Financial Times: “Greece is the word for summer holidays”

London-based Financial Times has declared “Greece is the word” for this year’s summer holidays. In the article, Maria Shollenbarger writes her favourite accommodation in Greece, from stylish adult-only escapes to slick family resorts.

Shila, Athens

Almost immediately after opening its doors in 2020, Shila established itself as the must-stay address in Athens’ chic Kolonaki neighbourhood: a three-storey neoclassical mansion that’s part art gallery, part events space and part boutique bolthole, with a roof deck, a leafy garden and six suites gorgeously styled by local creative director Eftihia Stefanidi.

This month, Stefanidi and Shila’s owner, Shai Antebi, are opening Mona, a sister property in a reclaimed eight-storey textile factory in Psyrri, Athen’s vibrant downtown. They went to lengths to preserve rather than jettison as many original architectural elements as possible, from a grand circular iron staircase to terrazzo floors.

Zakynthos keeps it in the family

The pool at Lesante Cape, Zakynthos

Families have long looked to the Ionian for their Hellenic holiday fix, and often to Zakynthos in particular. Its Peligoni Club is a lodestar of the Mediterranean holiday, trading since 1989 in the villas-with-clubhouses model – some modern and sprawling, but most traditional, with a few adorable cottages.

Lesante Cape boasts half a dozen bars, tavernas and restaurants

Last month a very different family-friendly offering opened down the coast, a couple of miles from Zakynthos town: Lesante Cape proposes both a more traditional resort model (several pools; half a dozen bars, tavernas and restaurants, a secluded beach, spa, gym) and a slick new-build look modelled after a traditional village, with a central square and rooms and villas (with generous indoor-outdoor space) clustered in blocks around it.

Old, new and fabulous on Crete

There’s been a buzz building around Crete, the biggest of Greece’s islands, from a burgeoning creative scene in Chania to a clutch of just-opened or opening resorts.

New to its north coast is Acro Wellness Suites: just west of Heraklion, set at the tip of a peninsula, it’s an adults-only, pure-minimalist escape, its cave suites built directly into naturally occurring caverns, with floors, walls and ceilings of polished concrete and pool terraces half-shaded by natural rock.