for the past 150 years. This is a hotel that still plays a major role in the psyche of the city’s residents, as much a favorite spot for grand events and parties as it is for a coffee or a classic cocktail on the way home. Well-heeled Athenians gather in the Winter Garden for coffee and brunch beneath palms and a stained glass ceiling; the sound of cocktail shakers provides the backdrop at the elegant Alexander Bar, with its 18th-century tapestry depicting Alexander the Great.

The 320 guest rooms are of the classic variety—think flounced curtains and rich fabrics—and those with balconies facing the square have views of the evzone Greek presidential guards on patrol in front of the Hellenic Parliament. In summer, the rooftop becomes the GB’s focal point, and its rooftop garden restaurant and swimming pool are some of the most in-demand spots in town, with panoramic views of the Acropolis and Mount Lycabettus. From $635

Imaret

Courtesy of Imaret

• Location: Kavala
• Why we love it: A lovingly restored Ottoman-era complex in a lovely harbor town
• Book now
  

History is everywhere at Imaret. The 20-room hotel sits on top of Ottoman and Byzantine walls above the harbor of Kavala in northern Greece and resides in a former 19th-century külliye charitable complex of schools, dormitories, and a soup kitchen, built and dedicated to his hometown by Mohamed Ali Pasha, the Kavala-born Ottoman general who became ruler of Egypt. It’s a big piece of history for a small town, and one that Imaret embraces fully.

Cuisine at the hotel features centuries-old recipes, the original water cistern has been reborn as a calming indoor pool, and the hammam is once again filled with steam, now offering relaxing spa treatments. It’s a rare gem, as lovely in summer when you can enjoy the courtyard swimming pool as it is on winter afternoons indoors with a glass of wine by the fire and a cat curled up at your feet. From $740

Manna

Courtest of Manna

• Location: Arcadia, Peloponnese
• Why we love it: A hideaway deep in the remote fir forests of Mount Mainalo
• Loyalty program: Marriott Bonvoy
• Book now

When Manna opened in July 2023, it instantly became a hit with Athenians looking for an escape from the city deep in the mountains and forests of the Peloponnese. A two-and-a-half-hour drive from the capital, the retreat couldn’t feel farther away from the city, and it goes a long way in showing that there’s much more to Greece than islands and beaches.

A handsomely converted former sanatorium dating back to 1929, the 32-room Manna embraces its setting fully, with horse riding and mountain biking in spring and summer, hikes along the Mainalon trail and mushroom hunting in autumn, and skiing in winter. Food features hyper-local ingredients—truffles foraged in the mountains, fir honey so rich it looks flecked with gold—and spa treatments are inspired by Greek mythology, like the Lousios hair and scalp ritual, named after the nearby river where a baby Zeus is said to have taken his first bath. From $260

Monument Hotel

Courtesy of Monument Hotel

• Location: Athens
• Why we love it: An architectural gem you can stay in
• Book now

Down a quiet street in hip Athens neighborhood Psiri, past the stores selling olives and buckets and baskets, sits an ornate—if unassuming—neoclassical building. Originally designed by famed architect Ernst Ziller in 1881, the mansion today is the Monument Hotel, a five-suite, four-room retreat. Inside the space, redone by Athenian architecture studio MPlusM, marble balconies and murals have been restored, as have the original gypsum decorations on the walls and ceilings. Rooms are sleek, with pastel walls, Scandinavian furniture, brass fixtures, and soft beds, and despite the bustle of Athens, it’s easy here to feel tucked away; the hotel also has a spa and sauna that further the boy-this-place-is-hard-to-leave feeling. Should you be able to muster up the gumption, Linou Soumpasis k sia, one of the city’s many excellent new-age tavernas, is right next door. From $326—Katherine LaGrave

One&Only Aesthesis

Photo by Rupert Peace

• Location: Glyfada
• Why we love it: Seaside glamour not far from the center of Athens
• Book now

Just opened on the outskirts of Athens in the Glyfada neighborhood, One&Only Aesthesis embraces seaside nostalgia in 127 1960s-inspired rooms and villas. The resort is open year round but really comes into its own in summer. While there is a stretch of beach here, the waters are far from the best in Greece. Better to stick to the central swimming pool and private plunge pools that provide the perfect antidotes to Athens’s scorching summer heat. The hotel has enlisted chefs Ettore Botrini and Paco Morales to develop menus for the pair of restaurants, and things are set to heat up further when Peruvian-inspired beach club Manko arrives this spring. From $807 Read Afar’s full review of One&Only Aesthesis.

Santorini Sky

Courtesy of Santorini Sky

• Location: Santorini
• Why we love it: Open year-round for blissfully crowd-free winter getaways
• Book now

In the hills of Santorini at the highest point of the island, Santorini Sky is a rare gem that doesn’t close down during the winter months, which is when locals will tell you the island is at its crowd-free best. You’re far above the mêlée up here, surrounded by blue Aegean skies and even bluer waters below. Santorini Sky’s 14 villas makes the most of the setting, with clean lines and uncluttered spaces so the views are the real star of the stay. All villas have their own pools, and the island’s main town of Oia is a 30-minute drive away, should you feel like heading out, but chances are you won’t want to stray far from this idyllic setting. From $152

Santa Irini Retreat

Courtesy of Santa Irini Retreat

• Location: Therassia
• Why we love it: A short hop from Santorini with none of the crowds
• Book now

Therassia is the antithesis of its neighbor Santorini, just 10 minutes away by boat. The five-room Santa Irini Retreat is a dreamy spot, a serene hotel reserved for those over 16 years of age, that conveys a sense of time having stood still. Santorini is tantalizingly close and you could easily pop over and join the crowds, but why would you? Better to spend your time getting to know Therassia’s wonders, from archaeological sites to quiet swimming coves and the island’s historical wineries. The views of the caldera and neighboring islands from the refreshing pool are spectacular, and the overall mood here is one of calm and quiet. From $645

The Wild by Interni

Courtesy of the Wild

• Location: Mykonos
• Why we love it: A quieter, less blingy Mykonos experience
• Book now

Located on the quieter side of party-hard Mykonos, but only 20 minutes from Mykonos Town, the Wild portrays a different character of the island in a spot where hardy fishermen used to keep their boats. Today, the 40 rooms, suites, and villas embrace a rustic-chic Cycladic style, all rough stone, bare wood, and whitewashed plaster. Yet, this being Mykonos, it still retains a sense of style in its carefully curated interiors, clifftop infinity pool, and secluded beach sheltered from the island’s notoriously strong summer winds. Dining ranges from classic taverna dishes to Greek Japanese cuisine, and a new traditional trata fishing boat launching this summer will offer dusk and dawn sails. From $390