The Wild Hotel

I’m not your typical Mykonos traveller. Large crowds make me nervous, my travel wallet is slender, and I’m more content with a poolside glass of rosé than knocking back cocktails while dancing until the early hours. So why am I disembarking the Andros Queen at the second-most popular Cycladic isle, known for its luxe party scene? Because I’m convinced there’s a slower, calmer side to Mykonos, and I’m sure I’m going to find it tucked away on the east side of the island, where The Wild Hotel camouflages itself on the cliffs above its serene private cove.

It’s a 25-minute drive across the island to the hotel; I opt for the private transfer service and am whisked away by a very charming driver who talks to me about his side of the island and the pleasures that await me at The Wild. The theme continues as the staff talk up the hotel throughout my stay ('Welcome to heaven', my favourite chatty waiter greets me) and little wonder — this truly is an idyllic retreat on an island not exactly known for being peaceful. 

I tend to silently judge a hotel on three criteria upon arrival: my welcome (here, I’m ushered into a rustic lounge and handed a glass of delicious homemade lemonade), whether I am handed a weighty key (alas, it’s a keycard, but I can forgive them as they deliver on all other points), and, finally, the scent. I’m big on olfactory pleasures and am very picky when it comes to hotel fragrances. I don’t want to be bombarded with heavy, choking scents, but I do like a hotel to have a signature smell that helps to create a calming, harmonious ambience. The Wild Hotel’s scent first hits as I descend the staircase to my room, which is tucked away beneath the infinity pool. It’s subtle, but it follows me throughout my 48 hours there and, as I type this on the ferry back to Athens, I find myself missing its herbal, softly floral fragrance.

When travelling solo, as I am on this trip, I find that certain details matter more to me than when I’m with a companion. For all I will rave about my room, the beach, the food — the first thing I will recount to anyone who asks me about my stay there is how friendly, welcoming and just genuinely lovely the staff are. They perch on the edge of my sunlounger for a chat and seem authentically interested in my solo travels. I couldn’t possibly feel lonely. 

But I’ve been waffling on about the ambience without even telling you about my room. My stay coincides with the very end of the season and the hotel’s 37 rooms and suites are only about half full, so I am delighted to receive an upgrade to a Pool Signature Suite Sea View. The decor is minimal yet rustic, with all the focus being placed on the majestic view of the Aegean through my floor-to-ceiling French doors, which lead out to a private terrace and pool. Being on the east side of the island, this is a hotel where you want to set your alarm for sunrise, which I do — alongside sleeping with my curtains wide open, so I’m immediately greeted with brilliant orange skies upon waking. 

I don’t do much during my brief stay here. I mainly wallow, true to my nature as someone who loves to spend as much time as possible in and beside water. I plunge into my pool at 8am when it’s drenched in sunlight. I swim lengths in the infinity pool, which is freezing cold but refreshing, reminding me of my wild lake swims back home. I warm up in the cave-like spa pool, tucked away up above the rooms. And I spend most of my time down on the beach, accessed via a steep, winding stone staircase, where I’m entranced one morning by a lizard the size of my arm.

If I was here for longer, I’d want to explore more of this quieter side of the island, but for two days, I’m content to bask in the sun, sipping ice-cold glasses of rosé between long swims in the startlingly clear sea. The cove is mostly sheltered from Mykonos’s famed Meltemi winds (apart from when they’re blowing directly at the hotel), allowing for languid floating, gazing down at the schools of fish happily swimming below. Besides soaking up the sun, swimming and making my way through a book a day, I find time for a head and neck massage in the den-like treatment rooms of the spa, somehow even more peaceful than the rest of the hotel. I almost drift off as my head is coated in oil and gently rubbed. 

Meal times are spent between The Wild’s two restaurants, The Taverna and Mezé, the former only open in the evenings when the mid-October temperatures drop (a heater is very thoughtfully placed beside my table). As a vegetarian who is bored of Greek salads and feta after two weeks travelling around Greece, I’m delighted to be spoilt for choice, dining on a tasty tabbouleh, seasoned wedges of potato served with Myconian Kopanisti cheese, wood-fired broccoli smothered in chimichurri, chargrilled wild greens and, the dish I can’t stop thinking about, a delectable vegan potato salad coated in lemon juice. 

Becoming somewhat of a morning person during my stay, I’m one of the first at the breakfast buffet, stuffing myself silly on the vast spread. Anywhere that serves roast potatoes for breakfast with lashings of roasted veg, local cheeses and fresh salads is a winner in my book. A sweet tooth, I have not (although I go back for second helpings of Greek yoghurt with all the trimmings and admire the array of baklava, sweet pastries and fresh fruits). 

Two days is sadly not enough time at The Wild. I make the most of my last morning with a quadruple dip (moving from plunge pool to infinity pool to cave pool to the beach) and a final chat with a waitress who is curious where I am heading next. Waiting for my taxi to the port, I cast a fleeting glimpse back at the sea glittering below, tempting me to throw my passport into the waves and settle into a new life on the slow Mykonos that I have finally uncovered.