Need to know
Rooms
Koia Wellbeing Resort is an all-suite property. There are just 51, and most have private pools.
Check–Out
11am. Check-in is from 3pm. Late check-out is usually available on request (with two days’ notice), subject to availability.
More details
Rates include a Continental or buffet breakfast and yoga and pilates classes (three times a week).
Also
The Cave Junior Suite Sea Views are best for restricted mobility, and several have accessible bathrooms.
At the hotel
Beach nearby, spa, sauna, gym, charged laundry service, and free WiFi. In rooms: smart TV, air-conditioning, minibar, workspace, Nespresso coffee machine, beach towels, and black-out curtains. Most suites have a wine cooler stocked with local bottles, too.
Our favourite rooms
Pick any of the suites with a private pool.
Poolside
The opportunity for a cleansing dip is always near, and with the majority of suites having a private pool, the water need never be crowded. The main infinity pool, which blends into the Aegean over the horizon, is conveniently close to the restaurant and bar, with all-day service. There’s also a smaller indoor heated pool with a sea view at the spa. The resort has use of a nearby beach, accessed via a short walk across a provincial road, where there are free-to-use sunloungers for guests. Nearby, hot thermal springs flow into the sea at the pebbled Agios Fokas beach, creating therapeutic tidal pools with pockets often as warm as 40 degrees. Too toasty? Just jump into the sea to cool off.
Spa
The ancient Greek word for water is ‘ydor’, and its presence is an edifying influence at Koia’s Ydor Spa. The treatments are rooted in Hippocratic philosophy, and although he probably never received a wild-rose anti-ageing facial massage himself, he’d surely be awed to see such an extensive spa menu today. There is a gym and an in-house beauty salon, and guests can book a private spa suite for up to six, which comes with its own sauna, steam bath and a Himalayan salt wall. The resort boasts a weekly schedule of free yoga and Pilates classes, too, which are held in a cliffside olive grove, with private lessons available for an additional charge.
Packing tips
An open mind, ready to absorb the Hippocratic principles for healthy living, and a plan to reform your life. Even if you ditch them when you get home, and your mates are already at the pub.
Children
Sorry kids, only over-16s can stay.
Sustainability efforts
Koia is set on Kos, where father of modern medicine Hippocrates was born, and is fittingly his belief that the natural environment is inseparable from the wellbeing of a person. So sustainability is taken seriously here. Bioclimatic architecture reduces energy consumption throughout the property, and there is a stringent recycling programme in place. Most of the veggies used in the kitchen are grown on-site, and the resort sources almost everything else from local producers.