If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR395.42), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Earth-kind Gundari would have Greek-goddess Gaia cooing in seconds – and we’re following closely behind. Etched into a coastal expanse in Folegandros, Santorini’s untouched northwestern neighbour, this restful retreat languidly gazes over the Aegean, with contemporary interiors and pool-adorned private terraces that are all about accessorising the view. You’ll find more ogle-worthy sights at the restaurant, where lauded chef Lefteris Lazarou works culinary wonders, putting his signature spin on the freshest of Greek fare.
Please note Don’t let our enticing gallery deceive you, these images for Gundari are in fact computer generated. Apologies, real-life photographs will be with us soon…
Noon, and check-in is at 2pm. Both are flexible, on request and subject to availability.
Prices
Double rooms from £384.35 (€449), including tax at 13.5 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional government tax of €10.00 per room per night on check-out.
More details
Rates include an à la carte breakfast, served daily at the restaurant, and shuttles to nearby Chochlidia Beach.
Also
Unfortunately the hotel isn’t accessible for guests with limited mobility, and the island itself has a rocky terrain that’s challenging for wheelchair users.
Hotel closed
Gundari shuts up shop from the end of September until the beginning of May.
At the hotel
Fitness centre, electric bikes to borrow, EV mini-Moke cars to rent, and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: smart TV, Klipsch speakers, air-conditioning and ceiling fans, minibar, tea- and coffee-making kit, bathrobes and slippers, hairdryer, and bespoke bath products.
Our favourite rooms
Suites all follow a similarly minimal suit here, focusing on all-natural hues and warm, wood furnishings that have come to characterise the Cyclades’ signature style. Even the smallest suites have their own private pools, but for sprawling sundecks we’d suggest upgrading to a Deluxe or Superior Cave Suite; and if you’re travelling with a group, the three- and four-bedroom villas impress with outdoor dining areas and expansive interiors.
Poolside
At a hotel carved within a craggy Cycladic coastline, you’d expect scenes to be pretty spectacular throughout, and the outdoor, heated swimming pool certainly doesn’t disappoint. Open between 8am and 8pm, the space is set to be Gundari’s adults-only locus, flanked with futon-like daybeds and sun-soaked loungers – plus a swim-up bar that makes in-pool ouzos all the easier.
Spa
This Asclepius-approved spa is all about healing, with two treatment rooms, a sodium-packed mineral pool and in-house wellness practitioners. Traditional Greek massages combine homemade herbs and infused oils with the natural curative properties of a fresh sea breeze to alleviate stress. And once knots have been detangled, sound healing, meditation sessions and yoga classes are at the ready to keep that sense of calm. There’s also a decked-out fitness centre for the go-getters.
Packing tips
Bring a camera with your bikinis and beach cover-ups, there’ll be plenty of soul-soothing sunsets to shoot.
Children
Welcome; most suites have a single sofa-bed and villas sleep up to eight, but otherwise the facilities tailored to tots are fairly minimal.
Sustainability efforts
Gundari has been thinking sustainably since the beginning, with Earth-kind construction that’s included the planting of over 600 seedlings to encourage indigenous plants and safely excavating rock to build the hotel’s exteriors. Bioclimatic rooms have been built around the cliff’s natural contours, everything is energy efficient, water waste is strictly controlled, and produce is sourced and grown locally to cut food miles. The hotel’s owners are also involved in conservation and community projects around the island, including a bird monitoring programme that’s working to protect Folegandros’ native species.
Ask for something secluded, and the chef will take you to pick your own produce before serving it to a set-apart alfresco table at sunset.
Dress Code
Vibrant blues to match with your Aegean backdrop.
Hotel restaurant
Luckily for us, the founding father of contemporary Greek cuisine – chef Lefteris Lazarou – has set up his skillet at soon-to-open Orizon. Menus are still in the works, but fare will focus on seasonal produce, sourced from around the island and picked straight from Gundari’s organic gardens, served against enchanting seascapes and paired with sommelier-selected wines. Down on Chochlidia Beach, Gundari has also set up laid-back Bathers Beach House, where seafood is grilled shoreside and cooling cocktails are served to sun-baskers.
Hotel bar
You’ll find craft cocktails sipped to the beat of rotating records at Orizon’s bar, which is styled after a Japanese jazz kissa. If you’d rather stay put at the pool, you can collect cocktails without leaving the water at its swim-up bar.
Last orders
Breakfast is served at Orizon from 8am to 11am; lunch is noon to 4pm, and dinner is between 7pm and 11pm. Dining is all-day at Bathers Beach House, and the poolside bar pours from 8am to 10pm.
Room service
Dishes can be ordered to your suite or villa during restaurant opening hours.
Gundari is on the southeast coast of the Cyclades lesser-known Folegandros island, lapped by Greece’s Aegean Sea.
Planes
The closest international airport is Santorini, from where you’ll have to catch a 50-minute boat ride to Folegandros’s port, a 10-minute drive from the hotel.
Automobiles
If you’re looking for a substantial set of wheels (be it two or four), there are rental booths on the island, or you can pick up a pair at Santorini's airport and bring them over on the ferry. Once you get to the hotel, there’s free parking onsite. There are also nifty electric mini Moke’s that you’re welcome to rent for the day at the hotel.
Other
The island may not have an airport, but it does have a helipad. Just let staff know, and they’ll be happy to organise a helicopter to bring you over from Santorini, which is only 15 minutes away if you’re travelling by chopper.
Worth getting out of bed for
There’s no judgement here, so if spending your days lulling by Gundari’s pool, decompressing at the spa, or in a – rather scenic, may we add – downward dog is why you’ve come to the Cyclades, there’s little need to venture beyond the hotel’s doors (except to visit nearby Chochlidia Beach, perhaps). But if for some reason, all that relaxing inspires an adventurous spirit, staff can arrange boat trips to surrounding islands, including Polyaigos, Milos, Sifnos and Sikinos, as well as diving and snorkelling forays around nearer caves, rock walls and reefs.
Land-lubbers can hike the ancient trails up to the Church of Panagia, go on a historic tour of the island, and wander around the cobblestoned beauty of Folegandros’ capital, Chora. Greek cooking classes and culinary tours are also on offer for the food fiends hoping to whip up their very own kakavia and revithada (a traditional chickpea stew crumbled with island-made souroto).
Local restaurants
You shouldn’t struggle to find traditional Greek tavernas, where dishes are passed down through generations and made with the freshest ingredients. Among them, Papalagi Seafood – a fish-focused restaurant set along the edge of Agios Nikolaos bay. Brunch is the stuff of legend at Pounta, a small restaurant in Chora, that serves island favourites (their egg-topped takos are particularly well loved) in a setting adorned with characterful ceramics that have all been handmade by the owner.
Local bars
Sampling rakomelo (a punchy mixture of raki, honey and spiced cinnamon) is de rigueur in Greece, and Astarti Bar is Folegandros’s place to do it. Set within Chora’s main square, the bar’s ringed tables fill with locals and visitors alike, who have been heading here to sip since 1993.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this sea-facing spectacle in the Greek Islands and unpacked their bikinis and beach bags, a full account of their Cycladic break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Gundari in Folegandros…
Folegandros is the Cyclades’ rising star, and hillside-hideaway Gundari is here to show that Santorini’s fêted sunspots are in for some worthy competition. Architects have expertly scattered 27 strikingly modern suites along the island’s Aegean-lapped southeastern coast, pairing bioclimatic designs with earthy, green interiors and view-blessed private pools (if you tire of your suite’s sunset angles, there are plenty more peppered around the hotel’s 80 acres). Days tend to be slow, with hours of poolside sipping, sun saluting, and meditative massages. And if you’re more eager explorer than seasoned relaxer, there’s a fleet of all-electric cars (and bikes) that are ready and waiting to be whipped around this untouched island – just be sure to watch out for the resident donkeys on your way out – it’s as close to rush hour as things get on this pastoral Greek island.
