Poseidonion Grand Hotel

Style

Courtesy of Cannes

Setting

Pine-scented Pityoussa

Occupying a prime seafront position since 1914, the Poseidonion Grand Hotel delivers a shot of Continental glamour in sun-soaked Spetses, coastal playground of the Athenian A-list. Ionic columns add a Hellenic touch to its façade, but step into the lobby and you’ll find a tribute to turn-of-the century grandeur. Decorative archways, potted palms and floors decked with trompe l'oeil tiles speak to the Golden Age aristocrats who once made this their summer home. Follow in their pleasure-seeking footsteps as you relax by the pool, sample five-course dinners and sip on cooling cocktails at Palms – the perfect spot to watch sunsets over the Saronic Gulf.

Facilities

Rooms

Fifty-two, including eight suites.

Checkout

11am, but times are flexible and early arrivals can store their luggage. Earliest check-in, 3pm.

More Details

Rates include buffet breakfast and minibar soft drinks.

Hotel Closed

The hotel is closed for the winter season from November to March.

Fitness Center

Free Internet Access

Laundry

Pool

On-Site Restaurant

Room Service

Spa

At the Hotel

Spa, fitness room, boutique, beach towels, free WiFi throughout. In room: TV, wired internet access, fully stocked minibar, tea- and coffee-making facilities, slippers and bathrobes.

Our Favourite Rooms

Beat the honeymooners to the Cupola Suite if you can –lovebirds want it for its star-spying glass ceiling, mezzanine, private terrace and abundance of space. Another romantic option is the Pool Suite, which comes with a little garden, plunge pool and ocean vistas. If you’re a fan of the latter, book the Tower Rooms (207 and 107), which sit at the centre of the building, so benefit from dazzling views. We prefer rooms in the historic wing, but families would do well to book a spacious ground-floor Garden Room in the new wing.

Poolside

Where the lavender blossoms in the gardens, there’s a grass-green, glass-tiled pool flanked by smart teak decking. Sun worshippers will also enjoy the little plunge pool with sea views beside the spa.

Spa

The hotel was the first in Greece to offer its guests bespoke spa treatments: unleash your inner Adonis/Aphrodite with organic spa treatments – massages, facials and full body pampering sessions – at the hotel’s Idolo Spa. In one of the three treatment rooms, have your cares buffed away with a Mediterranean olive scrub, Olympic-sized knots detangled with a deep tissue massage, and tension soothed away with a cooling face mask. Body wraps, couples treatments and head-to-toe pampering rituals are on offer too. There’s also a steam room and a spa pool.

Packing Tips

Deck shoes and diamonds. A fedora or wide-brimmed, plate-shaped sunhat so you can people-watch for hours without accruing wrinkles.

Also

Sample the hotel’s berry-rich homemade jam, made with produce from its verdant hilltop organic garden.

Children

Cots are free for under-fours. Extra beds for four to 12-year-olds in low and mid-season, or five per cent of the room rate in high season. In restaurants, highchairs and baby-food warming are provided. Babysitting is available (on request, for a fee).

Gallery

Food & Drink

Top Table

Outside of course, overlooking the piazza and the sea out to the Peloponnese. At breakfast, sit at one of the parasol-topped tables, unfurl your map and plan the day’s adventures. Nurse cocktails at one of the Library Bar’s stone tables, amid the candles.

Dress Code

Daddy owns a mega-yacht. (Cue nonchalant nauticals: navy, cream and white, in linens and silks.)

Hotel Restaurant

Greek staples get a luxurious rethink – foie gras pastitsio and the ilk – at On The Verandah. Sushi and Greece may not seem like natural bedfellows, but given the rich stock of succulent seafood in the waters beside the hotel, it figures: try avocado rolls and sashimi served on ice at glamorous Freud Oriental (which has a popular sister in Athens). For light snacks – salads, sandwiches and so on – there’s the Library Bar, home to a polished piano, juke box, ancient guestbook and stash of Greek history books.

Hotel Bar

Sit on the Palm Bar's terrace and pore over the Saronic Gulf sunsets. The sommeliers can talk you through the various local wines, grappas and apéritifs.

Last Orders

The Library Brasserie offers light bites from 10.30am to midnight. The bar keeps guests refreshed from 7pm to 11.30pm. Food is served at On The Verandah between 8pm and 12am; 8pm until 12.30am, at Freud Oriental.

Room Service

The 24-hour room service includes the pick of the main menu (until midnight, when a limited selection of light snacks is on offer).

Planes

Athens airport is 220km away (a two-and-a-half-hour drive plus a 15-minute ferry or boat ride). The hotel can organise private transfers from the airport to the port of Kostas, where a sea taxi driver will be waiting to zip you across to Spetses Island.

Automobiles

Athens is three hours away by car. Spetses is car-free, so you’ll need to drive to Kosta (where you can leave your car at the secure car park), and hop on the 15-minute ferry (ask the hotel for the ferry timetable). Alternatively, it’s an eight-minute journey by water taxi, which are available around the clock in winter and summer, straight to the hotel's dock.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

Walk off the pastitsio with a stroll to the island’s organic garden, perched at the top of the hill. Alternatively, borrow bikes and cycle there (the hotel’s GPS is preloaded with the island’s best bike routes). Staff can also organise horse-riding lessons: trek around the coastal paths. There’s plenty to see in Spetses itself, particularly if you’re interested in the island’s history. Potter around the Old Harbour (or gad about in a horse-drawn carriage) and admire the row of coast-hugging mansions built by wealthy ship-owners after the War of Independence. Stroll down to the local shipyards, where beautiful caïques are still constructed according to tradition. Offer a prayer for a sailor at the monastery of Saint Nicholas, built around 1700. Learn more about the island’s evolution at the Spetses Museum (+30 22980 72994), housed in a splendid mansion that belonged to Hatzigiannis Mexis, one of the leading figures in the fight for Greek independence. Feminists will enjoy the Boubalina Museum which pays tribute to Ladcarina Boubalina, one of the few female stars of the Greek Revolution. Set in her mansion, the museum comprises a collection of her personal possessions and household objects; it’s also worth visiting to admire the wood-carved Florentine ceiling in the main salon. Go and see the mansion belonging to Poseidonion’s founder, Sotirios Anargiros, who spent his fortune on Spetses’ improvement: projects included planting the island with pine trees and building a Harrow-style boarding school that edified youngsters from 1927 until 1983.

Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt

This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .