Avaton Resort & Spa
Style The white house
Setting Chamomile-clad cliffside
If we were doctors, we’d prescribe a stay at Santorini’s Avaton Resort & Spa: its white minimalism will calm you, its sea views will soothe you, and its spa and restaurant will indulge you.
Need to know
- Rooms Nine, including two suites.
- Rates Double rooms from $283.65 (€214), excluding tax at 5 per cent.
- More details Rates include breakfast (à la carte, and served out on the terrace).
- Facilities Spa, a stash of DVDs and CDs, and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: flatscreen TV, preloaded iPod and dock, CD/DVD player, and natural Greek bath products.
- Poolside Simple, understated, and big enough to swim off some of the baklava, the hotel’s pool is raised up from the restaurant area by a few steps, with grey, concrete decking and dark grey mesh loungers.
- Check-out 12 noon, but flexible, subject to availability and a charge: half the room rate before 6pm; a full day’s rate after. Earliest check-in, 2pm
- Children This is one for adults only – leave the little Smiths at home.
- Hotel closed From the beginning of December until the end of March.
- Also Smokers can light up in communal areas and outside, but not in the bedrooms.
Food and drink at Avaton Resort & Spa
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Hotel restaurant
Waiters at Cave, the hotel’s restaurant, don’t just bring you plates of Mediterranean deliciousness, they also act as sun sheriffs – darting out and repositioning the white sun umbrellas whenever rays dare touch guests’ skin. A glass wall and sweeping views put the emphasis on outside – admire the caldera from your seat, and expect to be equally wowed by your food: succulent squid ink risotto, a flawless starter of warm fava bean puree with bottarga, and colourful salads (we like the feta and watermelon best).
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Dress code
Casual as you like by day, but spruced-up by night to honour the menu: linen for Mr Smith, a silk dress for Mrs. -
Top table
The restaurant has just one area to dine in: out on the terrace. Pray for bad weather: when it rains, staff transform the cave-like spa, carved from volcanic rock, into a candlelit dining room. Alternatively, opt for the indulgent room service option... -
Last orders
Breakfast is served between 8am and 12 noon, lunch is a relaxed 12.20pm–3.30pm, and expect to dine deliciously late, between 7.30pm and 10.30pm. -
Room service
From 8am until 11pm, order items from the full restaurant menu; a leaner menu is then on offer until morning. -
Hotel bar
There’s no formal bar area, but you can have drinks by the pool, or in the Sunset Lounge, the restaurant/cocktail terrace. Choose from a range of local wines, or sample Avaton’s signature cocktail: champagne, Santorini dessert wine and strawberries. The full drinks menu is available until 11pm, with a limited selection on offer until 8am after that.
Avaton Resort & Spa P.O. 97, Imerovigli 84 700, Santorini, Greece, Imerovigli, 84700
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Smith extra at Avaton Resort & Spa
A €100 gift voucher to spend at Babalu Art and Jewellery in Fira
In the know
Our favourite rooms
Superior rooms really are that – they have direct access to the pool (so no lugging swimming paraphernalia up and down stairs), and come with a snug sitting area and the appropriate sea-and-Santorini-scenery views. That said, it’s hard to rival the romance of the Honeymoon Suite. This white expanse has not one but two private balconies, one with a gurgling Jacuzzi.
Packing tips
Zingy bright swimwear to pep up the hotel’s all-white backdrop: cherry bikinis, aquamarine beach shorts. Avoid binding eveningwear – you’ll want to dine with impunity.
Also
Pick up some new baubles: the owner has a jewellery shop, Babalu (www.babalu.gr) in Fira; a selection of beautifully crafted, gem-encrusted trinkets are on sale in the reception.
