‘Nn-cha, nn-cha’ was the response I got (it’s meant to be a bassline) from almost everyone (barring the people who said “oi-oi!”) when I said I was going to Mykonos for the weekend. The island’s reputation as a pricey party spot is well-established and well-deserved, but the terribly pretty main town, Chora, can also be very relaxing, and is stuffed with top-tier hotels.
Among them, on a prime hillside site overlooking the old port, nestles the Belvedere, a collection of buildings erected in the 1990s around the Mansion Stoupa, an elegant 19th century villa entirely out of keeping with the local architecture, and its famously beautiful gardens.
Where is it?
A mere seven-minute drive from the island’s own international airport and a 15-minute walk from the Aegean sea (if you don’t get distracted by the shops, which you obviously will), the Belvedere is uniquely positioned for maximum escapism – essentially, you can be by the pool within a quarter of an hour from picking up your bags.
Elevated enough to feel distant from the town’s tiny maze of streets, which in high season – and when the cruise ships come in – become packed with swarms of aimless tourists, it’s close enough to the action that you can be in the thick of everything, discovering hip bars and emptying your wallet on jewellery (of which there is a lot) in just a few minutes.
Mykonos itself is one of the most convenient of the Greek islands to reach from London, with Easyjet flying there from Gatwick and Luton in a little under four hours – just short enough to make it feel worth going for a weekend.
Style
The hotel’s tightly packed, higgledy-piggledy buildings sprawl over a hillside above the town, painted dazzling white to evoke the elegant cycladic architecture for which Mykonos’s implausibly named Little Venice is famous.
Each room is slightly different, but the decor has a cool, rustic-lux vibe throughout: cool grey marble is accented sparingly with silver; white walls and custom-made Quaglioti Italian linen are contrasted with warm woods and pleasingly eccentric organic forms. All the rooms have outside spaces, some overlooking the pool or the town, some enclosing their own little garden of potted succulents, a nod to the lush greenery throughout the site, and the stunning, sweeping swathes of pink and red bougainvillea that tumble down balconies and walls.
The jumbled, sociable arrangement of the buildings means that it’s only polite to say hello to your neighbours – a deliberate attempt to encourage interaction: social engineering with architecture. Chaotic and crammed in but also oddly serene – it’s very Mykonos.
Facilities
The remarkable thing about this place is how much of it there turns out to be (you’ll get lost at least once just walking around the hotel). The lovely, restful Six Sense Spa offers a huge range of treatments from personalised facials to the Afterparty Detox, a massage and body wrap combo, which comes highly recommended (by me). There’s also a fully equipped fitness studio, shop and boutique, and at the centre of the main complex is the bijou pool with plentiful sunloungers. It’s a place to see and be seen from morning to night, and though a few day passes are available to the Pool Club, the hotel keeps them to a minimum out of respect for loyal (and often famous) guests.
Which room?
For groups up to nine there’s the Waterfront Villa, five minutes walk from the main hotel and discreetly hidden behind the bougainvillea-framed wall, with its own waterfront pool, private whirlpool and wooden sun deck. The three suites that make it up can also be booked separately.
More central (still only three minutes walk) is the Belvedere’s Villa Next Door, a residence for up to 18 guests that overlooks the town’s historic 16th century Venetian windmills, plus the most recent addition, 26 hilltop rooms and suites further still up the hillside, with spectacular views.
Extracurricular
Should you wish to explore the rest of the island by car, be my guest – there are plenty of stunning beaches, while a boat trip to the uninhabited island of Delos, once one of the great sanctuaries of ancient Greece, is a highlight. But one of the joys of Mykonos town itself is that, whisper it, there isn’t actually that much to do.
There is a small archaeological museum, set up to preserve the fascinating finds from what’s known as the Purification Pit (a hole that contained offerings dating to 426-425 BC) but once you’ve done that, peered at the famous all-white Greek Orthodox church, the Panagia Paraportiani, Instagrammed the hell out of the streets of Little Venice and observed the windmills, you can enjoy the food, drink and fun of the island safe in the knowledge that there’s nothing else you really ought to be doing.
There are any number of options, but you could do worse than head to 180° Sunset Bar for a stonking sunset, followed by Jackie O’, the best gay club on the island, for cocktails and dancing. The gyros (grilled meat stuffed into pitta bread) you can buy everywhere will sort you out when you eventually emerge the next day – try Pepper Souvlaki and More, or Sakis Grill House.
Food & drink
Evenings mean drinks at the Belvedere Bar (try the signature martinis designed by world-famous bartender Dale DeGroff) or schlep the all of fifteen paces to the other side of the pool for the Sunken Watermelon Cocktail Bar, “renowned for its distinctive drinks”, a phrase which ought to strike both terror and excitement into the heart.
The Pool Club does decent poolside fare both morning and evening, but the real food event here is Matsuhisa, Nobu’s first open-air restaurant, at the historic mansion and overspilling around the poolside. Nobu’s exquisite, globally inspired dishes are a stunning showcase for the Aegean Sea’s cornucopia of seafood.
2023 marks 20 years of the restaurant, and from June 27 to July 2 the master himself will be in attendance at the annual Nobu Food Festival. To celebrate the anniversary this year, an extended opening season will also feature a gorgeous private dining experience at the new Omakase Bar, where 10 guests will be tended to by three sushi masters.
Details
A double room per night including breakfast averages at EU750. A seat at the Chef’s Table at the new Omakase Bar is EU250; belvederehotel.com
Return flights with Easyjet direct to Mykonos from Gatwick and Luton start at £49.46, easyjet.com
